The 2018 version of the Winter Olympics begins this Friday in PyeongChang, South Korea. It won’t be long before you hear John Williams’ “Olympic Fanfare and Theme” in your sleep based on how much NBC will play it during broadcasts. And that’s not a bad thing.
For many people, watching the Olympics is a huge event. You might find yourself in front of the television every night, hoping to see great athletic endeavors, especially by our home country. NBC will show events on multiple channels and platforms, so you can likely find whatever you want to watch whether it’s ice dancing, hockey, or the luge.
The Winter Olympics don’t seem to garner as much attention as the summer version of the games, but there has been plenty of hype over the upcoming event, due more in part to PyeongChang’s neighbor to the north than based on the athletes participating. Kim Jong Un has been in full peacock mode lately, quickly overshadowing any worries about former Russian athletes who will be participating without benefit of a flag under which to compete due to the drug scandal that rocked that country.
There is a lot of worry that Kim Jong Un will do something crazy since the attention of the world is firmly planted on his part of the planet. He has made some gestures to try and show that all will be peaceful, but then he’ll turn around and talk about running a big military parade with missles to try and scare the Americans.
And goodness knows the leader of the free world won’t be able to stay off Twitter during the festivities. As soon as Kim Jong Un says something, as he will, I’m sure Donald Trump will respond. I wonder if Las Vegas has an over/under line on how many tweets Trump will send out related to the Olympics and the little rocket man.
Is the apocalypse upon us? Will there be mass chaos and destruction at the Olympics? Let’s hope not, and it seems unlikely. Every time there is an Olympics, it seems there is worry and consternation. But most of the time, it is all for naught.
In 1972, the Munich Games were marred with the kidnapping and killing of Israeli athletes by the Black September organization. In 1996, a bomb went off in Atlanta, but didn’t alter any of the events associated with the Olympics. Outside of that, the Olympics have been surprisingly benign. There was boycotting in 1980 and 1984 with the USSR and the USA primping themselves over issues with each other, but most people have felt very safe at an event that has an excess of security involved, no matter where it is located.
The Olympics were put together to try and promote good will and competition between nations. We have our differences with others, but we should try and respect other nations and people and be able to acknowledge great feats that are performed. You know that if you see a great figure skating performance, you will likely remember it long after you’ve forgotten what country the people were from.
We all want the United States to perform well, and it’s likely that we’ll finish near the top of the medal count, due largely to numbers and the money we pump into the training of our athletes. And hopefully we’ll be able to focus on all the great stories that come out of the Olympics. We can see people who have overcome impossible odds to perform at the world’s highest level. We can admire people who have gotten past personal tragedy and devoted their performances to special people in their lives.
It would be nice if politics could stay out of the way for a couple weeks. It would be nice if all countries could live up to the Olympic dream and work together for peace amidst competition. It’s always heartening at any level of sports to see two sides go at it as fiercely as possible and then come together to shake hands at the end. Wouldn’t it be gratifying to see Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump just shake hands and say, “Good game”?
Okay, so that’s not realistic. But hopefully we can see some Korean and American athletes set examples for how their leaders might try to behave. We can compete with each other, but respect for the way of life of people different from us could go a long way to creating a peaceful society. I think we’d all rather see the stories of hope and glory than those of terror and destruction.
I’m sure I’ll watch some curling, even though I don’t understand the scoring. I’ll watch figure skating, even though I don’t appreciate the intricacies of a triple axel. I’ll watch skiing, even though I’ve never even tried to go down a hill on two slim boards. And I’ll hope that peace will come upon the world, at least for the duration of the Winter Olympics.
Word of the Week: This week’s word is latitudinarian, which means open-minded, as in, “The athletes were latitudinarian when meeting other competitors from around the world.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!