The London 2012 Olympics are over and I'm in the throes of withdrawal. The Games were my constant companion in the newsroom for two weeks and while I thrilled at the athletic achievements, I also delighted at the eye candy on the screen. Were these not the best looking Olympians of all time? Sport-it's good for the body, brain and looks apparently.
And the closing ceremonies were equally unmatched for sheer unadulterated jubilance. Brill, as Tracey and Sharon used to say.
My Games sadness is confusing, really, given my views on how that $14.5 billion it cost to put on the 2012 Olympics could have been better spent. Maybe wiping out the national debt of a handful of impoverished nations across the globe to give them a fighting chance at a brighter future.
But that's the kind of silly talk from someone living in La La Land, right? You, too, must wonder what marvels could be achieved to improve life on the planet if the same political will and mobilization of resources were for something other than the Olympics?
Why do I care? It wasn't my money this time. It's on the Brits' tab, which was more than double the original budget amount. Plus ça change- Sponsors pay a chunk, too, so don't go creating five-ring sausage displays or have an Olympicnic. (Yes, Dick Pound, we all received the sponsorship rules memo-even the Yanomami tribe living deep in the Amazon rainforest probably got it.)
But there's nothing like a huge medal haul by the host country to silence the whining about the bill. Brits are chuffed with their 29 gold, 17 silver and 19 bronze medals. Beyond impressive. But never mind the cost of the Games, my British friends, what about the fact that your country is in its first double dip recession since 1975?
So how did Canada fare? It depends on your perspective. I look at it two ways: comparison by population and by a country's standard of living/economy.
Given China's 1.4 billion people and its tradition of taking children who still have their baby teeth and plopping them into training, that country should have won almost all of the Olympic medals, perhaps leaving a few scraps for countries like India (oh wherefore art thou? Only six medals?) with its 1.2 billion people, the U.S., Indonesia and so on. But the Americans topped the list with the most hardware all while wearing Made in China uniforms. I'm thrilled Team U.S.A. surpassed China.
I don't want Canada to be like China, whose government represses political freedoms and where 36 per cent of the population lives on less than $2 a day. And nor do I want to be the U.S. with its Wall Street lawlessness, gun-mad citizenry, religious zealots and a spineless president who fully favours more drilling despite the hard evidence on climate change that even famous skeptics such as University of California physicist Richard Muller are now fully supporting. (Obama and Harper share much in common sadly.)
Americans will always be a force at the Olympics. They are obsessed with sports and pour oodles of money into it. College football, anyone?
Perhaps our lack of gold should be applauded. Our focus is on more important matters-such as universal health care, education or our social safety net.
Where the lack of medals starts to hurt is when you compare Canada (pop. 35 million) to countries such as Australia (pop. 22.6 million) or the Netherlands (pop. 16.7 million). Each country has roughly the same standard of living and functioning economies, yet they took home more medals than we did. The orange-clad Dutch team took home 20 medals, six of them gold. Australia took home 35, seven of them gold. Heck, even New Zealand (pop. 4.4 million) got six gold. We got one. Thank you, Rosannagh MacLennan.
And still, I'm not disappointed. How can you be when you know the athletes tried their best. It must be the mother in me.
My expectations are high for the Paralympic Games, which I also plan to watch when they start Aug. 29. More than 4,000 athletes from 162 nations will be competing. (Cold Play is slated to perform at the closing ceremonies Sept. 9.) It's nonsense that these events aren't combined with the able-bodied Games. Talk about treating these athletes as second-class citizens. In a world divided by race, religion, gender and a laundry list of other things, the Paralympics are an excellent example of ability-in sports and life-and inclusion. A healthy medal haul at the Paralympics would not only show Team Canada's gutsiness but perhaps how our society interprets the concept of inclusion. This is what fills me with pride. May Canada bring home a barrel full of gold!
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