New Orleans – I was wrong.
I normally don’t have to admit that, and I hate saying it, but it’s true.
Friday I said the games of the 29th Olympiad would be “remembered for the wrong reasons.”
But I now realize I should have given these Olympic Games a chance before speaking out.
Pollution, transportation and public safety are major issues in Beijing, but these Games have captured the hearts of Americans.
We’ve witnessed a 23-year-old swimmer by the name of Michael Phelps capture five gold medals as of Wednesday morning – each stroke helping him come closer to becoming a household name.
He said before the Games he wanted to bring competitive swimming into the “global spotlight.” Phelps may get his chance as he gets closer to breaking former Olympic-great Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals in one Olympic Game.
Phelps already broke a different record Wednesday for the most gold medals won by a single person after winning his 10th and 11th career gold medals.
Many – including former NFL wide receiver Chris Collinsworth – refer to him as “the greatest Olympian of all time,” and if Phelps continues his pace of dominance, no one will be able to state otherwise.
Phelps has done what no one else has been able to do: take Brett Favre out of the spotlight.
But along with Phelps’ phenomenal achievements, Americans have witnesses a 41-year-old swimmer, Dara Torres, propel the women’s 4X100-meter free style relay team to a silver metal.
Many sat in awe late Monday night as the American men’s gymnastics team pulled off what many thought was impossible by receiving a bronze medal in the team event. And viewers also had a chance to see the women’s team clinch silver Tuesday night.
We’ve had the privileged to see Katie Hoff, at just 19 years old, swim her way to bronze and silver medals in the Women’s 400-meter Individual Medley and the Women’s 400-meter Freestyle, respectively.
And in case you missed it, the beach volleyball tandem of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh are well on their way to defending their 2004 Olympic Gold medal. Not to mention to “Redeem” team – what the U.S. men’s basketball team is being referred to – is looking better than they have in more than a decade. Make us proud boys and girls; go ahead and add to our 29 total medals thus far in these games – the most by any country.
But while these Games have offered photo finishes in the pool, new world records and numerous reasons for hope, something is still wrong.
The fact is the modern Olympics don’t represent the same ideals as, don’t follow the same guidelines of and don’t mean as much as they did when the Games first originated in ancient Greece.
Of course I am not speaking from personal experience – I was not at the first recorded Games in Olympia – but I think it’s safe to say doping, murder and wars were not part of the original Games.
This year’s Olympic Games witnessed its first doping case during on Monday when Spanish cyclist Maria Isabel Moreno failed a drug test.
The 27-year-old tested positive for a hormone that helps enhance muscles, Erythropoietin. This is the 85th doping case since the International Olympic Committee introduced doping tests in 1968.
While it’s true that getting a competitive advantage is as old as the Games themselves, it is believed that Ancient Greek athletes used specialty diets, caffeine and alcohol to gain an advantage – a far cry from today’s complex performance-enhancing schemes.
Last time I checked, specialty diets of fruit and vegetables and caffeine weren’t banned substances. Alcohol could be on that list, but when you think about it, how much of an advantage could a drunken athlete have in the Olympics?
These games have brought together a country, evoked passion in our citizens and brought the word “patriotic” back to many American homes.
Just driving down my street I find more American flags flying in front yards.
But what really rubs me the wrong way is the violence surrounding the Games.
When countries other than Greece were first allowed to participate in the Games, wars were stopped, and athletes were allowed safe passage. It is said that often athletes were aided by solders from countries with which the athlete’s home nation was at war.
This used to be a time of peace, but it has not been in the modern age.
This year America is still at war with Iraq, and during the past week Georgia and Russia have shed blood as Russia tries to invade Georgia.
War is part of life. But war should never be part of the Olympic Games.
Your country’s athletes are at Beijing alongside other countries’ athletes, and you’re trying to invade their country.
What do you think is going through these athletes’ minds? Especially if they face each other in competition.
President Bush along with Iraqi, Russian and Georgian leaders need to take a piece of advice from ancient Greece: Put the fighting on the back burner for now, and let the Olympic Games shine.
I’m sure your countries soldiers can hold off for the next week and a half.
—-Contact Jay St.Pierre at [email protected]