To me, the Olympics have become more of a play than a sporting event. Because of the prestige associated with being recognized as a champion on a global scale, and the fact that you are competing to represent your nation, it was inevitable that politics and economy would have a detrimental effect. I personally cannot endorse the games when they're being hosted by a country with a historic track record of human rights abuses that continues into the present day, and while I feel sympathy for the athletes who prepared for the games, I agree that a love of the sport should supersede the love of an event.
Personally I think the Olympics have become depressingly commercialized, politicized and monetized. When you have an American citizen competing for a genocidal regime (for what, more money?) in renunciation of her home country, I find I would rather watch reruns of the Brady Bunch then suffer through that ridiculousness.
Tonight I'll be watching the snowboard half pipe preliminaries on the edge of my seat, heart pounding, because I know Shaun White's teammate who's making his Olympic debut, Lucas Foster of Telluride. Lucas is an incredibly caring and special young man, who worked in the local skateboard shop with my son, and he's been a great friend to my son. I think he has had a well-rounded life between skateboarding, snowboarding, and always working hard at the skate shop and skateboarding camp, in spite of the past couple of years' laser focus on training for his sport and competing at the top levels. I don't think he's "trained his whole life for it" -- it's been more gradual, and without too much sacrifice to having a normal life, although he schooled online instead of in school in order to train. It's been so exciting to follow his journey and his behind-the-scenes funny posts. Thankfully, I don't think he lost the fun in it. He's just excited and grateful to be there. It's crazy how the tricks and turns that won medals four years ago are routine and relatively basic now, because the sport has gotten more extreme in just four years.
I love this post! Thinking in terms of the pandemic too, the “moment you’ve trained your whole life for” is less certain than it used to be, or may not be exactly what you imagined. But you always have the present moment, and you can do something right now just because you enjoy it. Well written, Cole 👏
You are so right about the desensitizing effects of escalation, though I've never consciously thought of it before. This is a great take on the huge production that the Olympics have become. Here's hoping that major athletes can keep that internal stoke going for their sports - the reason they started in the first place.
To me, the Olympics have become more of a play than a sporting event. Because of the prestige associated with being recognized as a champion on a global scale, and the fact that you are competing to represent your nation, it was inevitable that politics and economy would have a detrimental effect. I personally cannot endorse the games when they're being hosted by a country with a historic track record of human rights abuses that continues into the present day, and while I feel sympathy for the athletes who prepared for the games, I agree that a love of the sport should supersede the love of an event.
Personally I think the Olympics have become depressingly commercialized, politicized and monetized. When you have an American citizen competing for a genocidal regime (for what, more money?) in renunciation of her home country, I find I would rather watch reruns of the Brady Bunch then suffer through that ridiculousness.
Tonight I'll be watching the snowboard half pipe preliminaries on the edge of my seat, heart pounding, because I know Shaun White's teammate who's making his Olympic debut, Lucas Foster of Telluride. Lucas is an incredibly caring and special young man, who worked in the local skateboard shop with my son, and he's been a great friend to my son. I think he has had a well-rounded life between skateboarding, snowboarding, and always working hard at the skate shop and skateboarding camp, in spite of the past couple of years' laser focus on training for his sport and competing at the top levels. I don't think he's "trained his whole life for it" -- it's been more gradual, and without too much sacrifice to having a normal life, although he schooled online instead of in school in order to train. It's been so exciting to follow his journey and his behind-the-scenes funny posts. Thankfully, I don't think he lost the fun in it. He's just excited and grateful to be there. It's crazy how the tricks and turns that won medals four years ago are routine and relatively basic now, because the sport has gotten more extreme in just four years.
I love this post! Thinking in terms of the pandemic too, the “moment you’ve trained your whole life for” is less certain than it used to be, or may not be exactly what you imagined. But you always have the present moment, and you can do something right now just because you enjoy it. Well written, Cole 👏
You are so right about the desensitizing effects of escalation, though I've never consciously thought of it before. This is a great take on the huge production that the Olympics have become. Here's hoping that major athletes can keep that internal stoke going for their sports - the reason they started in the first place.