I've recently been accused by the scrapbook nazi of being a cynic when it comes to the Olympics. I don't believe the International Olympic Committee lives up to the high standards they espouse. And that makes all the high-minded talk a little hypocritical in my book. (See 1972 US Men's Basketball team for example).And, just in time to prove my point, we have a new reason to dislike the Chinese. Forget Tianamen Square. And Tibet. And the whole friends-with-North-Korea thing. This is serious.
Apparently the Chinese Women's Gymnastic Team isn't made up of women at all. They're little girls--too young to compete in the Olympics. One of them is so young she's still losing her baby teeth. You can read the story here.
Perhaps the Chinese should go back and read the Olympic Creed: "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well." Unless, of course, nationalistic (or is it communistic?) pride and progaganda are on the line.
Or we can just call the Olympics for what they are: two weeks of commercialized sports event where the host, Olympic committees, and sponsors use (mostly) amateur athletes to make gobs of money. Sounds like the international version of the NCAA.
1 comment:
finally? i think there were plenty of reasons before (killing infant girls, sweat shops, taking kids away from their parents when they are 3 to put them in sports boarding schools, tibet, etc), but this really ticked me off too. if you stand our gymnasts next to theirs it positively looks like ours are fixin to pack their knitting needles and go to the home.
i was reading some comments after an article about this and someone made said we are just jealous and racist and can't accept that asians age better than we do.
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