Fri, 29 Mar 2024 Today's Paper

THE OLYMPICS: THE FAME AND THE SHAME - EDITORIAL

By

21 August 2016 11:38 pm - 1     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

A A A

he 2016 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXXI Olympiad and commonly referred to as Rio 2016, came to an end yesterday.  This year’s Games produced more than its share of controversy, commencing with Team Australia  charging their quarters were inadequate and incomplete, to a few American athletes attempting to tarnish the host nation by making spurious claims of being mugged to cover up some of the shameful and nefarious activities they had been up to on the night before. 
Despite the initial controversy the Games produced two legends, –Usain Bolt from Jamaica- who in an era tainted by drug scandals has stood clean, head and shoulders above his fellow-competitors as a role model for children the world over. 
The man has done what no man has ever done before –three gold medals in each event he participated at three consecutive Games. The other was –swimmer Michael Phelps of the US- who together with Bolt did their homelands and world of sports proud. Both athletes retire at the end of this Olympic Games.The Olympic Games, yesterday, today and in the future is the timeless quest for excellence in sport. Despite modern-day Olympics being tainted by drug abuse, despite huge problems of cost associated with hosting the Games, the Olympic Games remain, for athletes and spectators alike, the highest point of competition and achievement.

 

 


The forerunner of today’s Olympic Games were a series of athletic competitions among representatives of city-states of Ancient Greece, with the first Olympics believed to have been held around 776 BC at Olympia. The victors at these Games were honoured and their feats recorded for future generations. The victor’s prize was an olive leaf crown. 
An Olympic truce was declared in times of unrest, so competitors could travel in safety from their cities to the games. Much water has flowed under the bridge since the days when athletes vied for olive leaf crowns and the Games were a means of bringing people together and athletes respected decisions taken by administrators of the Games.
The Olympics in an earlier era, was sport for sport’s sake, not for monetary gain. 
Avery Brundage, IOC president (1952-1972) in 1955, commenting on the need to keep big money out of the Olympics said  “…the principles of fair play and sportsmanship embodied in the amateur code is an effort to prevent the Games from being used by individuals, organizations or nations for ulterior motives.”But the Olympic games lost its innocence and purity when the IOC made the controversial decision to change a rule which governed the Games –the one rule that always governed the Olympic Games was that ONLY amateur athletes were permitted to compete. 
This was what made the Olympic Games unique. No professionals were allowed to compete. Athletes who accepted even commercial endorsements had no place in the Games. 

 

 


The entry of professionalism, television and State-sponsored athletes to the Olympics opened the floodgates to the use performance enhancing drugs and the principle of win at any cost into the Games. Today’s sports is a conundrum of drug-fuelled athletes -from Canada’s infamous Ben Jhonson whose eviction at the Korea Games  gave the general public its first insight into the state of corruption in the sanctified arena of the Olympic Games, to the more recent expulsion of almost the entire Russian team at this year’s Olympics.
This year’s Games witnessed ugly scenes where a particular athlete called a competitor from another country a cheat, but went on to call fellow-members of her own team cheats, who should not have been permitted to participate. This despite the governing body of the Games –the International Olympic Committee (IOC)- clearing them to compete.
But then again standards at the Games governing body itself have fallen. Even while the current Games were in progress, a member of the governing body was taken into custody for running a scam on the sale of tickets! a far cry from the days of the group known as the “Sixteen Women” were made administrators of the Games in AD 175 -for their role as peacemakers at a time of conflict between the cities of Pisa and Elis- and because of their political competence.

It is time authorities relook the Olympian spirit enshrined in the first two principles of Olympism:

  • Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole, the qualities of body, will and mind. Blending sport with culture and education…” “… social responsibility and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles. 
  • The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind.

Order Gifts and Flowers to Sri Lanka. See Kapruka's top selling online shopping categories such as Toys, Grocery, Kids Toys, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Clothing and Electronics. Also see Kapruka's unique online services such as Money Remittence,Astrology, Courier/Delivery, Medicine Delivery and over 700 top brands. Also get products from Amazon & Ebay via Kapruka Gloabal Shop into Sri Lanka

  Comments - 1

Order Gifts and Flowers to Sri Lanka. See Kapruka's top selling online shopping categories such as Toys, Grocery, Kids Toys, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Clothing and Electronics. Also see Kapruka's unique online services such as Money Remittence,Astrology, Courier/Delivery, Medicine Delivery and over 700 top brands. Also get products from Amazon & Ebay via Kapruka Gloabal Shop into Sri Lanka
  • Gregory de silva Monday, 22 August 2016 07:41 PM

    Hope our guys will understand ur beautiful editorial.Thank u for writing this...Gregory


Add comment

Comments will be edited (grammar, spelling and slang) and authorized at the discretion of Daily Mirror online. The website also has the right not to publish selected comments.

Reply To:

Name - Reply Comment





Order Gifts and Flowers to Sri Lanka. See Kapruka's top selling online shopping categories such as Toys, Grocery, Kids Toys, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Clothing and Electronics. Also see Kapruka's unique online services such as Money Remittence,Astrology, Courier/Delivery, Medicine Delivery and over 700 top brands. Also get products from Amazon & Ebay via Kapruka Gloabal Shop into Sri Lanka

VAT increase: SOUNDs death knell for publishers, readers

Though the Government imposed VAT (Value Added Tax) on vegetables and other e

How female change-makers are driving Sri Lanka’s energy saving platform

Saving energy has become more of a responsibility than a habit in today’s c

A dull Ramadan awaits Muslims amidst the Soaring Cost of Living

In the coming days, Muslims across the world will welcome the Holy Month of R

New wildlife underpass to curtail HEC

As of February 2024, Sri Lanka lost another 38 elephants as a result of the H

MIRROR CRICKET

More