The Olympics as a Political Event

My wife loves the Summer Olympics. She's watched it every 4 years since she was able to hold her head level at a television screen, with the sole exception of the 2004 Athens games. (I was away with the military at the time, and she was working 60 hours a week) To her, they are a great and inspiring sporting event. Quality entertainment.

She was watching before I was and commented when I joined her at how perfect the Chinese synchronized swim team was and how well the Chinese in general were performing. I observed that of course they are; they're from a communistic police state that forces some of their people to do nothing but train for these kinds of events. I'm sure they're quite good at making synchronized athletes to support their politics.

She's used to me making cynical observations like this, and so simply let me have my little fantasy and went on with watching women's gymnastics. I know this tactic, however, and continued my assault on her worldview.

She kind of rolled her eyes as I continued to explain that the Olympics are not a sporting event. Not anymore. Rather, they are a political event. An arena where nations contest against one another not for love of the sports or competitions, but as a contest for prestige for one's people, ideology, and way of life, and it had been so since the 30's when Jesse Owens trounced the Master Race (there's a pun in there, somewhere) in Berlin.

Then one of the commentators observed that such and such Chinese gymnast had been relegated to a gymnastics training camp at the age of 3, with one parental visit allowed per year. When she once asked to be sent home because she didn't want to do it anymore, she was denied. Sinner-wife's ears perked up. This was news to her. Suddenly, I didn't sound so crazy and John Birch Society-ish.

Shortly thereafter, Bella Karolyi (who was acting as a guest commentator for the channel... NBC? I forget, and don't care) made the casual observation when talking about the Chinese's performance that 14 and 15 year olds are typically at the top of their game during these kinds of performances because they have no fear. His 'minder' in the studio said that he had caught Bella in a mistake, because the minimum age for girl's gymnastics was 16. Bella snorted and said that half the Chinese team was under age. But their Chinese government issued passports used as identification said 16, so what can you do? (which is totally friggin' obvious if you look at them and compare them to the other teams' girls)

'Wait,' says the Sinner-wife. 'The Chinese government is supposedly lying to the world just so its chosen athletes can compete?'

'What part of communistic police state and competitive political event is unclear?'

'Hmm,' says she.

That's not even counting Iranians who refuse to compete against Israelis, and other such political crap leaking into the event.

And then this morning I see this. Apparently, the Georgians stacked their volleyball team with foreign nationals (a pair of Brazilians).

Said one of the Russians,

"They don't even know who the Georgian President is, how can you call them Georgians? They are Brazilians and that is who we played against today," Shiryaeva said.

Santanna admitted she had only been to Georgia twice in her life and still lived in Brazil, but said she still felt Georgian because the President had personally given her citizenship.

Even democratic states see the Olympics as a political arena and will play a little dirty in order to win.

It's a little sad to see someone's image of the Olympics as a great, incorruptible tradition of fellowship and sport crumble to dust. But such is the world we live in.