Image vs. Hype: An Olympic Debate

Lolo Jones has been the subject of a great deal of hype in the lead up to and during the Olympic Games. Without a doubt, she’s a very beautiful, strong, and accomplished young woman. She has a compelling story---growing up in poverty, star track athlete at LSU, and heartbreakingly lost a gold medal four years previous. She’s even made headlines for her decision to wait until marriage for sex.

If I had a daughter, I’d want her to be like Lolo Jones—with principles and an unrelenting work ethic. But this post-Olympic debate that has erupted following her Olympic performance is bordering on ridiculous.

Jones finished fourth in the 100 meter hurdles the other night, behind two much less hyped athletes. Then the firestorm started.

Her teammates who finished second and third were much less hyped and seemed to take a shot at Jones. While this was headline news for some, I don’t see the big deal. How would you feel if you won an Olympic medal and all anyone wanted to talk about was the person who finished forth?

Yet we can’t entirely blame Lolo Jones either. America is a very photogenic society—. Media, sponsors’, and the like gravitate to certain athletes who they think will help sell their products or embody certain images that they find desirable.

Should we vilify an athlete because they have big sponsorship and don’t have to have bake sales and car washes just to make the trip to the Olympics?

Call it another media flame up.

Romney vs. Cameron: Olympic Smackdown

Mitt Romney ran the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002 and is apparently an avid fan of the Olympics.

He raised the ire of our British friends recently when he questioned the readiness of the city of London to put on the Games. This prompted British Prime Minister David Cameron to quip “Of course it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere.”

It should be noted that since this incident the London Games have endured a badminton scandal and someone lost the keys to Wimbley Stadium. Not exactly sterling silver material.

The Olympics is a difficult event to secure, out of sheer size if nothing else. The challenges facing London and Salt Lake City are different, and I’m not sure that we can equalize the expieriances.

Call it draw between the Prime Minister and the Republican Nominee.

What Politics Can’t Do

I love the Olympic Games because they bring the entire world together the way that no politician no matter how skilled or powerful can.

There has been great fanfare over political figures like Barack Obama and Boris Yeltsin in early 1990’s post-Soviet Russia. Often times, the political reality on the ground overwhelms this fanfare leaving these great figures fighting against a divided society.

With the Olympic Games though, it feels like the world is united in this common spirit and we can seek solace in our favorite sports.

I’ve often wondered just what we could accomplish as a civilization if we channeled the Olympic spirit 24-7-365 instead of once every four years. Maybe we could accomplish a big goal like a cure for cancer or malaria.

Politics will never accomplish what the Olympics do because there’s so many emotionally charged issues in politics like immigration and abortion. I mean last time I checked Missy Franklin and Michael Phelps were not swimming across the border.

Even non-sports fans are drawn to the Olympics because of the pomp and artistry of the event.

We need more Olympics not less.

The Outsource Olympics: United States Uniforms Made in China

Democrats and Republicans came together this week to be outraged over the fact that the United States Olympic Team uniforms for the opening ceremonies are made in China.

Part of me isn’t sure whether to be more surprised over the first part of that sentence or the second.

 It is an outrage that Team USA gear is not made in the United States, but where has all this outrage been over the last ten or fifteen years when a majority of the clothes that were made in the United States began to be made in the Chinas, Vietnams, and Honduras of the world, sending Americans to the unemployment line?

That our political leaders have chosen to be outraged over this brand of outsourcing foretells a rather hypocritical stance.

Factory workers and garment makers represent America 365 days a year instead of once every four years, yet because they’re not going to have the glare of an Olympic spotlight on them in two weeks, we apparently don’t have to care about them.

I love our Olympians, this isn’t anything personal, but there’s something really messed up in this country when it takes the Olympics to stimulate an outrage over a decades old practice.

London Terror Arrests: An Olympic Boom

Seven men were arrested in Brittan last week on suspicion of terrorist activities ahead of the London Olympic Games.

While security chiefs have repeatedly said that they have no evidence that the Olympics themselves are being targeted, one cannot deny that the Olympics are playing a role in the quick action by the British police forces.

Brittan has spent millions of dollars on security for the Olympic Games. The Olympics themselves are an event undertaken at a great financial cost to host countries. They don’t want anything to create an atmosphere of terror over the festivities.

 Terrorists may have their eyes on a so called soft target near the Olympics, but officials may not be willing to admit this out of fear that it will cause people to stay at home. 

This in turn requires counter-terrorism officials to make arrests earlier in the evolution of terrorist plots than perhaps they would.

Officials may claim that the Olympics are not being targeted, but they sure are the reason that British Intelligence has suddenly turned into counter-terrorisms version of the Flash.

Securing London: Missiles on a Roof

The London Olympics are less than two months away and the British are putting the final touches on security for the Games.Securing the Olympics is a Herculean undertaking because its’ global reach make it a prime terrorist target.

 But recent reports of security officials positioning surface to air missiles on the roof of an apartment building near the Olympic venues, though well intentioned, is a security misstep.

 Though I don’t want any athlete or civilian injured in a terrorist attack, I fail to see what parking a bunch of missiles on a roof will do for security.

Placing missiles on a roof, in effect makes the apartment building itself a potential target. In the effort to provide security, you may also be creating insecurity within the law abiding population as a cache of missiles on an apartment roof doesn’t exactly breed secure thoughts.

Furthermore, these measures rely on the notion of a seen enemy through a suicide bombing or something. Terrorist history tells us that far less sophisticated means can be used to create the terrorist ideal of fear and chaos at the Olympic Games.