OLYMPIC WRAP UP

Let me at the outset assure you that I like Sports, Winter and Summer,  Championships, Worldcups, Superbowls, and in particular, the Olympic Games.(also Summer and Winter)

So, when you have read what I am about to write, do not write me off as an 82 year old fogey, who can't himself do any of the things like running, jumping, diving, skiing, curling, and is therefore jealous like  hell.

Nothing could be further from the truth. (Well, maybe a little bit.)

But I keep thinking of the inordinate joy I derive from the fact that Canada outranks so many other States, including the U.S.A in the 'medal standings'.  In fact, only two countries have more medals than Canada:

Russia and Norway. We outrank such greats like Germany, Italy, France and everybody else.

Austria too has done quite well, standing 9th on the table of medals.

Almost  every country (except for the last ) can take pride in the fact that it has done better than those below it in the standings. It is soothing that we have somebody to look down upon, to feel superior to, to smile benignly down to from the heights we have achieved.

This chauvinist attitude is particularly noticable in team sports like Hockey, or Soccer where many "fans"

(a word derived from "fanatics") are literally beside themselves with excitement, some of them actually hating the so called "enemy".

The Olympics, in their initial state were a competition of 'individuals' , one man against another man. It was not "Athens vs Thebes", or  "Greece  against The Roman Empire".

It was "The Man" who won or lost.

Now we, who could not run faster than a snail can slither, could not jump further than a frog can leap, find our triumphs in the collective achievements of the country to which we happen to belong.

I have seen faces distorted by delirious joy of being on the winning side, or contorted by hatred of the winner, because it finds its home among the loosers.

I have read about pitched battles having been fought between the fanatics belonging to opposit teams during a soccer, football or baseball games, in some cases resulting in serious injury and death among those very fans who went to these games not to enjoy, but to hate and to give their hatred first voice and then deed.

Is it appropriate to publish a list of Countries in the order of the number of Medals they have aquired, or does this practice foster chauvinistic tendencies, which then get expanded to other areas of life ?

You are probably right when you say, that if such lists were not published, "fans" would make their own from the readily available data of the successes of the individual participants.

So, are the Olympic Games a source of mutual respect and love ?

or are they another vehicle for the expression of our imagined superiority and of disrespect for the Looser

and worse still for an expression of dislike, if not to say "hatred", felt by the Looser toward the Winner ?

Having said all this, I am not ashamed to confess that, when Canada scored its opening goal against the Swedes in the Gold Medal Game of Hockey,  as well as on the following two scores, I thrust my balled fist into the air and shouted: "Yeah"

Go! Canada Go!

says Bertstravels.