So, the Olympics is just about doped-up dudes like Dwayne Chambers flexing their guns in front of a world audience in order to secure more cereal commercials to fuel their creatine craving? It’s therefore not worth covering, right?
Well, maybe at its most cynical, at its lowest moments, that’s what the gaudy athletic amphitheatre has become. But there’s a magical dream of purity, of muscular excellence that transcends it and should banish those negative thoughts.
The ancient Grecians got the whole thing going around 776 BC and soon were so enthralled by the battle to be the supreme champion they started measuring time by the festive games – the period between the contests becoming known as ‘Olympiads’.
It’s all got increasingly corporate, organised and packaged ever since a French Gent called De Coubertin formed the International Olympic Committee and re-launched the whole idea in the heady year of 1894.
But behind the TV rights, the flashy logos and commercial deals, it’s still about the same thing it was in the days of those philosophizing chaps in Greece. It’s about sacrifice, pain, hunger, desire to excel… to be the best in your event, be it baseball or walking.
Obviously, we’re only interested in the ideals if they turn listeners’ heads and I believe this year’s big show in Beijing will. Aside from Dubious Dwayne, there are plenty of feel-good British stories. Not least of all, 14 year-old Plymouth lad Tom Daly who could dive his way to glory. Phillips Idowu is the leading triple jumper in the world right now… and if Paula Radcliffe shakes off month after month of injury to become a Olympic champion at the grand age old age of 34 and after becoming a mother it could be one of the greatest sports stories of our time. Honest. It could!
It’s not just a competitive clash of the titans – it can be a unifying force in the world. Two hundred and three nations throw athletes into the heat of the Olympic arena… that’s more countries than are in the United Nations. It’s a cultural exchange, a collective celebration of dedication and physical excellence.
In the blubbery days of obesity the physical excellence part shouldn’t be discounted. Sure a few cheats try and sour the milk by necking steroids, insulin and whatever they can get their grubby mitts on. But the drug testers are on to them… they won’t stop and we should never stop believing in the true dream of the Olympics.
Live the dream! Talk about it on the radio.
PS. It all starts in Beijing, China on August 6 with football. Here’s the running order folks.
Ed
