Faster, Higher, Stronger

The Olympics are here again, and I have to greet their return with a hearty, "So what?"! I realize I am in a small minority of people who really couldn't care less about the quadrennial athletic contests, and if they were discontinued altogether it would take me four years to notice. I think the Olympics make a great secondary program to flip to during commercials. I can't be totally alone in this viewpoint because one story I read mentioned how other networks are not conceding ratings to NBC this year and they are showing new programming to counter Olympic coverage.
The hype during the Olympic Games is off the charts, and mostly unmerited. During these two weeks stars are created, idols are elevated and heroes are worshiped. The trouble is that these athletes don't deserve our adulation during this stretch any more or less than they did during their training. Remember Apolo Ohno? He was the USA speedskating hope during the previous Olympics, and he delivered on his potential by winning gold. He's back, and he's trying to win another gold medal this time. During the last four years he didn't stop skating, but did we stop caring about him or stop paying attention to him? I haven't even heard his name in the last four years, but suddenly he's everywhere. I wish him good luck, but I don't care one way or the other if he wins. I don't think many people care if he wins or not, but we cheer him and others on pretending to be fans of the niche sports like speed skating or snowboarding when the reality is many events in the Olympics are things we didn't even know were sports. How many people in the world participate in curling? Ice dancing? Biathalon? I would guess the number is slightly higher than the number of Olympic participants in each sport. There is a USA speedskater (whose name escapes me) that took up the sport after watching the Games four years ago. This weekend he won a gold medal. To me, that doesn't speak so highly of his achievement as much as it speaks of the severe lack of competition in the sport of speedskating, that a relative newcomer can rise to the top in such a short amount of time.
Of course, the Story this week is the withdrawal and probable retirement of Michelle Kwan. She got on the Olympic team by the skin of her teeth on the strength of her reputation. In fairness to her, that reputation is spectacular. She is a nine time US champion and a five time world champion in figure skating, and she's won a silver and a bronze medal in previous Olympics. The Hollywood ending for this year would have been for Kwan to finally capture her elusive Olympic gold medal. Injuries have caused her to withdraw from competition, the result of which is a barrage of Michelle Kwan retrospective news features. She is being compared to the likes of Ernie Banks, or Dan Marino, or Karl Malone, those elite competitors who dominated their sports but never succeeded on their sports' "biggest stage". Granted, I don't hold her in such esteem because of my bias against her sport, but I still think such comparisons are ill conceived. Unlike Banks, she made it to the biggest stage. Unlike Marino, she made it several times. Judging her as a human being who has committed half her lifetime to competing at a world class level, I feel badly that she will be unable to take one more shot at her dream. Judging her as an inspirational object of praise or hero-worship, I think she falls short. She knew she was not fully healthy during qualifying for the US team. A little bit of politicking landed her on the team, and now she's going home having wasted her trip to Italy. Her spot is being filled by Emily Hughes, the younger sister of the 2002 Olympic champion, Sarah Hughes. She, of course, is very excited to join the team in Turin, but Kwan's selfish attempt to extend her career cost Hughes the experience of participating in the opening ceremony last week. Part of her Olympic Experience has been taken from her. She may return to future Games, she's only 17 after all, but there was no reason for her to not be on the team from the beginning. That isn't an inspirational story to me, it's a disappointing one. We the public should be just as excited for Hughes the rookie as we purport to be for Kwan the veteran.
The attempt here is not to denigrate MIchelle Kwan for pursuing her Olympic dreams. She has dedicated her life to achieving athletic success, and she wanted one more chance. If I were in her skates, I might do the same. My point is that her choices regarding the Olympics this year were self-serving, not inspirational. The hype machine put too much importance on her quest for Olympic gold for her to rationally consider her options. She is given too much credit for trying to tough out this failed attempt instead of being chastised for punishing the more deserving teammate by taking her spot. Both women deserved better than this episode has given them. Kwan deserved a hero's farewell for a wonderful career, but she is limping off into the sunset instead. Hughes deserved the full experience of her first Olympics. Before we all put our Olympic athletes on too high a pedestal, we would do well to remember that even though these are the Games, they are still just games.