An Olympic Opinion
My father retired from the Marine Corps as a major. My grandfather was a private in World War II and later an engineer at a nuclear power plant. I come from a patriotic family—a family that believed a country’s collective athletic prowess gauged its ethos. At the Olympics, dominating the uneven bars was as much a demonstration of gymnastic skill as it was a testament to capitalism. During every opening ceremony, we’d sit nervously on the couch. The television was never off, not even at dinner. This was pretty amazing considering my mother once shut off the news in the middle of a tornado warning. At dinner, we ate with one eye on the mashed potatoes and the other on the medal count. Will the United States finally beat the Chinese in ping-pong we wondered, biting our fingernails. And just how much was the French figure-skating judge being paid, my mother would ask, as she passed the meatloaf. Not once did we question the dedication of any of our American athletes.
No longer. In 2006, Bode Miller, a competitor on the U.S. ski team, was a favorite to win several events, but in Italy he found a favorite of his own: the bars of Turin. His unrehearsed remarks to reporters led many people to think he was more interested in partying at an “Olympic level” than skiing at one. Who was this radical? Americans wanted to know. To be fair, by drinking so much grappa, he may have been attempting to gain weight and thereby increase his momentum and speed down the side of the mountain, which, if true (unlikely), was an ill-advised replacement for training. Miller’s performance at the Winter Games was unremarkable, no medals and a disqualification.
In 2004, the U.S. basketball team lost more games at Seoul than all the previous Dream Teams combined, and when they only took home the bronze medal, it appeared to have the emotional impact of flushing a pet fish down the toilet. This from the best players of the National Basketball Association, and had they just applied themselves, they would have easily won the gold. You probably remember the original Dream Team with Michael Jordan and Larry Bird, right after they allowed professional players to participate in the Olympics. They beat the competition so badly in 1992 that when I saw the final scores, I was sure the scoreboard malfunctioned.
If you’re not going to take the Olympic Games seriously, why bother? It’s not that I believe these athletes’ performances reflect on me as an American; it just seems like a complete waste of time. Sure the Olympics don’t pay anything, but for most people it’s a once in a lifetime experience, to prove you’re the best in the world. |
