Bill Sykes' Newsletter from America.
(March 2002)
An ex-Brit gives his views-(without fear
or favor)---of the American Scene
The Winter Olympics.
 The
good news:
The"Winter Olympic Games" in Salt Lake City, recently
renamed the "Crying Games", are over.
In a number of cases, the athletes cried when they won and
shed torrents of tears when they lost.
The bad news:
The standards, and fairness of judging certain events has
once again come into question, which has caused much dissent,
anguish, and controversy amongst the spectators, competing
athletes and even amongst the countries who's athletes took
part in the events.
The setting of a precedent by the Olympic Committee in the
issuance of "Double Gold Medals" (to the Russian
and Canadian Ice Skaters), is certain to have serious repercussions.
Already, an Olympic Boxer of the 1980s has said that he
"Wuz robbed" and is demanding a re-evaluation.
Comment:
I always thought, (naively perhaps), that the original intent
of the Olympic Games was for athletes to compete against
each other in a manner of complete sportsmanship. Unfortunately,
each time the Games are held new sports are introduced and
the win at all costs syndrome appears to have tainted the
initial intent.
 I
remember that even in the days of the great athlete Jessie
Owens series of triumphs (*) in the 1936 Olympic
Games, held in Berlin, Germany, that the nations of the
world were already starting to sponsor their athletes by
the provision of training and coaching facilities and were
becoming obsessed with the prestige of winning the highest
number of medals.
Since then, the same facilities have been provided and
sponsored, not only by governments, but also by Universities
and members of the private sector.
Would you believe that I heard one competitor talking about
a substance, which he used for enhancing the performance
of his skis. Apparently this substance cost about $400 per
ounce and only lasted for a short period of time.
Can one safely bet that the producer of this substance will
advertise its merits, if and when the athlete is fortunate
enough to win a gold medal?
 Then
of course there is the continuing controversy of the "other"
illegal substances, which we will not go into at this juncture.
The performance by all the athletes cannot be faulted as
they were as usual magnificent and are a credit to the nations
to which they belong. The judging of several events has
been somewhat tainted by the apparent political pressures
that some of the judges appear to have been placed under,
resulting in several questionable decisions.
Thank goodness the games were not disrupted by terrorist
actions, and that political incidents have been avoided.
I watched an American program "Sixty Minutes"
the other evening, (The nearest British equivalent I guess
would be "Panorama", with Richard Dimbleby---see,
I haven't lost all my marbles yet when I can remember Panorama
and Richard Dimbleby---tell me, does Panorama still exist),
and a segment of the program was dedicated to the promoters
of Olympic Games potential venues giving away large sums
of money to representatives of poorer nations, who haven't
got a hope in hell of being able to host the Olympic Games
, in order to get their votes for the selection of their
venue for the Olympic Games.
Apparently it works like this, representatives of cities
competing for Olympic Games venues, apparently give away
large sums of money, and equivalents, such as the price
of a college education, first class air travel tickets,
ritzy hotel accommodations, cash free shopping sprees, etc
to poor nation representatives for their votes.
The unspoken words apparently indicate that they expect
nothing in return, but the recipients of the cash, or equivalents,
have votes and of course know perfectly well that there
are no free lunches.
 Question:
Do you think that it's about time that the "Cash Cow"
Olympic Games are terminated, and wouldn't it be appropriate
that the final Summer Games be held in Athens in 2004. How
about some feedback on the subject.
(*) Jessie Owens won four Gold Medals at the 1936
Berlin Olympics and set Olympic and World records.
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