On the Future of the Olympic Games July 28, 2016
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: Athens, Atlanta, Australia, Beijing, Berlin, boondoggle, Brazil, Calgary, Canada, commerce, culture, de Janeiro, developed, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Israel, Japan, London, Los Angeles, Munich, Olympics, Park City, Rio, rule of law, Salt Lake, Seoul, Sochi, Summer Games, superior, Sydney, Third World, Tokyo, United States, Vancouver, waste, Whistler, Winter Games
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One example of the ruins of the Olympic venues in Athens from the 2004 Summer Games. This is what happens when the hosting of the Olympics are awarded to countries that are not First World/commerce-oriented.
The train wreck in Rio de Janeiro that continues to unfold as the Summer Olympics are but days away has exposed two large, systemic problems. The obvious one is with Brazil itself. Its economy may have been on the rise in 2009 to the point where it gave enough people the impression that it was becoming part of the developed world. Not long afterwards, political corruption, lack of infrastructure, and a glaring lack of sanitation exposed Brazil as still being Third World and still having a long way to go before it deserves to sit at the grownups table of world affairs (along with the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Japan, Canada, Israel, Australia, possibly France, and the like).
The other systemic issue at play is with the Olympic Games themselves. Simply put, they are huge, and very expensive to stage. Even 40 years ago, things almost reached a tipping point. The city of Montreal hosted the 1976 Summer Olympics, only to be $1.5 Billion in debt afterwards. It took that city almost 30 years to pay it off. Indeed, few cities wanted to host the Games after that. Sure, Moscow jumped at the chance four years later, because to a Communist nation, money is no object when it comes to propaganda.
Peter Ueberroth and the Los Angeles organizing committee for 1984 revolutionized how the Games were financed when he persuaded the International Olympic Committee to allow corporate sponsorship. It saved the Games for another 30 years.
Now, the Games have grown even bigger still, to the point where they are too expensive for new cities to host the Games. Sure, Putin and the Russian government seemed more than willing to turn Sochi into a $51 Billion (with a ‘B’) boondoggle, because, again, at what price propaganda?
Beijing was the only viable city that wanted to host the Winter Olympics for 2022. The IOC was certainly were not going to give the Winter Games to Kazakhstan, for goodness sake. It is a sad commentary on the susceptibility of the IOC to a bribe that so few viable countries and cities thereof even put in bids for the 2022 Winter Games in the first place.
That aside, one thing is for certain: the Olympics are so huge and such a big deal that only commerce-oriented (read: First World, developed) countries are built and, indeed, fit to host the Games.
Yet, there is this politically-correct mantra out there, saying that everyone deserves a chance, but grownups will tell you that is pure poppycock. The truth is, most nations and even whole continents are not built to handle and host the Olympics. That includes Africa (with the possible exception of Johannesburg), South America (as we are currently seeing now), the Middle East (outside of Israel), and central and Southeast Asia.
Even some countries in otherwise developed regions are more than suspect. Remember Athens in 2004? The Greeks built all those state-of-the-art facilities only to let them go to ruin a decade later. Yes, it sounded wonderful for the Olympics to be hosted in the ancient birthplace of the Games themselves, but the huge problem was that Greece is anything but commerce-oriented, which speaks to a culturally systemic problem in Greece itself.
One aspect of this systemic issue is that a city that wants to host the Games for the first time has to spend billions of dollars to build new facilities from scratch. In this day and age, even with corporate sponsorship and in some cases, state-supported funding, that is no longer economically viable.
The solution is to start cycling the Games around to cities that meet certain criteria. They are:
1.) Be situated in a commerce-oriented country (i.e., one of the aforementioned “grownup” countries). Not all cultures are equal. Some cultures are superior to others. A hallmark of this cultural supremacy is a culture that itself is commerce-oriented, that respects the rule of law and property rights of the individual, that frowns on black markets, and puts a premium on democratic governments and transparency within. Not to mention, superior cultures minimize corruption in government, at least compared to more corrupt Third World nations. These sorts of countries also have free presses (to varying extents; France is suspect in this regard) that can call wayward politicians into account for any malfeasance.
Commerce-oriented countries also have the necessary infrastructure for such massive undertakings as the Games. This includes transportation (e.g., airports and expressways), not to mention a sufficient amount of clean, comfortable, available hotel rooms to handle the crush of spectators attending said Games.
2.) Be a city big enough that it already has the aforementioned infrastructure in place. This applies to cities that have never hosted a previous Olympics.
3.) This is the big one: ideally, be a city that has already hosted the Games, and has proven to do so exceptionally well.
Indeed, for the Olympics to remain doable in the future, the way to go is to starting cycling them around to cities (and, by extension, their countries) that have proven capable of hosting the Olympics well. The IOC seems to be inching towards this already, however gradually. London just hosted its Olympic Games for the third time, most recently in 2012. Tokyo — another excellent choice on the part of the IOC — will host the 2020 Summer Games. Los Angeles is currently bidding to host the Summer Games for 2024.
For these cities, the venues/facilities are already built. Maybe a little renovation or generally sprucing up might be in place, but such expenditures pale in comparison to building everything from scratch. Los Angeles, for example, has but one additional facility to build (for rowing and kayaking) and it’s all set.
Think about it from the Winter Games perspective. Sure, a nearby, mountainous ski resort town can handle the alpine skiing events (Salt Lake had Park City, Vancouver had Whistler), but you still need to build a sliding sports track. That alone costs between $50-100 Million, and then there is the necessary ski jumping tower, etc., etc. Economically, it makes sense to host the Games in cities have already hosted them, and hosted them well.
One could cycle the Winter Games from Salt Lake City to, say, Munich (they have a sliding sports track at nearby Koenigssee), then Calgary and/or Vancouver. What’s not to love?
Similarly, a Summer Games cycle of Los Angeles, London, Sydney, Atlanta, Tokyo, and Munich/Berlin would work just fine. Seoul would be a viable cycle candidate as well.
Either we start doing this, or we encourage cities to continue to engage in multi-billion-dollar boondoggles to build athletic venues that rarely get used again, like those in Athens (indeed, what shall become of Rio’s many facilities after these upcoming Games are concluded?).
So, which is it going to be? Cycling the Games around to proven cities/countries, or more wasteful boondoggles?
American Pride Sliding Down the Track at Sochi February 16, 2014
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: 1936, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2-man, 2002, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 4-man, Adam Clark, America, Army, bobsled, bobsleigh, BoDyn, Boilermakers, Calgary, Canada, championship, Chris Fogt, Cornhuskers, Cortina, Curt Tomasevicz, Dallas Robinson, Eugenio Monti, Games, Geoff Bodine, Germany, gold, John Napier, Johnny Quinn, Justin Olsen, Lake Placid, Louisville, NASCAR, Nebraska, Nick Cunningham, NightTrain, NightTrain², Olympics, Purdue, Russia, Salt Lake, Sanki, Sochi, St. Moritz, Steve Langton, Steve Mesler, Steven Holcomb, Switzerland, team, Team USA, U.S., U.S.A., United States, USA, Vancouver, WCAP, Whistler, winter, world, World Class Athlete Program, World Cup
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The author with the United States bobsled team after they won the 4-man world championship at Lake Placid in 2012. I was so elated to have my picture taken with these fine fellows, my grin distorted my smile! L-R: Steve Holcomb, Steve Langton, Patrick Murray, Justin Olsen, and Curt Tomasevicz.
With a full week of the Winter Olympic Games at Sochi now in the books, it is finally time for my personal favorite winter sport to commence, that of bobsled (“bobsleigh” being the preferred international, i.e., non-American term). With recent success in the sport over the past 12 years, surely the bobsled events are to gather some decent attention here in the United States, and with good reason. We stand good chances of winning medals in all three events (2-man, women’s, and 4-man), but more importantly, we have great athletes who are also outstanding individuals representing the U.S.A.
When I first started watching the Olympics in earnest as a youngster (Calgary 1988 to be exact), I’ll never forget the first time I saw a sled fly down the track on TV. I thought to myself, “Oh my, that was so cool! What is that?” Needless to say, I got hooked on bobsledding, and eagerly anticipated watching those events above all others during every Winter Olympics cycle.
If you are a football and track & field guy like I am, this is the winter sport for you. It combines the strength, speed and power aspects of football and track, as well as the team coordination of football. Make no mistake about it; bobsledders are the biggest, fastest, strongest athletes in all of the Winter Olympic events. Don’t believe me? Just look at how Johnny Quinn (a pusher for USA-2) managed to escape being trapped inside a bathroom.
Plus, it’s racing on ice, and in a country that enjoys auto racing as much as we do, that should seriously count for something as well. And yes, our 4-man sleds are built with NASCAR technology, which is why they’re the best!
In any event, the Games in 1992, 1994, and 1998 all ticked by, and every time I watched in frustration as a medal in the sport continued to elude us. It therefore goes without saying that one of my favorite moments of the 2002 Winter Games at Salt Lake was witnessing on TV USA-2 break a 46-year* medal drought by winning a bronze medal in the 4-man event, only to be bolstered further by USA-1 winning the silver. America was “back” in the sport, and it felt great. The fact that women’s bobsled was introduced as an Olympic event that year, with America winning the gold, was the icing on the proverbial cake.
Several years later, I started following the US bobsled team during the regular seasons (yes, there are such things in these relatively obscure Olympic sports), and started to learn the names of the fine fellows pushing and driving our American-designed and built sleds, courtesy of a project spearheaded by NASCAR driver Geoff Bodine. The 2008-2009 season particularly grabbed my attention, as I found ways to watch the races online, and pay close attention to the news of Team USA winning the 2009 World Championship, the first time America won such a distinction in literally 50 years (1959). The following year, we won the gold medal in the Vancouver Winter Games, the first time we achieved that since 1948 at St. Moritz.
With my good friend and fellow Purdue Boilermaker Doug Sharp, who was part of the USA-2 4-man team that ended America’s 46-year medal drought in bobsled by winning the bronze at Salt Lake in 2002. Behind us is the “NightTrain” sled that our American boys used to win the gold medal at Vancouver in 2010.
I had the blessed opportunity to travel up to Lake Placid, New York (as in, the holy grail of Winter Olympics in the Western Hemisphere) to photograph the 4-man world championships there in late Feb. of 2012 (photography being my main hobby these days). There, I met up with a friend of mine and fellow Purdue Boilermaker, Doug Sharp, who was on the USA-2 team that won bronze at Salt Lake in ’02. During the races, I managed to take some decent sports shots, despite my learning curve. In between the races, though, my friend Doug introduced me to a number of bobsledders, both past and present.
After runs 1 and 2, for example, I was invited into the team garage — it was like being in the dugout with the Yankees! There, I was able to meet John Napier, a fine younger driver who was at the time the driver for USA-2. I also met Chris Fogt, who earned a spot on the USA-1 team at the start of this season. Moreover, I met both Adam Clark and Dallas Robinson, both from the Louisville, Ky., area (my native city and still current area of residence). Robinson, interestingly enough, is now the brakeman for USA-2 at Sochi, both 2-man and 4-man.
During the VIP luncheon, I had the opportunity to thank a number of ladies and gentlemen for representing America so well with their accomplishments over the decade, but even after the part was over – several hours later – and the sun had already gone done, the day was not over yet.
When we left the track that evening, Doug took me over to the Olympic Training Center, where, in a most unexpected turn of events, I was able to meet three of the four current men of Team NightTrain** (such is the nickname for the USA-1 crew; they dubbed their sled “The NightTrain” during the 2008-’09 season for its fearsome black color scheme). They were polishing their sled’s runners for runs three and four the next morning, and at this surprising opportunity, I once again was able to relay by heartfelt thanks for their efforts and for honoring our great nation in winning gold.
USA-1 as they race down the track at Lake Placid, N.Y., during second of four runs, and en route to winning the 2012 4-Man Bobsled World Championship. Photo taken by the author.
Meeting and befriending these fine fellows was truly a pleasure. Unlike the prominent athletes in major professional sports here in America (say, the NFL, MLB or NBA), these guys don’t get much attention for what they do. In countries like Germany, or especially Switzerland, bobsled drivers garner as much fame as quarterbacks do here in the NFL. How many people here in the States, who don’t follow the Olympics, know who Steve Holcomb is, let alone his push athlete teammates?
In addition to meeting Holcomb that evening, I was also able to meet Justin Olsen, who was part of the team that won gold in Vancouver. Steve Langton took over for Steve Mesler after the latter retired, and the former is considered one of the finest push athletes in the world. Watch for Langton as the brakeman for Holcomb in the 2-man event. Nick Cunningham was also on hand to polish the runners for his sled. Watch for him as the driver for USA-2 in both the 2-man and 4-man events.
They hail from all over this great land. Holcomb comes from Park City, Utah, and was originally an alpine skier before taking up bobsled (interestingly enough, the legendary Italian driver Eugenio Monti was first a skier before he himself took up bobsleigh). Nick Cunningham is from Monterey, Calif., home to one of the finest public aquariums in the world. Justin Olsen is from San Antonio, home of the Alamo and the beacon of liberty that it represents to Texans and many Americans elsewhere. Steve Langton is from the Boston area (and was a track star for Northeastern University). The brakeman for Team NightTrain, Curt Tomasevicz – who will reportedly retire at the conclusion of these Games – hails from a small town in Nebraska, and was a linebacker for the Cornhuskers before taking up this sport. Honestly, part of the fun of getting to know these guys was just talking to them about their native towns.
Suffice it to say these guys did not get into the sport for the fame, for there is relatively little (that is, on this side of the Atlantic, at least). These guys compete for love of the sport and love of country. In fact, many of these men support themselves as part of the U.S. Army’s World Class Athlete Program, and have been, or still are, active in the National Guard. Chris Fogt even served a tour of duty in Iraq.
But one thing that really struck me positively as I got to know these outstanding fellows is how much they appreciate their fans. Many prominent professional athletes seem to wall themselves off from the majority of fans – given all the crazies out there, one can surely sympathize – and hard-core fans to them are a turn-off (here’s a tip: want to ingratiate yourself to prominent professional athletes? Be a fan who has perspective). But to our American bobsledders, passionate fans are not a turn-off; in fact, they feed off their energy.
For the record, the ladies who represent America in the women’s bobsled events are no less gracious or appreciative of their fans as well. Like their gentlemen counterparts, they are educated, industrious, dedicated, and down-to-earth. In other words, they are every bit the embodiment of how we would ideally envision an Olympic athlete to be.
They, both the men and women, are also incredibly approachable. They put on no airs of being “above it all,” and are always glad to meet new fans and supporters. The fact that fans here in the States are relatively few and far between compared to the big money sports might be a factor in this, but that does not detract one iota from this positive trait.
What is even more amazing about what these talented, dedicated men and women achieve is that they do so on a relative shoestring budget compared to prominent programs in other countries. Germany, Switzerland, and recently, Russia, lavish massive funds on their respective programs, albeit with mixed results. Germany is never to be counted out, and the Swiss have performed decently in the 2-man as of late, having to earn back their dominant spot that they kept throughout the 1980s and ‘90s. Russia is a constant threat to medal in the 4-man as well (Canada’s not too shabby either, fyi). But this season, Team USA has been in contention to win almost the entire time, winning enough races for USA-1 to win the overall World Cup trophy in the 2-man event and finish second overall in the 4-man (the latter alone is impressive when you consider the crash they had at Winterberg, Germany in early January). When one considers that these good fellows of ours achieve this with far less funding than other countries’ programs, it makes this momentous feat all the more incredible.
In short, the dedicated men and women that make up the U.S. Bobsled Team embody everything that we as fans ought to admire in world-class athletes. You could not ask for more outstanding individuals representing the United States of America, and I for one cannot wait to cheer on my friends as they race down the ice at the Sanki Sliding Centre. Go Team USA!
*Prior to 2002, the last time that the USA won a medal in bobsled was bronze in the 4-man event at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina D’Ampezzo. Moreover, we have not won the gold in the 2-man event since 1936 (!) and have not medaled at all in it since 1952. That could very well change come Monday.
**USA-1 won the 2009 World Championship, the gold medal in the 2010 Winter Olympics, and the 2012 World Championship (all in 4-man) using the NightTrain sled. Geoff Bodine’s “BoDyn” program soon designed a new sled for USA-1, which they immediately dubbed “NightTrain²”, and is the sled they have been using for the entire 2013-2014 season, the Sochi Games included. USA-2 has thus inherited the original “NightTrain,” so both sleds will be put to good use!
‘Sochi Da’? More Like ‘Sochi, Nyet!’! February 5, 2014
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Politics, Sports.Tags: Albertville, Anglosphere, Australia, authoritarian, billion, Black Sea, Bolshevik, Calgary, Canada, Chechnya, commerce, Committee, corruption, Games, Germany, Great Britain, International, IOC, Islamic, Japan, KGB, kleptocracy, Lake Placid, Moslem, Munich, Muslim, Nagano, Olympics, oriented, Putin, Rasputin, ring, Robert Craft, Russia, Russian, Salt Lake, Sochi, Super Bowl, terror, terrorism, Torino, United States, Vancouver, Vladimir, winter
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Does this look like a winter sports destination to you? Can one think of anything more antithetical to the Winter Olympics than palm trees? Yet this only scratches the surface regarding all the things wrong with Sochi, and it calls the collective judgment of the IOC into serious question.
As a life-long fan of the Olympics, I must concede that I am very excited for the Winter Games to commence this Friday evening. But this time I am excited with reservations, namely on the very choice of the city and country to host these Games. It is painfully clear to me that the judgement of the leadership of the International Olympic Committee (henceforth the IOC) was, to put it mildly, severely compromised.
What’s wrong with Sochi? Let us count the ways. Start with the fact that it is out-of-the-way. For the previous three Winter Olympics in a row (Salt Lake City, Torino, and Vancouver), the IOC got it mostly right. The United States and Canada are commerce-oriented, and have first-rate infrastructures, not to mention the population bases in the bookend cities dictate the size and quantity of hotel rooms to accommodate massive influxes of spectators for gigantic events, like, say, the Olympics. Torino was not a terrible choice in that they had a solid population base to handle the Games and the many myriads of people. It’s just that Italy is not exactly commerce-oriented, not when compared to the Anglosphere or even Germany, for that matter.
Another huge problem with Sochi is the geography itself, and in more ways than one. The most obvious problem is that fact that Sochi is a subtropical resort, hardly the ideal spot for the designated hub of winter sports championship events. At least the nearby mountains are snowy, though. The size of the town is not quite up to what is needed for the Winter Games of this modern size. Gone are the days when a tiny ski resort town like Lake Placid (population: less than 4,000) could handle the Winter Olympics. It was fine when you had only 19 countries competing, with a total of about 200 total athletes (as was the case in 1932), and they barely, just barely pulled it off in 1980. Calgary turned out to be a great choice in 1988, but then small town problems persisted again with Albertville (whose 1992 population was only about 35,000), and also with Nagano (1998: just too far out of the way), which brings us back to Sochi. At only about 340,000, it’s not as big as metro Salt Lake City, let alone Calgary, Torino or Vancouver.
Isolation is another issue. It is located on the eastern end of the Black Sea, way too out-of-the-way compared to major population centers of countries with a sufficient degree of commerce-orientation. That isolation makes it unduly taxing on the kind of nations that will make the most substantial contributions athletically and in terms of medal counts.
This does not even take into consideration the issue of sticker shock for families trying to make it to Sochi to cheer on their sons or daughters in person as they compete. Unlike commerce-oriented locales like Calgary, Salt Lake or Vancouver, which have plenty of hotel rooms all over their respective metro areas, Sochi has yet to build up the hotel space designed to handle the major crush of people about to descend on it. Combine high demand for hotel rooms and low supply thereof, and out-of-the-way air travel, and you have a prohibitively expensive combination that will keep the vast majority of families away, period.
For those who do have hotel rooms, particularly those in the media, there are plenty of issues to contend with that are non-issues in more civilized parts of the world. The Russian government has had seven, count ’em, seven years to prepare for these games, yet look at the laundry list of issues that members of the media have to contend with regarding their lodging while covering these Games.
There have been twitter-fed reports from journalists of having to climb out of their windows just to leave their hotels. Also, there are reports of hotel lobbies have no floors; of having to contend with stray dogs in hotels — you know, the stray dogs that the Russian government is not murdering with typical Bolshevik brutality. Then there is the glaring lack of water at some hotels, and where there is water, that people are advised not to drink it.
Seven years and 51 Billion (with a ‘B’) dollars later, and this is the best they could do? Actually, why are we not surprised? This is, after all, Russia, whose people had to make multiple botched attempts to bump off Rasputin. Never underestimate the power of Russian incompetence — or corruption, for that matter.
Remember, folks, one thing that separates the developed First World from every place else is a more open, transparent government, and relatively minimized corruption. It is clear that with $51 Billion wasted in Sochi, somebody got paid off.
Now let us consider the not-so-small issue of athlete and spectator safety. Did the IOC consider Sochi’s close proximity to Chechnya and the fact that that spot of the world is a hotbed for Moslem terror? Or did that just slip the IOC’s collective mind as they awarded the hosting of the 2014 Winter Games to Vladimir Putin’s kleptocracy?
The term ‘kleptocrat’ is not used lightly, either. During a formal reception, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft happened to bump into Putin. The latter asked to see Kraft’s Super Bowl ring, and Kraft, ever the gentleman, obliged without hesitation in the interests of both classy conduct and international relations. If only Putin were as much of a gentleman. Instead of doing the right thing and returning the ring to Mr. Kraft, after the Pats’ owner so kindly handed over such a precious article of jewelry to the despot for his own close inspection and presumed admiration, Putin just put the ring in his suit pocket and immediately surrounded himself with three KGB agents before leaving the party without delay. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the leader of the nation that is about to host the Winter Olympics.
I ask yet again: did the IOC consider that? Did they consider anything? If current hindsight is any indication, they did not. They did not consider the relative lack of commerce-orientation and the necessary infrastructure that it inevitably entails. They, apparently, did not consider basic geography, be it climate (remember, the whole subtropical resort deal), nor the human side of geography (Chechnya, Islamic terrorism, etc.) and its obvious security risks that imperil athletes and spectators alike. Neither did the IOC consider geography in terms of fundamental location, and the fact that it is out-of-the-way compared to many other sites in more civilized locales. Need we mention the IOC’s lack of consideration regarding the human rights violations and the increased authoritarianism of Putin’s regime? This is to say nothing of the rampant corruption that has left everybody outside of the teams themselves lacking for basic living necessities in their lodging.
There are really only a small handful of countries that are capable of competently handling the Olympics, given the size to which the Games have grown. And remember, the words ‘competence’ and ‘Russia’ hardly go together! Again, the importance of the commerce-orientation in a country is that it has the infrastructure (transportation, hotel accommodations, sanitation/cleanliness, etc.) that can handle such an astronomically massive set of events. But moreover, this same small handful of governments that are sufficiently free/democratic, and have a free press that can call wayward politicians and government officials into proper account (barring left-wing media malpractice, anyway). Such openness is a symptom of the proper commitment towards first-world living standards and infrastructure in the first place. The United States, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Australia and Japan — to an extent — can all pull it off well. Why roll the dice with some place so isolated, in a dangerous part of the world, with a non-winter sports climate, in a country with an increasingly dictatorial government?
Of course, one plausible explanation for this gross lack of judgment on the part of the IOC is that maybe part the $51 Billion spent on these Games in Russia was dangled in front of the faces of key IOC members to cast the vote in favor of Putin’s regime. This is Europe, after all, where such corruption is more commonplace than in the Anglosphere, by and large.
The truth of the matter is, as mentioned before, the vast majority of countries are not built to handle the Olympics. Contrary to the feel-good, politically-correct mantra, not everybody deserves a chance to host something so huge. Not all cultures are equal, hence not all countries are properly equipped to handle such a massive undertaking. The wise approach would be to cycle the Games around in a handful of cities/countries that have proven that they can handle such events without a hitch. Why not cycle it from Salt Lake to Munich to Vancouver (or Calgary) and repeat the cycle? Don’t out-think the room, IOC.
intellectualgridiron 