I love the Olympics. I LOOOVE the Olympics. I LOVE LOVE LURRRVVV THE OLYMPICS! Every four years around August my life comes to a screeching halt. My social life drowns, crickets chirp on my work desk, and my skin turns a pasty pale television tan color. And honestly, I'm not even much of a sports fan! The only sport I play regularly is ultimate frisbee (not considered a real sport by most Americans since there's no blood and no excuse to drink beer) and sometimes soccer. The only time I watch baseball and football is with friends as an excuse to scream unwarranted profanities at complete strangers.
So if not about the sport, then what? After all, the Olympics is an event about sports! In a word, for the humanity of it. The drama - the intimate human facet that gets unveiled at every single Olympic event is what I cherish.
For me, the Olympic games is not an event about sport, but rather about showcasing human excellence - a manifestation of what we can be, what we should be, and what we (hopefully) will become. The Olympics is all about overcoming limitations - physical and mental "cannots" that define the status quo and waving your gold emblem of defiance, telling the world that what was impossible only moments before is now a memory. Athletes pour their bodies and souls training for a fleeting opportunity to discover for themselves what the definition of "impossible" truly is. Essentially, the Olympics is about heroes, to let us know that we as a people can achieve better, do better, and that such a future is within our grasp if we want it enough.The Olympic Games speak volumes about humanity and hope. While people go to the Olympics in search of triumph and victory, they ultimately find self discovery and new friends. Despite language barriers, cultural differences, and the heat of competition, athletes recognize in their rivals the dedication and the countless hours of toil because they themselves have all endured the same undertaking. The Olympics is less about competing against rivals as it is about discovering what yourself is capable of. Victories are not so much personal achievements as they are achievements shared by a country, an ethnicity, a people, and a community. Achievements are statements about the frailty of limitations and the ambiguity of cannot.
True Olympic immortality transcends languages, political borders, cultural lines, faiths, and the negligible misunderstandings of history. This year, the 29th Olympiad will be hosted by the city of my birth. Many believed that Beijing was not wealthy enough, not organized enough, not politically open enough, and not clean enough to host the Olympics. But the Olympics are all about overcoming the impossible and granting a glimpse of hope where none resided before. This Olympiad is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for my family and me. This Olympiad will be the first time that many denizens of the world will take their first steps into China and they will have the opportunity to understand for themselves that it is not the Communist prison that popular media have portrayed it to be. Furthermore, it is an opportunity for the Chinese to welcome the world into the heart of its culture and find out what they have been missing and that we are not all so different after all.
The Olympics is the ultimate cultural and ethnic intersection of the world. It is my personal hope that the Chinese will learn in these short weeks that having a diversity of ideology and thought are not as dangerous as they believed. The Olympics will propel tourists and western visitors into China for the next decade. Opportunities for ideological exchange can only increase from now on. The Olympics holds the potential for the greater liberalization and integration of China into the global identity.
After all, why not? If Olympic athletes can break world records and transcend the impossible, why can’t such a future be plausible?I love the Olympics. There is no greater celebration of transnational unity and peace. No medal or trophy any judge can give you can replace the respect and adoration you have earned from your peers. I promise you, when you cross that finish line, when you score that final goal, when you complete your flawless routine, when you pitch that perfect landing, and when you stand on top of that podium, regardless of your nationality or the flag flying above your head, I will be out of my seat and I will be cheering my ass off for you.
"Citius, Altius, Fortius"Faster, Higher, Stronger. GO WORLD!
