Olympics were never A movement for peace
The Olympic Games have been a much-anticipated and glorious worldwide spectacle of what humans are capable of — the pinnacle of athletic achievement. I do not wish to rain upon the Olympic parade, but it is evident that a new and hypocritical slant has hijacked what is an intense competition among nations. I am referring to world peace.
At the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics, South Korean President Moon Jai-in spoke eloquently of the games as a symbol of peace. International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach enlarged upon these sentiments, stating that the games represented a huge movement for peace worldwide. Sports commentators gushed that “this is what the Olympics are all about, after all.”
No. The Olympic Games are not, and never were, a movement for peace. They are an intense and nationalistic expression of supremacy among competing countries. Flag-waving, cheering and rejoicing are all intensely focused on the competitors from home. At every opportunity, broadcasters show graphics of the medal count, nations set programs in place to “own the podium,” lesser countries initiate systematic doping programs. There are cheating scandals with bribed or biased judges, and under-the-table deals. None of this is evidence of any “movement for world peace.”
It is intriguing how the sentiment of world peace, so contrary and inimical to the true spirit of the Games, has been allowed to hitch its wagon to the Olympics. The key to this misdirection is a conflation of the individual friendship garnered by the athletes themselves, with a perceived amity among nations. To appear at such an auspicious event as the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, and to speak of world peace, is disingenuous, if not cynical and hypocritical.
Let’s keep the spirit of the Olympics alive in an honest, clean and forthright way. Let’s not cast our athletes in the role of ambassadors for world peace. They have enough on their plates. Leave sports to the athletes; leave peacemaking to the politicians, for what their efforts are worth.
R.L. Barclay, Ottawa