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Wednesday, 22 February 2006 |
By D. W. O’Dell
 The Winter Olympics have always seemed secondary to the Summer Games, which is maybe why they split them up a few years back and put them in different years. But even given that my interest in the Winter Olympics was always minimal, this year I seem particularly less enrapt.
Could it be the fact that the end of the U.S./U.S.S.R. rivalry has eliminated the biggest rooting element? Or the fact that most of the events are unknown to people above a certain age (half-pipe?) or who don’t live in Scandinavia (what the heck is a skeleton, and do people ride them outside the Olympics?). Or is it that I don’t consider figure skating a sport (although the new scoring system makes it a little closer to a sport than a beauty pageant)? Or that the U.S. is losing to Norway, a country with a population equal to Colorado?
No, I think I put my finger on the problem when Michelle Kwan announced her withdrawal. This was to be her third shot at an Olympic medal. When her withdrawal was announced, one commentator noted that there was no reason to think that this setback would affect multi-millionaire Kwan’s endorsement deals.
Remember the good old days when Olympic athletes were amateurs? How does an “amateur” amass a fortune of several million dollars? Under the old Olympic definition of amateur, athletes (especially those outside Eastern bloc countries) had one shot at Olympic glory - one narrow window in which to win a gold medal, or forever be thought of as a pathetic loser. After the Olympics they had to find a job and get on with their lives. Now, if you don’t win at this year’s Olympic Games, hang around and you’ll be the favorite going into the next Olympics. While I applaud the abandonment of the phony “amateur” title, the result diminishes the concept of the Olympics as a once-in-a-lifetime event, not just a once-every-four-years event.
Olympic glory used to come out of nowhere, as people we never heard of captured the imagination of a nation. Peggy Fleming, Mark Spitz, and Bruce Jenner were not on the radar before they won Olympic Gold. Now the question in most events is whether the silver medalist from four years ago can get the gold this time around. There is no serendipity involved; the sponsors, the networks and the Olympic Committee have already programmed this year’s heroes in advance.
I recall a discus thrower named Al Oerter who went to four Olympics and was considered something of a freak for competing in so many. That may soon be the norm. I think there should be a new rule - you get to go to one Olympic competition in any given event. There is no reason for the Olympics to become a profession instead of an avocation. Either that, or space them out more, like once every ten years. Oh wait, that wouldn’t make NBC very happy.
I’d write more on this subject, but I think the curling semi-finals is coming up.
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