Olympic Proportions

It’s here! London 2012, the Summer Games of the XXX Olympiad, opened this past Friday night to the familiar strains of composer, John Williams’ “Olympic Fanfare and Theme” and a worldwide audience of billions. The nearly four hour extravaganza that followed cost millions of dollars to produce and involved thousands of performers. Everything in recent Olympic history has been done on a scale and proportion that seems out of sync with the original intent and spirit of the ancient games.

The modern Olympic games are often marketed as a place where amateur athletes gather for the thrill of competition, the opportunity to push themselves both physically and mentally, and to celebrate the effort rather than the outcome. While this may be true, it is hard not to notice the emphasis on winning and the commercialization that surrounds these events every four years. The staggering 15 billion (estimated) that Britain has invested in the Summer Games is an example of how skewed the proportions of hosting this event have become.

I confess to being competitive myself, although I never played organized sports. It is certainly fun to win and who doesn’t enjoy the accolades that accompany being first in any endeavor? With more than 10,000 athletes competing in the Summer Games only a handful will earn any medals. In every event someone will finish last, or perhaps not at all. Where is the sense of proportion for these competitors? Will they be remembered for their effort and welcomed home regardless of where they placed?

Maybe the reason we have allowed an international event like the Olympic Games to grow so out of proportion is because we have lost our perspective as peoples and nations on so many other things. Consider how much we spend on military armaments each year or how little we invest in the conditions that breed fear and violence. If you live in a developed country reflect on your personal effort to sustain a certain lifestyle while billions of people live in abject poverty every day.

Will the billions spent to host London 2012 be a good investment? Four years from now in Rio de Janeiro don’t be surprised to discover that our sense of proportion hasn’t changed very much. The price tag will be higher, the glitz and glitter of the opening ceremony even more opulent. Somewhere in the storyline will be the same group of athletes who show up to play the game with no expectation of winning. Let’s all learn from them.