The Olympics

The Olympics start next Friday in Beijing and the slew of stories about Human Rights abuses in China has been relentless this week. It seems like having the Olympics in China is the sporting equivalent of taking a vegetarian to a steakhouse. It is just wrong.

The symbol if the 5 interlocking Olympic Rings are supposed to symbolize the unity of 5 continents. The games are supposed to be about goodwill and sportsmanship. It appears that these games will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.

It's a shame because when I was a kid I always looked forward to the Olympics, some of my fondest memories are the battles between Daley Thompson and Jurgen Hingsen in the decathlon and watching Ed Moses win the 400 meter hurdles. I still remember the outcry in the UK after Thompson won the gold medal and whistled his way through the national anthem.

It was two weeks when there was always something decent to watch on TV, it was summer and you were on the school holidays. What could be better?

Well, maybe it is just because I am getting old and jaded, but the Olympics just aren't the same. Firstly, there is the continuing drug issues, but besides that it seems that the personalities have all gone from the sports too. All the athletes are walking billboards for Nike or Adidas, I miss the old days when the news stories leading up to the games would be all about the bank manager who is going to be competing in the high dive competition, or the estate agent who qualified for the javelin. It gave you a much stronger connection t0 the athletes, made you feel like they were real people and not drug-addled supermen with swoosh logos on their chest.