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Thus Endeth Another Winter Olympics - Occhidiangela - 02-26-2006
The Neo Olympics versus the Olympic Spirit
©Occhidiangela 26 Feb 2006
Sweden 3
Finland 2
Final score for the Men's Ice Hockey final. Gold Medal to Sweden. Skol. :D I saw bits and pieces as I puttered around the house this morning. The game seemed to live up to its billing.
In related news, appropriately named Apolo Ohno won wire-to-wire in the 500m without inciting controversy. The sports pages have, of course, chronicled a variety of neo-Olympic drama, from Italian police arresting Austrian Olympians to the dysfunctional relationships on the US speedskating team, to the Greek chorus of tooth gnashing pursuant Sasha Cohen's falling twice and "only" earning a sliver medal. Peggy Fleming wept; fall twice and still earn an Olympic medal? That gal's Good!
Now that the Men's Ice Hockey final's last seconds have ticked away, the Winter Olympics are over. Thank goodness, the over coverage of non-sports was getting to be wearisome.
Fortunately for sports fans, the Winter Olympics retain events that require objective scoring: a biatholon, a 50km ski race, speed skating, and games where goals are scored. That style of competition is in keeping with the spirit of the first ever Olympic Champion, Coroebus, who streaked to the original champion's rostrum in a 192-meter foot race. I don't 'think he'd recognize the current games, and certainly would not compete naked in the Winter Olympics. He'd also be confused when trying to figure out who won some events.
The acrobatic hot dog ski events, where aerials are the currency, are eye catching but remain tainted as judged performances, in true TV-era-gone-mad X-Games style. Likewise the ice events with the tearful and scantilly clad ladies, the over made-up men, and the political nuances of judging. Since I was a teenager, one of my cynical expressions of approval has been: "It rates a 10, which is an 8 to the East German Judge." Those talented performers of pure artistry in that power ballet on ice present a lovely display of grace and strength, but they fall short of the original Olympic ideal. Judged events can't help it, and the root cause is politics.
The judged events' political stain perfectly fits the neo-Olympic ideal, an ideal embedded in the 1896 Games and which is owed in part, like other facets of the modern world's roots, to both French Military Incompetence, and Monsieur Coubertin's combined vision and drive.
From the article: "France was overrun by the Germans during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Some believe that Coubertin attributed the defeat of France not to its military skills but rather to the French soldiers' lack of vigor. After examining the education of the German, British, and American children, Coubertin decided that it was exercise, more specifically sports, that made a well-rounded and vigorous person."
The resulting Imperial Olympic Games, founded in Europe's modern, competing Imperial era, are suitable companions to nationalism and deification, even worship, of The States that replaced The Empires. Isn't it ironic that an Emperor abolished a 1200 year old tradition during the Fourth Century AD? In 393 CE, the Roman emperor Theodosius I, a Christian, abolished the Games because of their pagan influences. The 1500 year gap had an impact on the Neo- Olympics' Origins.
It has come full circle, this modern worship of earthly physical perfection, the adoration of athletes dressed in skin tight space age suits, nearly nude, outfits that show off the body contours of magnificent physical specimens. At the shrine of the Nautilis machine, the hill run, and the swimming pool, physical perfection is worshipped, prayed for, and fanatically pursued. Tithes are collected via second and third order means, advertising and endorsement revenue, which cost is passed along in, among other things, 500 dollar bicycles and 100-200 dollar sneakers (thanks, Nike, Michael, Dan, and Dave ) that become fashion icons.
The corruption of the Neo Olympic spirit is perfectly reflected in the problem of performance enhancing drugs, the tests for them, the loopholes in the testing procedures, and the outright fraud perpetrated for the competitive edge. Ben Johnson was the tip of the iceberg, the Austrian Police yet another group playing catch up to human ingenuity finding ways to cheat and win, all in order to be "the best."
How do you know who is best, at least this year, this season? You play the match or run the race, and you see who wins. Or, so the ideal goes. The less glossy feature of sports competition, is its foundation in either a stylized contest of champions, faux war, or an excuse to gamble. My favorite sport, golf, is at root a gambling competition.
Understanding the root of sports competition, particularly the dual influence of war and gambling, makes the harsher side of the Olympics more understandable, if not more palatable. This dual feature is at odds with the veneer of altruism that the Olympic hype machine spray paints on all five Olympic logo-rings. At least with races and goal scoring games, the result is modestly objective, all drugs and corrupt referees considered.
For the artists -- for the synchronized swimmers, for the ice dancers -- I suggest another venue be chosen in an attempt to return the Neo Olympics to a closer fit with the original Olympian ideal. There are international championships annually for those art forms, let them rest there. The performance artistry is awe inspiring, as is the immense effort required to achieve those dazzling moves, but it isn't truly Olympic in spirit, it is not faux war, it is not something you can bet on -- unless you are betting on judges' preferences. The subjective and consistently arbitraty scoring serves the Neo Olympics as expanded territory for the contaminating influence of politics, of back room deals between officials, lawyers, and other parasites of the modern Imperial Age -- which also began in Europe, and hence the modern world that European Empires shaped.
The Olympics don't need the dancers and the artists, but the artists apparently need the Olympics. They wish to bask in the aura of glory indelibly tied to victory at battle, or at champions' duels, the glory of Olympic and athletic faux war. How sad that their annual artistic competitions don't suffice. Did Luciano Pavarotti ever need an Olympic Gold medal to confirm that he was the world's best tenor? ;)
In closing, I wonder what American sports journalist will write the sour grapes article decrying the Finnish and Swedish Ice Hockey teams, with the tired American complaint that the European or Scandanavian champions are somehow lesser athletic mortals than, for example, the last Olympic Basketball champions: Argentina. ;) The gang-of-soloists American Basketball Team, per the comments in a Spazbear's thread regarding US and Canadian Olympic Hockey, failed to do what successful national teams do: focus on We, instead of on Me, when preparing for the battles of Olympic faux war.
The focus on We, and the shared struggle to the highest peak of the Olympic Mountain to grab the golden palm in the battle of champions is a metpahor for a company of men storming and capturing a hill in a battle. In this faux war of Olympic sports it remains, due to the team factor, the purest fusion of the Olympic spirit as the battle of humble champions in a match objectively scored and won per the Olympic's original premise.
It is a fitting climax to the Turin Winter Olympics, so I doff my cap to the Sewedish Hockey Team: Olympic champions in the finest and truest sense.
Occhi
Thus Endeth Another Winter Olympics - Wyrm - 02-26-2006
I've never thought of the Olympics as faux war or something to gamble on with the only sports worth showing are the ones you can gamble on. Yes, that's where the tradition started, but over the years it's evolved into the modern version that we now have. The best athletes from around the world gather under one banner in the spirit of fair play and competition. It's true that the judged events are more susceptible to corruption than the non-judged ones, but only to a certain extent. What happens when the ice hockey ref gets paid off to call penalties more rigidly for one team and loosely for the other? Or when the speed skating officials are paid off to disqualify someone for a pass that isn't actually illegal but close enough? They're appealed, brought to the IOC for review, and then corrected, just the same way that the judged events are. To say that the judged sports don't have any place in the Olympics because they aren't war-like and can't be gambled on is contrary to what the modern Olympics are about. Baron de Coubertin wanted to see the finest athletes in the world gathered under a banner of truce and fair play, not with the mindset to watch them beat each other into submission so people could heckle and throw money on them.
Pavarotti never needed an Olympic medal because he was just a performer and entertainer. The Ice Dancers and Syncronized Swimmers do more than that. They combine the aesthetic beauty of dance and the physical endurance of sport. Pavarotti was never judged on how well he moved or how he could interpret a piece of music with rhythmic movements, moving in synch with a partner. All that mattered for him was the quality of his voice. It's obvious that the ice dancers have to do more than just skate in circles doing moves. The couples who either just showed athleticism or their ability to dance finished at the bottom of the ladder. The ones who combined both to put on a show of grace and athleticism are the ones who finished on top, even if their routines weren't perfect. Whether or not they embody the ancient tradition of warfare doesn't matter anymore.
To me the biggest slap in the face to the Olympic spirit is when companies like Exxon Mobile or VISA use them to advertise themselves; the ones who make billions by ripping people off. That goes against the meaning and spirit of the Olympics more than anything else.
Side note: Hearing that Avril Lavigne was going to be in the closing ceremonies was one of the biggest disappointments I've heard in a long time. Bocelli I can understand. Her I can't even come close to figuring out what the Torino planners were thinking... the only thing that comes close to starting to make sense is that she was on the bottom of a very long list of other performers who weren't available, and even then I don't know what she was doing on the list to begin with.
Thus Endeth Another Winter Olympics - Occhidiangela - 02-26-2006
Wyrm,Feb 26 2006, 12:44 PM Wrote:To me the biggest slap in the face to the Olympic spirit is when companies like Exxon Mobile or VISA use them to advertise themselves; the ones who make billions by ripping people off. That goes against the meaning and spirit of the Olympics more than anything else.Let's look at some fairly recent history. The neo-Olympics are profoundly elitist in conception. The initial premise was that the competitors were amateurs competing for their nation, their empire, their country. The quaint habit of some rich persons was to seek out and sponsor poor athletes to hone into Olympians, with credit of course accruing to the patron. Patron of the athletic arts, as it were. The significant change to professionals competing at the Olympics has happened during my lifetime, and is IIRC post 1980.
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Amateur status and eligibility was a huge sticking point for many years. It no longer is, and in my opinion, the Olympics has suffered for it for reasons related to what disappoints you, and over commercialization in general.
As to the root of sports as competition, and as ritual battle, that is a well founded argument of numerous sociologists, which makes the Olympics, conceptually, a ritual battle of images between nations. The simple example of an analogue is Hector and Achilles, or the previous Hector and Ajax, in their battle of champions before Troy. The Olympic boxing or fencing matches are martial echoes of such a legendary duel for the honor of clan and country.
The "Olympic spirit" you see is the Neo-Olympic spirit. It is at root an elitist, nationalistic, Statist vehicle for flag waving and national pride. That has its place, for sure, but if you grew up in the Cold War and watched the political influence -- or for that matter saw the political side of the 1936 Berlin Olympiad as my father did -- you can see that "the best part," the sports competition, is a come on. National Olympic organizations do a lot of good as they pursue excellence in human performance, but the motivation is rooted in the political.
The purity of spirit you describe has always been stained by the political connotation of the Neo Olympics. Ironically, that "spirit" has been sold as part of the attraction to boost participation and suppport, with the beneficial outcome being that the bulk of the competitors seem to embrace that spirit (boors like Tanya Harding being a general exception) and uphold both good sportsmanship and the celebration of excellence through doing one's utmost.
Occhi
Thus Endeth Another Winter Olympics - Assur - 02-27-2006
Occhidiangela,Feb 26 2006, 08:09 PM Wrote:Let's look at some fairly recent history. The neo-Olympics are profoundly elitist in conception. The initial premise was that the competitors were amateurs competing for their nation, their empire, their country. The quaint habit of some rich persons was to seek out and sponsor poor athletes to hone into Olympians, with credit of course accruing to the patron. Patron of the athletic arts, as it were. The significant change to professionals competing at the Olympics has happened during my lifetime, and is IIRC post 1980.
Occhi
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Sorry, but looking back at the history of the original Olympics, when they were a competition between Greek cities/states, they were a charged up rivalry, with winners getting honour/privileges for their lifetime plus benefits for their descendants. As regards Pancration, the original unlimited combat, it makes todays WWF/total combat look like wimp sports.
The neo-olympics always had a competetive/nationalistic side, only they had a veneer of being purely amateur. IIRC blacks were only allowed to compete after the first world war. Anyway when communist amateurs competed the idea of gifted amateurs doing it just for the glory was dead anyway (if there was ever any truth to it)
Personally the Olympics passed me by, but all the events, except perhaps Curling, need a degree of physical fitness and competition I couldn't handle, so I don't knock them!
Thus Endeth Another Winter Olympics - Occhidiangela - 02-27-2006
Assur,Feb 26 2006, 09:54 PM Wrote:Sorry, but looking back at the history of the original Olympics, when they were a competition between Greek cities/states, they were a charged up rivalry, with winners getting honour/privileges for their lifetime plus benefits for their descendants. As regards Pancration, the original unlimited combat, it makes todays WWF/total combat look like wimp sports.Battles of champions indeed, be they real or in a stylistic form. Agree with your rejoinder on the political element of "for the glory of the (polis) City State." Local versus Imperial emphasis, which I consider significant, but the theme is there, no question. I guess my tie in to Ajax and Hector, or Achilles and Hector before the walls of Troy didn't come across in the "battle of champions" theme as well as I had hoped.
The neo-olympics always had a competetive/nationalistic side, only they had a veneer of being purely amateur. IIRC blacks were only allowed to compete after the first world war. Anyway when communist amateurs competed the idea of gifted amateurs doing it just for the glory was dead anyway (if there was ever any truth to it)
Personally the Olympics passed me by, but all the events, except perhaps Curling, need a degree of physical fitness and competition I couldn't handle, so I don't knock them!
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Getting back to Olympics versus neo Olympics, we are back to sport as combats and contests that were decided by objective measure of who won, not by a judge. No lawyers. ;)
Occhi
Thus Endeth Another Winter Olympics - Maitre - 02-27-2006
Occhidiangela,Feb 26 2006, 11:49 AM Wrote:The Neo Olympics versus the Olympic Spirit
©Occhidiangela 26 Feb 2006
-- snip --
Now that the Men's Ice Hockey final's last seconds have ticked away, the Winter Olympics are over. Thank goodness, the over coverage of non-sports was getting to be wearisome.
Fortunately for sports fans, the Winter Olympics retain events that require objective scoring: a biatholon, a 50km ski race, speed skating, and games where goals are scored. That style of competition is in keeping with the spirit of the first ever Olympic Champion, Coroebus, who streaked to the original champion's rostrum in a 192-meter foot race. I don't 'think he'd recognize the current games, and certainly would not compete naked in the Winter Olympics. He'd also be confused when trying to figure out who won some events.
The acrobatic hot dog ski events, where aerials are the currency, are eye catching but remain tainted as judged performances, in true TV-era-gone-mad X-Games style. Likewise the ice events with the tearful and scantilly clad ladies, the over made-up men, and the political nuances of judging. Since I was a teenager, one of my cynical expressions of approval has been: "It rates a 10, which is an 8 to the East German Judge." Those talented performers of pure artistry in that power ballet on ice present a lovely display of grace and strength, but they fall short of the original Olympic ideal. Judged events can't help it, and the root cause is politics.
-- snip --
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Just to check on something, these are the "Olympic Games" right? or "the Games of the x-tieth Olympiad"? I don't think they've ever been the Olympic Sports. I've always thought of each competition as an event, not a sport. Sure, some of the competitions meet varying definitions of sport (objective scoring either by time or goals, teams that are inter-reliant, or individuals that are truly independent, athletic ability and specific skills are required, etc.) but I'm quite tired of people condemning the Olympic Games because they consist of non-sport competitions. Judging does not invalidate a competition; it just moves it out of the realm of sport. Sore political overtones may be expressed, but isn't that why some scores are thrown out?
Regardless. I think the balance of your post is beyond my concern here. My point is that the Olympic Games are just that: games of competition between individuals representing the best their nation has. Political implications or not, the competition, ideally in good faith, is intended to raise the spirit of man (and woman) not the ire of man (and women). Lets like what we like, and leave alone what we don't like. As for over-coverage of non-sports, I think we need to combat the under-coverage of the greatest game ever. Entirely too little curling was presented over-air at a reasonable time of day. Either I need to go out and increase local curling interest, or I need to move to Canada to get my knock-out fix.
Thus Endeth Another Winter Olympics - Occhidiangela - 02-27-2006
Maitre,Feb 27 2006, 09:53 AM Wrote:"the Games of the x-tieth Olympiad"?Good point. :D
Quote:My point is that the Olympic Games are just that: games of competition between individuals representing the best their nation has. [right][snapback]103080[/snapback][/right]But that is the problem, they are most definitely NOT just that, just games, just sports. Like it or not, they are political in origin. For non-political games, there are various world championships, leagues, etcetera, that are purer as sports go.
No need to wear the national flag.
It is the explicit inclusion of the flags and national identification that make the Olympiad overtly political. Likewise the Pan American games, whereas the World Series of Baseball is explicitly not political: look at how many nationalities are represented in the various US baseball clubs.
For purer sport, watch the NHL or the Premier League, or Italy's Serie A soccer league. ;-)
Or a local curling competition. Or a PGA golf tournament.
Or, better yet, watch a high school basketball or baseball game. Cheaper, and the competition is purer.
Occhi
Thus Endeth Another Winter Olympics - Maitre - 02-27-2006
Occhidiangela,Feb 27 2006, 01:41 PM Wrote:But that is the problem, they are most definitely NOT just that, just games, just sports. Like it or not, they are political in origin. For non-political games, there are various world championships, leagues, etcetera, that are purer as sports go.
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As an economics instructor of mine used to remind us, there are two types of statements: normative and (something I can't remember). One is about the way things are, and one is about the way things should be. This statement was his favorite way to avoid arguments in class about the benefits of capitalism, or some such thing that the guy in the back corner would suddenly pipe up about as being "unfair." I guess the way I see the Olympic competition is the way I'd like to believe it is. I think sometimes we see the things we want to see: yes, guilty, I close my eyes to political overtones, and see mostly the athletic competition at the Olympics.
If I want to see useless politics, I'll look at the UN Security Council, or closer to home, the vice presidents office (still imagining Cheney walking over to the "This office: Shooting free for" sign, erasing the 38K+ days, and writing the big 0 up in its place).
Thus Endeth Another Winter Olympics - Ashock - 02-27-2006
I thought this was the most boring Olympics in years, and I actually prefer the Winter games to the Summer ones.
-A
Thus Endeth Another Winter Olympics - Occhidiangela - 02-27-2006
Maitre,Feb 27 2006, 01:33 PM Wrote:I guess the way I see the Olympic competition is the way I'd like to believe it is. I think sometimes we see the things we want to see: yes, guilty, I close my eyes to political overtones, and see mostly the athletic competition at the Olympics.Understood. I wish it were so also.
This tidbit was an amusing visual for a former Safety Officer.
Quote: Cheney walking over to the "This office: Shooting free for" sign, erasing the 38K+ days, and writing the big 0 up in its place.:lol: Good one. RL LOL.
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Not since Aaron Burr has a VP shot someone. At least Burr meant to.
Occhi
Thus Endeth Another Winter Olympics - Any1 - 02-28-2006
No Bode Miller commentary Occhi? :whistling:
Here is a very recent quote:
"I just want to go out and rock. And man, I rocked here."
Let's remember, he didn't come close to a medal in 5 events. He actually skied off the course in the Slalom without finishing, after missing a gate.
Thus Endeth Another Winter Olympics - Rinnhart - 02-28-2006
Ashock,Feb 27 2006, 12:53 PM Wrote:I thought this was the most boring Olympics in years, and I actually prefer the Winter games to the Summer ones.
-A
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Curling is awesome, damn it.
Thus Endeth Another Winter Olympics - Occhidiangela - 02-28-2006
Any1,Feb 27 2006, 07:00 PM Wrote:No Bode Miller commentary Occhi? :whistling:Bode Miller said all that needed to be said about his Olympiad experience, and in doing so showed where he is coming from: the land of Me.
Here is a very recent quote:
"I just want to go out and rock. And man, I rocked here."
Let's remember, he didn't come close to a medal in 5 events. He actually skied off the course in the Slalom without finishing, after missing a gate.
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Occhi
Thus Endeth Another Winter Olympics - DeeBye - 02-28-2006
Rinnhart,Feb 27 2006, 09:27 PM Wrote:Curling is awesome, damn it.
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I'm just quoting this because it is true. Curling is THE most strategic sport ever.
Thus Endeth Another Winter Olympics - Rinnhart - 02-28-2006
DeeBye,Feb 27 2006, 08:21 PM Wrote:I'm just quoting this because it is true. Curling is THE most strategic sport ever.
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Sport?
Thus Endeth Another Winter Olympics - Ashock - 02-28-2006
DeeBye,Feb 27 2006, 09:21 PM Wrote:Curling is THE most strategic sport ever.
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I thought that was Cat Juggling.
-A
Thus Endeth Another Winter Olympics - Maitre - 02-28-2006
Rinnhart,Feb 28 2006, 03:17 AM Wrote:Sport?
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I'm going to agree with you there. I love to see the event every time I can, and I agree with Deebye that it is unparalelled in it's pairing of strategy and execution, but I think of it as a game, and not a sport.
Occhidiangela,Feb 27 2006, 06:12 PM Wrote:This tidbit was an amusing visual for a former Safety Officer.
Good one. RL LOL.
Not since Aaron Burr has a VP shot someone. At least Burr meant to.
Thanks, but it's not mine. I'm not sure whether it was the host, or an emailer but I got it from Tony Kornheiser's radio show (WTEM 980AM in the DC area, 9-11AM, 11-1 AM replay). If you're wondering where you've heard that name, he's the one on ESPN's PTI that's not Michael Wilbon. Tony will also be the third guy in the booth on ESPN's Monday Night Football next season.
Thus Endeth Another Winter Olympics - Occhidiangela - 02-28-2006
Maitre,Feb 28 2006, 09:45 AM Wrote:I'm going to agree with you there. I love to see the event every time I can, and I agree with Deebye that it is unparalelled in it's pairing of strategy and execution, but I think of it as a game, and not a sport.I have been familiar with Tony K for many years thanks to his critiques of Redskins football in the Post. And his PTI more recently.
Thanks, but it's not mine. I'm not sure whether it was the host, or an emailer but I got it from Tony Kornheiser's radio show (WTEM 980AM in the DC area, 9-11AM, 11-1 AM replay). If you're wondering where you've heard that name, he's the one on ESPN's PTI that's not Michael Wilbon. Tony will also be the third guy in the booth on ESPN's Monday Night Football next season.
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Occhi
Thus Endeth Another Winter Olympics - GenericKen - 03-01-2006
Occhidiangela,Feb 26 2006, 04:49 PM Wrote:In closing, I wonder what American sports journalist will write the sour grapes article decrying the Finnish and Swedish Ice Hockey teams, with the tired American complaint that the European or Scandanavian champions are somehow lesser athletic mortals than, for example, the last Olympic Basketball champions: Argentina. ;) The gang-of-soloists American Basketball Team, per the comments in a Spazbear's thread regarding US and Canadian Olympic Hockey, failed to do what successful national teams do: focus on We, instead of on Me, when preparing for the battles of Olympic faux war.
I thought the US and Canada lost because their players were old and Olympic rinks are larger (NHL rinks being smaller to sustain longer player careers).
Thus Endeth Another Winter Olympics - Occhidiangela - 03-01-2006
GenericKen,Mar 1 2006, 11:06 AM Wrote:I thought the US and Canada lost because their players were old and Olympic rinks are larger (NHL rinks being smaller to sustain longer player careers).I very much doubt that was the root cause.
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Occhi