Summer Games Recap

The 2008 Beijing Olympics ended Sunday and from a sports standout the 17 days provided us with great achievements and memories. I will leave up to others to address issues like Human Rights and democracy because at the end of the day the Olympics should be about sports and competition and from that standpoint these games were outstanding.

The Olympics will never hold the significance and meaning they once did simply because times have changed. No longer is it a competition featuring amateur athletes and you certainly don’t have that country versus country backdrop like you did at one time. How many times did you see a foreign athlete introduced who attended college in the United States? There are also too many sports where the athletes are wealthy pros like basketball and tennis.

But instead of criticizing the Olympics I’m here to praise what was a marvelous two-week extravaganza. I can’t tell you how many people I have talked with who are not necessarily big sports fans yet found themselves locked in front of the TV every night. This was especially true during the first week when much of the swimming and gymnastics was shown live at night and we could watch in suspense. Michael Phelps became a household name and lived up to all the hype and more. Families debated the scoring in gymnastics as well as the age of the Chinese women…or should I say girls. Maybe more than anything else these two-plus weeks brought families together across this country with parents and children watching television together…something that does not happen all that often.

The Olympics give a grand stage to sports that most of us don’t pay that much attention to and we’re introduced to athletes that frankly perform in anonymity most of the time. Usain Bolt is not a sports energy drink but the world’s fastest man and next to Phelps the biggest star of these games.

I will also steal an observation from a friend who I think summed it up very well. You look at athletes from most of the other countries and they often look all the same. But the athletes that represent the United States are very different….white, black, Asian, Hispanic…you name it. Maybe it’s our greatest achievement and more important than the medal count.