Olympics

[Ocean11 0]

Nothing could be more pointless than to discuss the relative merits of the issues behind the political demonstrations made at the Olympics. It's all shit, from Iranian posturing to foolish ideas that the Olympics can stop wars.

 

Why permit any of it all? If you allow the Iranians to get away with it, shouldn't some other countries that don't tolerate the death penalty boycott all those that do, including Iran? Shouldn't Israel boycott the Middle Eastern countries for their treatment of the Kurds? See?! It quickly gets absurd. And it's all free advertising that doesn't require anybody to take any concrete action at all.

 

So although I don't care much about the Olympics, it might as well just be a venue where actual people from different countries are allowed to grab each other's lapels and push them over and maybe chat by the condom machine, with zero tolerance for political grandstanding. Of course, that will have to involve the IOC at some stage stop pretending that it is an angel of peace too, which is unlikely. The nobs that run it are far too self-important for that.

[Dims 0]

...or better still, grab each others lapels and push them down at the condom vending machine. Some of these athletes are damn sexy and I think the Olympics should be all about interracial lovin'

[NoFakie 45]

 Quote:

Originally posted by Ocean11:
Nothing could be more pointless than to discuss the relative merits of the issues behind the political demonstrations made at the Olympics.

No one is discussing them, but I think you'll find most people supported the cultural and sporting boycott of South Africa under apartheid, for example. Nelson Mandela (from his cell) and the ANC certainly did. I suppose people supported it because they thought the "issue" had "merit".

The Olympics have been politicized since way back when. From a propaganda standpoint, obviously the Nazis and Eastern Europe were the worst. My point in response to the Black Power example is that you don't have to point at individuals (especially ones marginalized in the public eye by being from the Axis of Evil or belonging to what was perceived to be a subversive movement) and blame them for somehow sullying this all so pure event when whole countries have been using the games for their own ends.

[Ocean11 0]

The Black Power thing is slightly different in that the sportsmen still took part, and did well. They acted sportingly, and nobody can take that away from them.

 

But going, then refusing to play at all in certain circumstances is worthy of nothing but contempt. This applies on a national and individual level. I don't quite see why anybody would applaud such behaviour. And whether the ANC supported boycotts (and how could they not have?) is scarcely relevant. Who knows whether it did any good or not?

[Plucky 0]

If I may interject with something a bit off topic....

 

Jesse Owens during the NAZI Olympics. Absolutely great! No protest, just a 'shove it in your f***ing face, Hitler!' attitude.

 

Best Olympic athlete ever? It is definately up for argument, but Jim Thorpe in my opinion. Of mostly Native American blood, he broke down so many barriers in both international competition and in American Football. The epitome of the complete athlete.

 

These guys portrayed what the games are about. I find myself cheering my ass for other countries for various reasons. I loved the Iraq soccer win the other night. That was beautiful. Leave the politics out of the games.

 

Oh, and bring on the track and field (aka, the bread and butter of the Olympics). Unfortunate about the recent scandals. Still a blast to watch. (with you on this Kintaro!)

[nzlegend 1]

 Quote:

Originally posted by Mr Wiggles:
There's a lot more at stake with the illegal occupation of Palestine than "spite".


The USA boycotted the Moscow Games. They were still allowed to host the following games that experienced a tit-for-tat boycott. Why drag up the Black Power salutes as an example of the games being politicized?

the Black power salute has to do with the quote preceding the example that mattered.
During the games, while competing - is the key to it all. There is no tolerance to displays IN the games, like this Iranian chap or the 68 Olympics.
Boycotting the games is not IN the Games, you never went. It is very political but you didnt bring it up in the games, you just took you ball and went home before it even started.

You can argue whether its the same thing, but the fact is the rules say you cant bring this stuff up during the games, boycott the whole games if you wish, take the whole Iranian team out, don send them in the first place, its not like anyone is going to miss them.

It seems that this guy was pressured by his country not to compete, whether he deliberately got fat to avoid fighting him and hence avoiding a massive incidence I dont know, If he deliberately missed his weigh in to avoid the possibility of refusing to face then I give the guy a lot of credit. He probably resents immensely being a pawn in the Iranian Governments diplomacy. He jut wants to compete. Since he is a two time World champ, he probably would have annihilated the Israeli chap and that would have made a great front page photo.

Palestine should not be dragged into the Olympics, 1972 was enough for eternity.
There is a time and a place.

[grungy-gonads 54]

I think watching the Olympics is sexy. Well, many of the female events anyway. At times, very erotic.

[cal 6]

I am quickly getting tired of the medaru rashhu here in Japan and the overloud noise it causes. Anyone know of any good headphones that go right down into your ear and block everything out?

[Curt 1]

Japan are doing well aren't they? The mania must be pretty deafening over there now.... glad I'm missing it

[fukdane 2]

Stay glad.

[slow 0]

I like watching canoeing. I don't know if it hits screens or not. Which country is good at canoeing?

[maoriboy 0]

traditionally NZ is strong at canoeing but this year??? I dont know

[nzlegend 1]

Nz used be strong at Kayaking, not Canoeing. They are as different as skiing to snowboarding.

 

Now to change tack. Chanting there are two chants that really irritate me, the most annoying is

"ozzie ozzie ozzie oi oi oi" it was the last living brain cell in some drunk Australian at some sports match that came up with that one.

The other is "U-S-A, U-S-A ! it has always bugged me not because I am anti American it bugged me as it was in your face and it meant that the USA was kicking your ass (or the underdog team, athelete you were supporting) in whatever event. Reinforcing that you were losing. Americans should be able to do it but....

 

The USA chant got booed at Roddicks tennis match, Roddick was losing to a Chilean and the crowd got behind him and started chanting "Chile, chile!", some Roddick fans responded with the USA chant which was promptly booed and jeered out. It seems that even the chant has become a little too much these days with the current animosity in the world.

I remember in previous Olympics at the swimming the USA chant going off without real problem.

It must be hard for regular Americans at international events like the olympics being extra careful about even moderate displays of patriotism. I feel sorry.

[indosnm 0]

Kamo all the chants are the same. Not that good really!

Yeah, there's the ozzie ozzie... & the USA USA & the NIPPON cha cha cha balh blah. & don't forget the Kiwi kiwi cha cha cha...

 

"all quite gay & not in happy way" as the dog would say

[scouser 4]

Hurrah for Kelly Holmes and her 800 / 1500 gold double.

[oblivion 5]

Interesting post-Olympic article in the Independant. I couldnt get the link to work, so here it is;

 

After the fireworks, the world is left to reflect on a tarnished ideal

By James Lawton in Athens

30 August 2004

 

Here in Athens last night, as the fireworks lit up the sky and in the afterglow of Kelly Holmes's extraordinary double gold, there was the usual Olympic stock-taking. It is a little bit like reviewing the conduct of an unruly, greedy child.

 

What is the proper reaction to the devious, manipulative and sometimes sinister behaviour of this spoilt and sprawling institution, which every four years turns into a vast, money-devouring city state?

 

Often the instinct is to send it to its room and throw away the key. Think of the saving in money and vulnerable emotion.

 

The Greek bill has soared above the £6bn mark and will take a generation to discharge - and what is the product of this crippling parentage?

 

Here, on the eve of the Games, it was the national trauma of seeing your two great sporting heroes, the gold and silver sprinting medallists of Sydney 2000, Konstandinos Kederis and Ekaterina Thanou, running away from drug testers. It was a picture of corruption that could never be banished from these 28th Olympics, any more than the Pontius Pilate speed with which the Olympic officials returned the problem to the Greeks and athletic authorities.

 

A dramatic manifestation of the effects of that betrayal of the ancient meaning of the Games came a few nights ago when the crowd in the beautiful main stadium booed and hissed the American finalists in the 200 metres, one of the explosive events which used to be at the heart of the appeal of the Olympics. A protest against the imperialism of the United States? No, something much more basic to belief - or the lack of it - in the old integrity of Olympia, the ancient seat of the Greek sports culture where a Russian woman last week won the shot put gold and promptly tested positive for illegal drugs for the second time in her career.

 

No, the protesting Greeks were saying that the Olympics were operating a terrible double standard. The heroes of the host nation were hounded into their shame. The Americans, who through NBC television are the ultimate paymasters of the Games, were given a much easier ride.

 

Of course we could shut out such gnawing suspicion and, particularly if we happened to be British these past few days, we could be thrilled by extraordinary deeds. We could salute the magnificently consistent competitive standards of the great rower Matthew Pinsent and the sailor Ben Ainslie, who, starting as a 19-year-old in Atlanta in 1996, has made himself unquestionably the finest single-handed yachtsman in the world.

 

We could be warmed by the relentless pursuit of medals by the cyclist Bradley Wiggins and, on Saturday night, we could salute the resilience of Kelly Holmes, who, after spending most of her athletic life as a nearly woman, rose to the peak of Mount Olympus with her historic golden double in the 800 metres and 1,500 metres, a feat beyond the powers of even the great Sebastian Coe.

 

Admirers of Ian Thorpe and Michael Phelps, phenomenal swimmers from Australia and America, will tell you that only the Olympics can properly provide an adequate stage for their brilliant and often moving talent.

 

And where would we send the sensational young British boxer, Amir Khan, and all the Greco-Roman wrestlers who every four years emerge from the backwoods of Turkey and Kazakhstan and Wyoming and get the chance to show the world the result of their dedication and fierce competitive instincts? Would we lightly discard the beauty that comes in the gymnastic hall every four years, and nowadays without the stigma of the arrested physical development of girls as they approach womanhood?

 

Perhaps, you might say, if we take the best we also have to live with the rest? But at what cost to our sense that we are supporting something that is more about power and money and nationalism? This question will never have been put into such a sharp and troubling focus as it will in four years in Beijing.

 

China was awarded the Games despite opposition from human rights campaigners, but of course traditionally the Olympics have never worried much about the concept of life and values.

 

In Mexico City in 1968, the festival of youth went on blithely despite the fact that the blood of protesting students had scarcely dried on the streets. Four years later, the plutocrat American Olympic president Avery Brundage insisted that the Games must go on - after a perfunctory day's rest and respect - despite the slaughter of Israeli athletes and coaches in the Munich athletes village.

 

Until this day the IOC has refused to recognise officially the loss of those Israelis.

 

Will the martyrs of Tiananmen receive any more recognition at the dawn of the 29th Olympics? It is not likely. Instead will we see an astonishing example of Olympic giantism.

 

Meanwhile the Greeks, who organised the Games that last night closed as beautifully as they opened two weeks ago, will still be paying their bills. They will be able to take pride in their achievements as hosts of the Games they first gave the world. Congratulating themselves on their wisdom, however, may be an entirely different matter.