Whenever the Summer Olympics are on there is always great talk and debate about team GB’s medal Haul, whether they didn’t do as well as people expected or if they do better than people expected. Its always front-page news. So why is this not the case for the Winter Olympics?
Yes it is great to see Amy Williams getting all the attention which is what she deserves but at the same time there should be front-page coverage and debate about our lack of medals. If we had come home from the summer Olympics with just one medal there would be an outcry but instead we seem to just be happy we got a medal at the Winter Olympics.
If this isn’t an alarm bell that more money needs to be spent on winter sports I don’t know what is. All I can hope is that over the next four years more money is spent on winter sports and that we see the fruits of it at the next Winter Olympics. If there is already a lot of money being thrown at it then someone needs to sit down and look at what we are doing wrong and how that money could be used more wisely.
Great Britain maybe a small island but it’s a proud island and we didn’t come back with much pride from the Winter Olympics.
Posted on: 02/25/10(0 ratings) Author: TaraLConley
Image: NUCCIO DINUZZO/Chicago Tribune
One reason why people are so drawn to Olympic competitions is because of the inspiring stories from the athletes involved. Infobarrel.com has comprise a list of its top 10 inspiring winter Olympic stories. Some of these stories I remember, and some, not so much. I do recall the story from the 1988 Jamaican Bobsled team. Even though I was seven years old at the time, I remember my family sitting around the television watching the event as it happened. I can say without a doubt that watching the Jamaican Bobsled team in action in 1988 was much better than the movie made in their honor five years later.
So far, one of the most inspiring stories of the 2010 Winter Olympics comes from figure skater Joannie Rochette. Rochette's story is quite moving. Her mother passed away only a few days before the Olympic figure skating competition began. This past Tuesday, Rochette burst into tears after finishing her performance. It was an emotional scene to witness. Though Rochette is not favored to win gold tonight, she's still considered an Olympic hero for her courage and strength during the most difficult moments in her life.
Joannie Rochette's 2010 Canadian Championships Gala Performance.
With three days left of the 2010 Winter Olympics, I imagine more inspiring stories of courage, humility, and strength will emerge.
What are the most inspiring Olympic stories you can recall?
Posted on: 02/25/10(0 ratings) Author: jameshodges
The Olympics are the most-watched sporting event in the world, so it comes as no surprise that a lot of people in Vancouver have been trying to use the media attention that their city is receiving during the games for political purposes.
A group of the city's homeless, for example, have been camping out in an "Olympic Tent Village" downtown since the games started. The "Olympic Squatters" say that they'll be camped out until they're provided with permanent housing. A number of Indigenous Canadian groups have also staged protests in order to raise awareness of the oppression that Aboriginal Canadians experience in their homeland.
It's a little ironic that these cuddly Olympic mascots are based on animals from First Nations folklore, because they're promoting a sporting event taking place on land that many believe was wrongly seized from their Aboriginal creators.
Unfortunately, while there's a lot of history behind protesting at the Olympics, there is much less history of permanent change coming about as a result. During the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, for example, many athletes and activists used the occasion to draw attention to China's human rights violations, censorship, and environmental issues. For lots of Olympic spectators, the news coverage of these issues was their first exposure to the problems in China.
According to the BBC, the increased scrutiny actually did move China's government to loosen restrictions on journalism and traveling during the games... only to begin targeting the nation's newly empowered human rights lawyers and reporters with kidnappings and beatings when the games were over.
Canada and China are certainly very different nations, however, so it will be interesting to see what develops in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Canada at large in the next couple of months.
Regarding the Olympic Tent Village, Vancouver's Mayor is on the record saying "I think their protest has been very respectful, and we’re on the same page ... in asking for a national housing strategy.” It's easy to say now, while scrutiny is close, that Mayor Robertson is compassionate to the cause. Hopefully the Olympic Squatters won't be in danger of a violence and intimidation as soon as the games leave town, Beijing-style.
The 2010 Winter Olympics' official logo is called "Ilanaaq the Inunnguaq" and is based on Inuit landmarkers called Inukshuk.
There are even more direct reasons for Aboriginal Canadians to be angry about the Olympics. Most notably, a number of Olympic facilities are built on land that First Nations claim was taken from their grasp without the proper treaties, and the visual imagery created for Vancouver 2010 involves Aboriginal iconography that creates the false impression that Vancouver's Olympic planners and their Aboriginal neighbors are getting along famously.
The Vancouver 2010 mascots are also based on First Nations' culture, in this case legendary animals.
Unfortunately, Vancouver's Aboriginal and homeless conflicts are not being covered with the same sort of media zeal that human rights issues in China were-- perhaps because vilifying China's oppressive leadership is much more popular than criticizing the government of Canada, a nation of people who enjoy comparatively awesome civil freedoms and quality of life.
It's a shame, because both homeless and indigenous communities are often ignored or marginalized by both politicians and reporters. If nobody listens during the Olympics, they really have their work cut out for them when the games leave town.
Back in October, the City of Vancouver began making plans to take the homeless off the streets. Though it sounded laudable in public press outreach, the plan was relatively transparent in its intention. City officials wanted Vancouver to shine during its upcoming two weeks in the world's spotlight. They didn't want their public image tarnished by the presence of people sleeping in the streets.
So much for public image. Not only did the homeless and anti-Olympics activists refuse to go away—they staged protests, set up a Tent City, posted their content on blogs and YouTube, created websites, and grabbed the attention of international news sources.
Their complaints?
They don't believe that Vancouver should dish out $6 million to host the games when the city can't / won't spend a comparatively small amount of money necessary to house Vancouver's homeless population and address local land rights issues. Protestors claim that local homelessness has increased in the past year, despite the city's last-minute plans to provide housing to those in need. Moreover, many of the anti-Olympics activists didn't believe BC Premiere Gordon Campbell when he insisted that recent efforts to house the homeless were not motivated primarily by the Olympics, and that government initiatives to decrease homelessness will continue after the games have ended.
I would be a bit skeptical, too. Promises made under international pressure and multi-million dollar contracts are often different than promises made during standard business hours.
Just look at Chicago. About 6 months ago, Chi-town city officials were boasting increases in public transit service in preparation for the 2016 summer games. Then Brazil won the bid and Chicago officials began slowly, quietly backing away from their promises, perhaps hoping that residents either wouldn't notice or wouldn't care. Now I keep hearing angry Chicagoan grumbles about "service cuts this" and "fare hikes that." Many CTA bus drivers are getting the axe, and we only lost the bid a few short months ago. Funny how priorities change so quickly.
This is not to imply that all city officials are evil. No one actually wants to see people sleep in the streets, lose their jobs, or face transportation and financial hardships. This is not any city official's goal, no matter how corrupt and heartless s/he may seem.
Still, you can't deny that the vast majority of us—Public Officials and Regular Janes alike—have a tendency to put our best foot forward when the world is watching. This semi-superficial concern is one of the motivating factors fueling the anti-Olympics protests. Protestors are calling the Olympics a corporate circus, and they're not pleased about the fact that Vancouver is now wearing its best press-worthy smiling face while so many residents continue to suffer on the streets.
Documentary photographer Alex Firmani caught some of the action from the anti-Olympics protests. Unfortunately, a section of the protest devolved into a window-smashing, paint-splashing, police-thrashing debacle.
I'm not sure if smashing windows is really the most effective way to rally support for a cause. Yes, it gets attention. But attention is not always a good thing. If the primary goal is to advance social justice issues in Vancouver, then I think we should consider a different approach.
I won't deny that the Olympic Games are powerful. Any single event that can hold the attention of millions from all over the world also holds the potential for advancing social change in a major way. The question is how. How can we use the power of sport to bring people together, and catalyze that energy for constructive community building? How can the Olympics be re-thought and reconfigured to provide more social benefit and less controversy? * All images courtesy of Alex Firmani, Shot in Vancouver Photography
Bode, bode, bode. I have to say, I think I like you. A lot.
Bode Miller from wiki commons by Thomas Grollier, taken off the edge of the track in the Giant Slalom
I like you more than the polished, been-sponsored-since-I-was-7yrs-old Shaun White (even though Shaun IS a redhead and normally I would have to side with him for that reason alone). It's not stories like Shaun White winning with his secret moves practiced on the most expensive private halfpipe ever built that get me. It's stories of underdogs and of comebacks like you.
Bode has led a weird and sort of non-role model life (despite his 2005 book "Bode: go fast, be good, have fun" that would suggest otherwise - I haven't read it, so I don't know).
All too often with some of these high-profile Olympians there is a sense of public display; there's a lot riding on one's public performance - money, fame, legacy. Bode has no qualms about throwing that away. Or at least he can't help himself. I like this about him - I know he is a real human being.
"If you ever tried to ski wasted, it's not easy."
Those were Bode's famous words when he failed miserably at the 2006 Olympics. Only four years earlier at the Salt Lake City Olympics he got two silver medals and seemed a promising young star. He had impressed everyone so immensely in SLC because he did things that Olympians just dont do - like going back to redo a gate that he missed. That just isn't done. This streak of genuine individuality is possibly what makes a person like Bode so poised for success, and yet so prone to failure.
And failure big time. From the abominable and controversial partying-instead-of-winning at the '06 Olympics, things only got worse. He got ousted from the US Ski Team (ok, he quit, but only after they pretty much forced him to choose between his permanent RV home and the Team). And in 2009, after being the 5th skiier to ever win the world cup in all five disciples, he fails miserably, winning nothing. Again.
Then, he skips his summer training because he is contemplating retirement. The world agrees he's been a short-lived and quickly burned out star.
So, everybody hates Bode, nobody thinks he'll do a damn thing...and what happens? Well he wins the gold. And a silver. And a bronze. And he sticks his tongue out at the world. [Literally.]
"The way I executed, the way I skied, is something I'll be proud of the rest of my life."
And you believe him, because he's a man who won with nothing to lose.
