It’s a baffling thing but the gathering billed as being the world’s most exciting sports event hasn’t even raised a frisson of interest in me.
I’ve never been exactly sporty (on field or off) but the Olympics always had that magical combination of heart-in-the-mouth sporting moments and spectacle.
Maybe it’s the pre-event whingeing and pettiness on the part of some athletes that’s tarnished the whole thing. Or the usual catalogue of scandals (and they haven’t even discovered the bribes and back-handers that will no doubt eventually be revealed), or the gushing from the cavalcade of sports commentators lined up outside an iconic British location explaining just how excited they are to be there. The chronic overuse of the word hero.
Maybe, it’s just all too much in these days when first world countries are on their uppers, and millions in the third world countries are starving, scared and homeless.
I know all the arguments about how winning just one medal at an event like the Olympics can supercharge the morale of a country doing it tough. And about how Olmpic programs have created opportunities for generations of young athletes who otherwise might never have progressed in their sport. And how good it is for the economy of the host country.
Perhaps once the opening ceremony starts I’ll be oohing and aahing with the most ardent Olympic tragic. Maybe I’ll be overwhelmed with sporting passion and patriotic fervour for the green and gold.
I hope so. Because at the moment i think it’s a terrible waste of money like a giant, very expensive firework that will for a couple of weeks burn bright inthe sky and then fizzle and pop.
Perhaps the special Olympics can re-charge this jaded heart.
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