Olympics

Good Morning all.

I was never a big fan of watching the Olympics. Yes...I do watch a lot of the ice hockey during the winter games but really that is about it. I also don't really follow the games and the medal count. So I may not be the best one to blog about what has happened to the games.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded the 2008 Summer Games to China. I actually remember some reservations at the time by members of the IOC about holding the games in China. I also seem to remember that there were some understandings made between the IOC and the government of China concerning human rights violations that were occurring in China.

Now what we have is a situation that is as sticky as all those that Captain James T. Kirk and Captain Jean-Luc Pickard went through when dealing with the Prime Directive (for those that are not Star Trek fans that was the non-intereference policy).

Well just as Kirk and Pickard found ways around the prime directive so to now must the IOC find ways around all its policies for the summer games that start August 8th.

Now I am not going to chose a side between those appalled with what goes on in China or the right the government of China has to run its own country. But it seems both sides here had better get some kind of agreement hammered out or this thing is going to be a powder keg.

The IOC knew what China was about when they awarded them the games. The government of China had to know that increased attention to things like the Tibet situation was going to happen. Yet it clearly seems that neither was clearly ready for the onslaught as the games got closer.

There are questions about media access to athletes, especially those from China. There are questions about what the athletes themselves can and cannot do in "protest" of the current affairs in Tibet. If you read news articles today all athletes are being warned not to "protest" in any arena or venue (that includes dorms). But no one has clearly defined what "protest" is. Which brings up an interesting dilemma for the IOC. Isn't limiting the athletes paramount to limiting free speech?

One must remember that an athlete who violates the rules can be expelled from the games...a.k.a sent home. They can also be stripped of any medals won and records set during the games. That can happen for just having the flag from Tibet hanging on the wall of their dorm room.

And in case you forget this whole thing started when two US athletes held up the black-power symbol during the medal ceremonies during the 1968 summer games.

You see just like major league sports the Olympics have become big business. Yes the government of China will have to pay out a lot of cash to build the Olympic venues. But there is also the huge cash rewards from all the travellers and media who come to the games.

We want to call the Olympics athletes amateurs. But just as in the outdated view of the NCAA with respect to athletes not being paid this whole thing has become a joke. The Olympics, in my view, should be about the best from this country taking on the best from that country. Its sports. We need to get all the BS out of it.

What do you think?