Nerve Endings Firing Away

No Olympics have been further from controversy ever since its inception. The dam that separated politics and the Olympic finally burst when 11 athletes were massacred at the Munich Games and were followed later by tit-for-tat boycotts in 1980 and 1984. This Olympics haven’t been any different. Iraq and Afghanistan marched in the opening ceremony to loud cheers and we wondered if anything could be more perfect.

It only took a selfish President to steal all the credit and announce pompously [in a campaign ad] that two countries were finally free from terrorist regimes and implicitly hints at asking to vote Republican if you like to see more free nations. Even the stupendous success of the Iraqi national soccer team was attributed to the benefits of war against terror. According to the Drudge Report, Bush might be expected to attend the soccer final if Iraq makes it. Iraqis are enraged and making their protest clear, and rightly so. Iraqis sure are angry but I bet even Americans have every reason to be angry too. We didn’t see the President at any of his countrymen’s events, even the mighty Phelps en route to his historic medals did not deserve a presence. So why the Iraqis? Is Iraq some sort of a personal success (heck, it isn’t even that). I am an unrelated Indian but I am angry too.

The gymnastics all-round event saw the poor Koreans lose out on a possible gold too. After the Winter Olympics fiasco of Anton Uhno’s gold (again at the expense of poor Koreans), Paul Hamm’s gold was definitely tainted by a slight error in judgment on part of the judges. Koreans are incensed and are demanding their rightful gold medal. Hamm could be the bigger man and hand in his gold, instantly winning the hearts of billions all over the world. But after winning America’s first ever all-round individual gold in gymnastics, I don’t think he is going to let go that easily, even if he doesn’t really deserve it. Americans took the figure skating issue personally couple of years back and managed to wriggle a joint gold for their Canadian cousins after a French judge messed up. Don’t know about Hamm, but I am not sure if I would like to hold on to a medal if everyone thought I didn’t deserve it. Americans can do the right thing and give the world one less reason to hate them.

But among all this unpleasantness, the sight of Greek weightlifter, Pyrros Dimas being given the farewell of a lifetime by his cheering countrymen was enough to compensate for any arrogance. The sight of 14,000 fans applauding for a full four minutes and holding up the medal ceremony warmed the cockles of your heart. True champions are never forgotten, even if you stand on the bronze pedestal. Remember that, you doping cheaters. Truly, form is temporary but class is permanent.