Finally, I cannot but agree with you that those in charge of preparing for these Olympics need to take their share of responsibility for the results. This is obvious. I think that those responsible, some of them at least, should take the brave decision to submit their resignations and step down. If they do not find within themselves the resolve to do so we will help them.
Linky
Russia is now suffering from a malady that used to be universal in the USA vis a vis Olympic sports...which really are global sports, year round, every year. The Ruskies are not supporting their athletes like the old Commissars did...it's more like what we used to have under Avery Brudage and his idealistic theory of amateurism. First perform at a global level, then we'll round up some support, maybe, but you can't earn a living in the mean time. Russian hockey suffers from not being a branch of the Soviet Red Army anymore.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, although NBC seldom even inferred it, many US athletes still have to use bake sales and sundry other small scale fund raising activites just to meet basic sport expences not counting those for every day living. Fact is, to reach world class levels, you must have a generous sponsor. Hell, to even reach classifiable national levels you need some sponsorhsip...even though it is much better tody than under Brundage and his ilk...well intentioned, but oblivious to the fact we ain't all rich.
IIRC, and I do, under the old system American and Canadian athletes had to maintain their "amatuer" status perpetually, even on the lowest competitive levels...which meant no sponsors and no job even remotely related to sports. As a hack ski racer I couldn't teach anyone to ski for pay for example, and no one else could either, even world champions. One result was that I never had truly decent coaching (I wasn't good enough to get a scholarship at U of Colorado, et al) until I was in my twenties and working, which enabled me to pay a coach myself.
Top American skier of my day, Buddy Werner, was pushing that envelope by skiing in ski adventure films, purportedly gratis...one of which killed him in an avalanch in Switzerland....a pair of them really, as he skied out from one only to be buried by another coming at him lower down the mountain. Minimum support was available, even though he, as much as anyone, contributed heavily to the skiing boom in the USA later on.
You might have noticed that gold medalists Vonn (USA), Miller (USA) and Riesch (Germany) all ski on factory issued Head Skis. Howard Head began in the 1950's, and pioneered the modern ski designs, and would give skis to teams to try out and report to him on...and if you were US or Canadian athletes, you had to give them back, or buy them retail, when they finally were produced en mass, to use in competition. I skied on Head racing skis, as a team member, in the late 1950's and they were fantastic...Howard Head would sometimes stay right in town to watch the skiing and ask direct questions about flex and torsional rigidity and how this or that ski performed on all types of snow or ice. However, I couldn't afford to buy a pair of the competition models until the 1960's.
My point is simply this: Sport is a better avocation than war fighting, and serves a similar purpose (national pride, etc)....witness the Russian embarasment just now versus their glory days. If fully sponsored it does no harm, and potentially does a great deal of good. We'll not likely ever government sponsor sport, with few exceptions (such as shooting sports where the USMC is a sponsor of their marksmen) but just the ability to acquire sponsors and earn a living is what produced the Yank and Canuck top racers of today. Without it, we'd not be on any podiums.
Great post, aridog.
ReplyDeleteI do miss the idea that all the Olympic athletes maintain an "amateur" status, but it was never REALLY that way for many countries, was it? Maybe now OUR best athletes are getting an opportunity to compete.
I'm very happy that us eeevil North Americans won so many medals, even if the Olympics isn't about amateurism any more.
Lady Red...no, it was not like that for any other countries in my lifetime. IRCC just Canada, the USA, and possibly England and some other Commonwealth nations perhps. Some others allowed covert income, others outright sponsorship, and some direct government sponsorship from an early age.
ReplyDeleteThe reason the 1980 Hockey victory over the Russians was a "miracle" is because it was "true" amatuer kids 22 years old or less, IIRC, beating a professional Red Army team that had played for a living, together, for at least a decade.
I don't miss the faux amatuer thing at all. The Olypics still enforces some non-commercialization rules, like no endorsement logos on uniforms or racing suits...only equipment manufacturer brands on their own equipment. Fact is, for the duration of the Olympics in Vancouver, Julia Mancuso was directed by the IOC to shut down her "Kiss My Tiara" underwear and accessories business...and she did so.