The Case for Olympic Gold

As I write this, and the fantastic amendments to the list of book fair attendees continue to come in, the Olympics are still raging. Tonight, however it will come to an end.

Watching a wee bit this morning, I saw a medal being presented to a victorious Russian Federation athlete, whilst in the background, the strains of the national anthem played, an anthem I always associate with the Soviet Union, filled the stadium. For me, it was a reminder that at any Olympics, politics lurks everywhere, despite what might be claimed.

While some are commenting on the best and worst of the games themselves, let me just hand out a few medals to the Olympic Organisations as well, for excellence in self delusion of being politically neutral in the face of strong evidence to the contrary:

Bronze Medal: to Team sports based on national boundaries for selection. While one could argue that for any two athletes to get together, it probably needs them to be in the same country, but surely if the Olympics was not about political boundaries and was more about individual achievement, these sports wouldn't really be in there.

Silver Medal: to those nations entering the arena on opening night under the Olympic flag (hello Chinese Taipei!). If you can't come in under your own flag in a supposedly neutral environment, politics is definitely playing its part.

Gold Medal: to the Australian comedy series The Games. TVNZ is repeating it far too late at night on TVNZ 6, and were I not keen to get before midnight, I would want to re-experience it myself. Watch it, laugh and weep.

Verdict: The Olympics is as much about politics and big business as it is about sport. But the chance to see athletes from all over the world compete together, challenging each other to perform their best... well, that is definitely worth a gold medal.