There was nothing
like the anticipation that accompanied the London 2012 Olympics. On the
contrary, the lead up, heavily tainted with allegations of doping together with
the more recent expose of systematic doping at country level left many
wondering how 'real' the events were that they were watching. The absolute
focus on winning at any cost both to improve the individuals personal net
worth and to aid the political bragging rights between the top countries had
perhaps stretched the Olympic ideal to its absolute limit.
The Olympics have
always been slightly removed from other sports contests. The central ideals
flow from three core values : Excellence, friendship and respect. Indeed the
official IOC website defines the Olympic Creed as follows:
"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."The pursuit of medals, seemingly at all costs seems to address only the first core value - and often at the expense of the other two.
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| Do Medals Equal Success? Image © KCXD |
As enjoyable as the
Olympics were, success seems to be increasingly seen as the numbers of medals
won - purely measured in terms of the first of the values. Don't get me wrong. I
love that in certain sports we are now the Australia of the '90s. Looking back
at that time, I remember admiring the Australian pure desire to win, the
country's cut throat approach to individuals and sports that didn't make the
mark and then the resulting sporting achievement. I enjoy now our absolute
dominance in sports like cycling (whilst desperately hoping it's not down to
anything other than hard work) and I am fascinated by the focus on concepts
such as marginal gains pioneered in British cycling by Brailsford and now picked
up in hockey and other sports. That idea of
improving every element by 0.1% is something we can all take into our
wider lives. And yet, there is something slightly distasteful about success
purely being measured in terms of the performance of this highly paid, often country
funded group of elite athletes. I cheer
on British medals as much as the next person but I do wonder whether we have
lost sight of the true meaning of success.
Isn't all sport like
that? Purely focussed with a win mentality which drives commercial gain? In
some ways yes. The Premier League is probably the best / worst example. It is
all about the money. Globally marketed clubs mixing on the Stock Exchange
alongside Blue Chip companies, Astronomical TV deals funded by advertisers
desperate to tap in to in to one of the biggest markets in the world. And
individual players understandably making multi millions of pounds to showcase their talent. And the nail in the coffin: the deliberate lack of any filtering down of that money to the pyramid that supports it and
especially to the grass roots (legacy in Olympic terms).
The difference
between the Olympics and the Premier
League though is that the latter makes no real pretence of this. It’s a money
making machine. It was formed by the top clubs purely for that aim. The side
effect of producing potentially one of the best leagues in the world is purely
that - merely an enabler to create wealth. It even goes further than that -
when it was set up it deliberately changed the model of cascading funding
through the game with the view that actually the lower leagues could fend for
themselves. The Olympics though should be different - it has not come from the
same commercially driven values.
There were examples
of the true Olympic spirit during Rio - Nikki Hamblin sacrificing her race to
pick up Abbey D'Agostino after they had
tangled and fallen, plucky performances from the 'Refugee' nationality and some
amazing performances for some of Britain's younger athletes - as yet seemingly
untainted by the commercial side of sport. I'm not backing a return to the days
of amateur only entrants: It’s a strange
dichotomy. The Olympics are now successful because they are a showcase of the best in (most) sport.
That drives the viewing figures, it drives the investment at country level to
increase the medal counts and it makes for some incredible top class
competition. On the other hand, it also moves it far from its ideals.
Excellence is now everything The medal
winners are rich athletes, many of them celebrities, some of whom even choose
whether the Olympics is even worth fitting into their competition schedule.
My point here is not
about changing the Olympics - it is increasingly a great spectacle, although
the
continuing weak stance on doping from the governing body could ruin that.
Perhaps though it's worth looking at our definition of success. When I think of the Olympics 'the taking part
that counts' motto is foremost in my mind. We seem to have forgotten that
element in the pursuit of winning and winning increasingly at all costs.
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| Sportsmanship creates Inspiration Image © Edson Hong |
