Olympic Failure

The IOC’s Epic Fail

The 2012 Summer Olympic Games are already underway, even as the official opening ceremony is yet to occur.  Over the next 17 or so days, sports fans and patriots across the world will be committing a significant amount of time and energy following their country’s teams in their various competitions.  With extremely rare exception, I will not be among them.

I have been ambivalent about the Olympic Games for years.  Don’t get me wrong:  I appreciate celebrating the incredible athleticism and the human spirit of the competitors and often find the back-stories of many athletes heartwarming. Yet even so, I have often wondered about the economics of the Olympics.  While I am sure that it generates incredible revenue, I wonder if it makes a positive difference in the lives of the citizens of the host country.  Will a bus driver in Liverpool or a dishwasher in Leeds see an increase in their standard of living because of the London Olympics?  Then there are expenses as well.  I have wondered for years if the money spent of grandiose ceremonies, construction of expensive Olympic Villages that will have limited use following the Games, or even the security necessary for the events would be better off spent feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, or housing the homeless.

Beyond the fiscal imperative of the Games, I take exception to the overt politicization of them. The Olympics have long been more about politics and international relations than about the sports.  Consider the desire of the Nazis to showcase their Aryan master race in ’38, or the Cold War dynamics played out at the Games for decades between NATO and Warsaw Pact countries.  The Games were simply a pretext for larger political statements.

In short, the Games have been a showcase for much more than athletic prowess.  The only thing that seems to be in short supply at the Olympics is any moral grounding within the International Olympic Committee.

In this case I’m not talking about the endemic corruption of the IOC which surfaces with almost with almost every selection process.  I’m talking specifically about the IOC’s refusal to allow a simple, single minute of the opening ceremonies to be devoted to the worst tragedy in Olympic history, the murder of the 11 Israeli Olympic team members at the 1972 Munich games.

IOC president Jacques Rogge has consistently ignored the calls for EU and US politicians to include the commemoration.  His position is that it wouldn’t be appropriate.  But as AOL FanHouse columnist David Whitley has noted, “He apparently forgot about the moment of silence for the besieged city of Sarajevo at the start of the 1984 Winter Games. And the moment of silence at the close of the 1996 Games for victims of the Centennial Park bombing. And Rogge has certainly forgotten the opening of the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. A tattered American flag recovered from the World Trade Center on 9-11 was carried around the stadium. It was then raised as the official U.S. flag.”  Whitley goes on to note that reporter Bob Costas will make it a point to note the refusal of the IOC to commemorate the attack’s 40^th anniversary during the opening ceremony.  God bless Bob Costas for his commitment of answer truth to power, by bringing into tens of millions of homes that which the IOC prefers to ignore.

Yes, there was a moment of silence at the Athlete’s Village.  Around 100 people were in attendance. It was barely announced, received little attention and even less press coverage, and was ignored by such dear friends of democracy and freedom Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab world. Whitley quotes one Saudi spokesman on record as saying “What service?  What shootings?”

Tracee Hamilton of The Washington Post succinctly noted the core of the issue for many people.  “By refusing to honor these athletes, the IOC dishonors them. A moment of silence at the Athletes’ Village, a reception on Aug. 6, a ceremony in Munich next month — all of these are empty gestures because the world isn’t watching. The world was watching 40 years ago, breathless and praying, when those athletes were taken from the Olympic Village and killed by terrorists. They deserve better than that as their epitaphs.”

There is little that will change the minds of the IOC, protected as they are by the luster of the Games.  I don't believe in boycotting the sponsoring companies. Further, most companies won't give up the chance to be an Olympic sponsor. Worse, any fiscal impact would likely be absorbed by OPEC and other entities who would welcome the chance to extend their influence among the IOC. Finally, the idea of boycotting the entire games like the US did for the Moscow '84 games needs to be reserved.

Ultimately I have no real solutions to offer, other than to emulate Bob Costa’s willingness to answer truth to power: The IOC is a collection of morally bankrupt oligarchs on the take.  Its intransigence to honor the Israeli athletes slain at the Munich Games is a travesty to their memories, and an affront to the purported values of the Games themselves.

For Tracee Hamilton’s article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/london-2012-ioc-is-stubbornly-offensive-for-openers/2012/07/25/gJQABqfO9W_story.html?tid=wp_ipad

For David Whitley’s article:
http://aol.sportingnews.com/olympics/story/2012-07-27/olympics-2012-opening-ceremony-time-munich-massacre-moment-of-silence-israel