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London 2012: How Are the Olympics Worth Our While? |
30 July 2012by Maria Ivanova, Worldwide News Ukraine
The Summer Olympic Games in London seem to be attracting more and more attention from the media as the opening date approaches. Google search for the keyword “olympics” even with filters “last month” and “news” still returns some 155,000,000 results. But how are the Olympics actually significant? Turns out, I’m not the first one to have asked that question. Opinions voiced online ranged from “It’s the biggest event in the world. It’s the ultimate stage of Global Competition,” to “Olympics are not important <…> It doesn’t end hunger or wars.” Let’s take a closer look.
Dedicated to the Olympian Gods
The original Olympic Games were first held in Ancient Greece in the 8th century B.C. The purpose of the games at the time was clear – the strongest men performed in the Olympics to reassure fellow citizens of their ability to stand up to the unpredictable forces of the unexplored nature (personified by gods in Ancient Greek mythology).
As humans became more confident in their abilities to counter and even control nature, the Olympics faded away. It was with the Age of Enlightenment reviving everything related to antiquity that the Olympics saw comeback. One may wonder why the age of scientific discoveries and the final conquest of nature – the 20th century – needed the revival of this demonstration of human physical ability.
Are the modern Olympics about glory? Prizes? Or, more pragmatically, – fame and money?
Athletes participating in the Games are not getting much fame or money, allegedly. Notably, only eight athletes out of Forbes’ top twenty five highest-paid athletes list competed in the Olympic Games. In their July 19th, 2012, article Business Insider explains that most athletes don’t earn money off the Games: “You only get it [money] if you are famous and/or win.”
Producers of goods and service providers do earn money at the Games, but some are left in debt. It took Montreal 30 years to pay out its USD 1.5 billion Olympics debt. But since the Montreal financial disaster has become a cliché example, maybe it’s time to move on to another, more recent illustration. Conveniently, The Australian just published a story on the USD 40 million loss the Nine Network (one of the two broadcasters for London 2012 Olympics) is experiencing due to weak advertising markets.
Better World Through Sport
The unyielding optimists would still insist on the Olympic Games being a major international event that promotes not only the “sport for all” but also other causes – development, education, peace, and environmental protection.
Voice of America reports that Ukrainian Andriy Maksymovych was granted the right to be one of the carriers of the Olympic torch in London to mark his charity project for maternity wards in Ukrainian hospitals. Countless NGOs and activists promote their humanitarian causes at the Games.
Nevertheless, the international community failed to boycott the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in China, leaving those suffering from human rights violations and lack of democracy in the country without support.
Moreover, the fact that the Olympics have become a platform for anyone to promote their cause may not be a good thing at all. Giving the Munich 1972 massacre example here might seem sacrilegious, but I insist that the terrorists got their point across. The Palestinian criminal group managed to send the message of being bloody serious about fighting for independence from Israel.
“Bringing nations together” seems to be a popular answer to the question about the purpose of the Olympic Games. One wonders if that effect does come through though. Maybe it’s time to rob the terrorists and other ill-intended people from such an opportunity and close down the Games altogether?
Imagine the world without the Olympics. No more boring archery competitions, no more money spent to no use, no more terrorist threats.
But then again – imagine the world without the Olympics. Thousands of athletes (even if not those performing in popular sports like football) across the globe would lose motivation to excel and be robbed of examples to look up to. A powerful platform for promoting good causes – starting with healthy lifestyle – would be lost. Finally, us, ordinary couch potatoes, would have no grand opening of the Games of the XXX Olympiad in London to keep us entertained on a Friday night. |
30 July 2012
Journal of Turkish Weekly
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