Competition near perfect at Rio Olympics
When the Olympic flame went out in Rio last Sunday, the most intense 17 days of athletic competition the world experiences ended for another four years.
It had more than 11,000 athletes from 205 countries participating in 306 events in 42 different sports at 32 different venues plus five soccer pitches in other Brazilian cities.
The amazing thing was with all the problems associated with the current games starting with the bidding process through the construction delays, pollution, the Russian drug debacle and Zika concerns, the competition in the events were near perfect.
There were games issues, such as the uneven judging in boxing, the phantom calls in soccer, the green water in the diving tank, to name a few, but when it came to the athletes themselves there were few problems.
The most noteworthy negatives were the infamous goalie of the American women’s soccer team, Hope Solo, calling the Swedish team that eliminated the U.S. team, “a bunch of cowards.” and of course U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte causing an international incident with his drunken actions and lying. They share the pig iron medal for being the game’s biggest jerks.
All-in-all, the excitement, the quality of competition and the enthusiasm of the athletes in all the venues overrode the few negative incidents and the poor crowds. Fans familiar with professional major sports have to be amazed the world’s best athletes can compete in intense competition with class and show little animosity towards each other. But realistically this was a two-week event not a sixmonth league schedule.
Unfortunately, that unbridled nationalistic pride and excitement will soon be overshadowed by four years of incompetent bureaucratic management leading to the 2020 Tokyo Games.
The International Olympic Commission is one of the most unwieldy and unethical governing bodies in athletics with their historic lack of due diligence in awarding games, ignoring drug problems and exhorting bribes and favours. Their incompetence has resulted in financial problems for countries and host cities as well as corrupting the original principles of the games.
Regrettably an incompetent, uneven administration of athletic competitions is not confined to quadrennial multi-sport events.
The Peterborough Century 21 Lakers are in the midst of the Major Series Lacrosse final with the Six Nation Chiefs. The MSL has had a checkered past in the administration of the game.
Peterborough lacrosse fans have experienced a litany of rulings, both for and against the local teams, that makes one question the rationality of league officials. As we get deeper into these playoffs, many fans have a wary eye waiting for the next MSL ruling.
With the Mann Cup just weeks away, the Canadian Lacrosse Association will again come into the picture for MSL fans. Whether the Canadian final is held here in Peterborough or in Six Nations, the involvement of the CLA has the likelihood of a mess-up.
It seems every year the CLA drops a bombshell on the proceeding with an unreasonable rule interpretation or edict. Peterborough fans will likely never forget the drug-testing fiasco at the 2012 Mann Cup series here in Peterborough precipitated by the incompetence of the CLA in administering the process.
We have just seen how thousands of high performance athletes can compete and push themselves to the limit for essentially a piece of medal that will end up in a drawer. Competition drives athletes and nothing impedes that more than incompetent administration of the contests.
When the best of the west plays the best of the east in the Mann Cup in a few weeks hopefully this year the series will replicate the excitement of competition we just saw with the Olympics without the administrative glitches.
Don Barrie is a retired teacher, former Buffalo Sabres scout and a member of the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame and the Peterborough and District Sports Hall of Fame. His column appears each Saturday in The Examiner.