Olympic Value

Another Olympics have come and gone, and while I will be the first to admit this one felt different than previous versions, it still reinforced to me its importance in our wonderful but tricky world. It accomplishes things that other events, governments, businesses, and people are rarely able to.

They bring people together. I do believe the ideas of ‘togetherness’ and ‘one family’ from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) can come across differently to different people, but that doesn’t take away the fact it does achieve those things. Imagine any other activity that allows you to spend 3 weeks living in an apartment block with people from all over the world, where you have the opportunity to learn about them, their culture, their struggles, their possibilities. It won’t solve all our international issues, but it does enable a level of worldliness and understanding that people would be hard pressed to get in any other setting.

They show goals are achievable. The Olympics don’t hold a monopoly on the ability to show that goals and dreams can come true, but it is perhaps the most visible one. I’m not even talking about winning medals, but the sheer ability to get to that level of competition is an incredible accomplishment full of sacrifice and effort. Those lessons not only help the young recognize the power they possess, but we adults too can see that goal setting should be a lifelong endeavour, no matter how big or small the aim.

They provide distraction. More than one person has said to me over the last two plus weeks that they’ve been thankful for the Olympics simply to take their minds away from the challenges in Canada right now. I’m not here to pretend that the Olympics act as some vision of panacea for those in our country or world who are living through extreme challenges and struggles, but the idea that sport can temporarily take people is a reality. The global scale and visibility of the Olympics, and the connected nature of so many of us watching at once, make it better than any other sporting event at doing this.

They show that competition is good. In a world that, at times, makes competing and bettering ourselves seem like negative concepts, I like that the Olympics puts competition on full display. Those athletes want to win. They’re trained to do that. But, for the most part they recognize this as only one aspect of the event. Yes, compete to win but aim to do it fairly and in respect of your opponents – we saw this on display many times with athletes celebrating the achievements of others, even when vanquished. Everything isn’t always going to be fair and equal for us and seeing the balance of competition and sportsmanship demonstrates this.

While the world of international sport faces great challenges, the Olympic movement still brings with it significant value. Those challenges can be debated, but I do think at its heart the Olympics are a great event and one that every two years highlights values and lessons that all of us can incorporate and live by.