O: Olympics

I have been an Olympics junkie for as long as I can remember. It all started with figure skating. My parents signed us up for skating lessons when I was six and The Sister was four. As it happened, the next year was the 1988 Olympics - The Battle of the Brians, The Battle of the Carmens, the first Olympic gold for Gordeeva and Grinkov. The Olympics that year were in Calgary, and we were too young to stay up and watch the skating, but my parents taped it for us. I'm pretty sure that we still have the tapes lying around my parents' house somewhere. We watched those tapes constantly - we loved Gordeeva and Grinkov's short program (and the ski jumping that followed it), Brian Boitano and Brian Orser battling for the gold medal in the men's competition, and Katarina Witt, Midori Ito, and Elizabeth Manley in the ladies' final. 

I remember watching part of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul - mostly the diving, I remember Greg Louganis hitting his head against the springboard and coming back to win the gold. Since then I've watched every Olympics - Kristi Yamaguchi in Albertville in 1992, Shannon Miller in Barcelona in 1992, Gordeeva and Grinkov again in Lillehammer 1994, the women's gymnastic team in Atlanta 1996, Tara Lipinski and Michelle Kwan in Nagano 1998, Sydney in 2000, Sarah Hughes amazing free skate in Salt Lake City in 2002, Paul Hamm's All-Around victory in Athens in 2004, and of course Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto's ice dance from Turin in 2006. There's been a lot of talk this week from the European Union about potential boycotts of the Olympics this summer in Beijing. I understand the reasons - human rights violations, refusal to recognize Tibet as an independent country, censorship, and many other illegalities. But what would boycotting do? It would prevent thousands of talented athletes from showcasing their talents on a world stage, talents which may not be around in four years in London. Divers, swimmers, gymnasts, track and field stars - athletes in these events only have a few good years. And they may not still be competing in four more years. So don't make the athletes pay for the failures and unethical decisions of the Chinese government. 

I'll be watching the Games in Beijing this summer, and I hope every country's athletes get to be there competing and marching in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. 

links: technorati