Notes on the 30th Modern Olympic Games
In a few hours, we’ll bid so long to another summer Olympics. I always hate to say goodbye; I sorely miss them when they’re gone. The concept of being that good at anything is so impressive to me; I have to think that we all feel the same type of inspiration.
I’ll leave this subject with a couple of notes, both of them items that appear to be gone forever in the televised coverage of the Games:
Gone are the days of controversy. We didn’t detect a nanosecond of an American calling himself the greatest (or even good), or suggesting that one participant was sure to win or lose, or, God forbid, of bringing up an issue that could have the most remote political implication. In interviews in which two people from the same team were interviewed on camera, we could plainly see the one who was not speaking looking expectantly and fearfully at the other, as if to say, “Please be careful; PLEASE don’t say anything wrong here.” Perhaps the 1968 Games in Mexico City was the high-water mark of using the Olympics to make such statements. London was distinctly the low-water mark. It’s not a great reflection on our times that this needs to be such a sterile experience. (more…)