With the Hype Bowl (sorry, I meant Super Bowl) now over, we can now look forward to the opening of the winter Olympics in Torino. From now until the closing ceremony, there will be discussions on which country will win the most medals, who will rise from obscurity to being world-renowed, which records will be broken, who will be caught cheating, and whether there will be another debacle like Skategate (I am certian most Canadians remember what happened).
The Olympics offers the public a chance to follow sports that are rarely covered in the 1400 days or so between each Olympiad, winter or summer — it may be the only time many people actually follow sports such as bobsleigh, ski jumping, biathlon, and mountain biking (while there are international events in each of the aforementioned events, the number of people who follow the sports almost always is at the highest during the Olympics). Throughout the Games we get to see features on athletes. These often chronicles their upbringing, those who inspire and help them reach the world stage, and how they reach their current status as elite athletes. Many of us sports fans, me included, often forget that most athletes are not much different from us. They often hold regular jobs, struggle to balance between training and other aspects of life such as family. These features often serve as reminders that most athletes are humble, hard-working individuals who participated because of their love of the sport (often forgotten among sports fans because most of us follow professional sports exclusively).
For most athletes participating, the Olympics may be their only chance to be on the world stage. While many athletes say that they are excited to be participating in the Olympics in public, I am sure they are quite nervous as well. After all, one mistake may undo years of hard work and the athlete would have to wait another four years to have another shot at Olympic glory. On the other hand, when athletes achieve victory, they join a small group of people who have triumphed and their achievement is marked for all to see (assuming, of course, that they competed cleanly). Maybe that is why so many athletes' faces become emotion-filled when they exceed all expectations or fall short of their goal.
The Olympics is supposed not to allow any professional to participate. However, there are now some sports where professionals are allowed to take part. Some argue that pros should be allowed to particpate because they should be allowed to represent their country and gives an opportunity for the public to see the best players take on each other, while others counter that there are already world cups in those sports that provides a venue for a best-on-best competition. They also claim that the pros' participation means that only the superpowers of the sport get the opportunity to reach the top. I tend to be on the side of only allowing amateurs to participate, since the pros have many appearences in the spotlight, while Olympics may be the only chance for most amateur athletes to perform in front of the world.
Of course, sponsership, doping and judging controversies also go hand-in-hand with the Olympics, but maybe we can try to watch the athleticism and deterimation of the participants for a change. After all, we have 900 days or so (before the next Olympiad in Beijing) to talk about what is wrong with the Olympics.