Thursday, August 28, 2008

Olympics 08 - medals or world class power??

Okay so the olympics concluded last weekend and boy oh boy dint China give the world a run for their money....China is telling the Western world we were down but we were not out and we are back...so the price tag was at 43 billion okay yes take a deep breath on that one...So as I was watching the games proceed I noticed that most of the matches being aired on nbc were either where an American was participating or a Chinese chap....so it got me thiking Olympic games have become more commerical and a show of prowess than ever...Look at it thiis way it all boils down to money / funding..Okay lets take for example a small weird country on the map with an even weirder name - say Uzbekistan...with a GDP that is slightly higher than what China used in the run up to the Olympics 55billion ..Then we take a look at China and US with GDPs of 10.7 and 13.3 TRILLION...okay so many figures to deal with..okay so the four year run up to the olympics...China and the US are able to train their teams as they have the resources and the manpower and more advanced equipement in sharp contrast to the Afghani football team that is warding off bombshells...Then the other thing how it all boild down to money ..look at all the great runners of the Kenyan team who have defaulted and are runnign for European teams - Dutch, Qatar whyrun up those Rift Valley hills for peanuts instead of running for three times the amount and a better life for you and your family so it all boils down to money...so back at the ranch - birds nest this time.....the U.S and China all throught the Olympics seemed to have been involved in this struggle for gold medals...and to me it looked like a rise as the more stronger world power..Yes alot alot of training and practice went into both teams and I applaud the efforts - Phelps breaking record after record..but my problem is so what about those little countries that have such promising athletes but do not get that in depth training due to lack of resources and equipment??Okay my other problem with the Olympics so after the pomp and gay they usher in the paralympics.....okay so whats up with that picture...reminds me of the book "No feast for Kiungu"..something to do with a guy getting to the party waaay after it is done...so thats what i feel about the Paralympics as much as the initiative is great and the intentions are integrative I do not see why they should have a separate show AFTER the actual olympics...its kind of like a consolation prize so why doesnt IOC find a way of integrating the paralympics into the actual games...so anyway maybe its me just being me but i think there should be a better way of doing it....

1 comment:

Nia said...

Funny, hilarious even...yet true.
This reminds me of some similar sentiments shared by one of my favourite authors on the Sunday nation, one Philip Ochieng', who echoed Socrates'..or Aristotle's(I forget)sentiments on the Olympics.
But you are right. The Olympics unfolded as yet another battle for Superpower sovereignity.What, with such GDPs they could in a combined effort buy out Africa.
Not just Olympics though, pretty much everything else these days that has even a trace of globalization has too many strings attached, it's amazing really!!NGOs disguised as what they are calling GONGOs..Government Organised NGOs....sad really!