I still can’t believe it will be in Beijing. Every week it’s another fucking issue about the Chinese gov’t. cracking down on dissent and being very controlling. Duh. Maybe they should hold future Olympics in Pyongyang, Riyadh, or Khartoum. Sheesh.
But really gets me is Becky Hammon. It sucks that the USA didn’t put her on the team. Probably, she should have been. But this is not free agency. You don’t just get to pick another team when your favorite passes you over. It would be more palatable if she had Russian ancestry. If she likes Russia so much, she should move there full time. Plus, she had to pick our former arch nemesis!(Ok, so the Cold War has been over for almost 20 years.)
In brief, she is an American basketball player. She is a native of South Dakota. She plays in the WNBA. She was runner-up MVP in that league. She was left off the US Olympic team. So, she decided to get Russian citizenship and play for them.
This sort of thing is old hat in the Olympics. There was the case of the Austrian skier Marc Girardelli who had some falling-out with the Austrian ski team, so he ended up at the Olympics playing for the team of Luxembourg. Luxembourg, which has no downhill ski runs at all!
I still don’t understand why professional athletes are allowed to compete in the Olympics in the first place. I thought it was supposed to be for amateur athletes only. (Although considering the amount of government subsidies some countries provide, I think even the definition of “amateur” is pretty flexible.)
I don’t care if the Olympics are being held in Utopia city, capital of Freedomland. They still suck. The opening ceremony is so bombastic it makes a Celine Dion concert seem like chamber music. It has elements desgned by the Nazis, for crying out loud. Then there is the endless footage of medal ceremonies, treacly documentaries, and maybe, if you don’t blink, three or four minutes of sports no one gives a shit about.
I keep hearing about how the runners and outdoor events athletes are worried that they won’t be able to breathe the polluted air. The Olympic champion in the 10,000, Haile Gebrselassie, won’t run in the marathon because the air is too fucked up and might drop out of the 10,000 too. They are all excited when they can see blue sky. I realize that only the endurance athletes are going to be seriously affected, but why the fuck would they choose to have the Olympics in a place where the health of some of the athletes is compromised by breathing there?
I know the answer is probably money. But it seems crazy to me.
Just a note about Becky Hammon. She didn’t not get picked for the USA team and go get a Russian citizenship so she could play with them. She has had a Russian citizenship since early 2008, before she knew she wouldn’t be picked. She has a dual citizenship, she didn’t get picked for the USA team, and she has ties to Russia. Why not play for them? She plays basketball in Russia in the off-season from the WNBA. A lot of WNBA players play overseas during the WNBA off-season because the WNBA pays crap. Also, they are actually popular over there. They have a lot of fans that love them. As an athlete I can’t blame her. I believe her when she says, “I want to just play basketball.”
That’s your opinion. I love the Olympics. I’ve been watching them regularly since 1972. I have a collection of books on the history of the Olympics.
Edited to add: I’ve been lucky enough to actually be living in two different cities when they each hosted the games, and got to attend many events. I was in Monteal in 1976, and in Los Angeles in 1984. Both were unforgettable.
Interestingly, up until now I’ve had about zero interest in the Olympics. Nothing bad about them, just not my bag.
But the fact that the next Olympics will be in Beijing? Massively interesting to me. I’ve been following the protests so far with great interest. I can’t wait to see what happens when the games actually start.
…not that I want to see the Chinese government clubbing people over the head, but there are serious human rights issues within China and I’d love to see them all blow up in protests when the games start.
My hope is that out of the possible chaos will come some genuine change within China’s government.
In Coubertin’s vision, athletes should be gentlemen. Initially, only amateurs were considered such; professional athletes were not allowed to compete in the Olympic Games. A short-lived exception was made for professional fencing instructors.[53]
This exclusion of professionals has caused several controversies throughout the history of the modern Olympics.
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Take a look at some of the amateur controversies in the NCAA. Now imagine that over the entire globe, with hundreds of different countries, each with different infrastructures and definitions.
You know how how population growth is illustrated by the example of how long would it take every person in China to walk past a certain point? I think that’s going to be the opening ceremony (with fireworks, though.)
All the equestrian events are going to be held in Hong Kong, because Beijing is not considered safe for horses, and any horses competing there would have to be held in quarantine for months before being allowed to compete anywhere else. Nice job, guys.
I hope no athletes get sick from the pollution. I also hope some news agency has the guts to report from someplace the government doesn’t want them to, and create a nice incident.