Olympic Glory

Well, I'm back, after a few short days of not blogging. A few interesting developments have happened in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. There is now a new blog up on the New York Times called "The Rings" that has blog entries much more often than this one. Check it out here. So, here are a few thoughts and updates.

Oscar Pistorius
Oscar Pistorious is a South African sprinter who would like to make it to the Olympic games. While he's probably not fast enough to make it in his big events, the 100, 200 and 400 meter dashes, he will probably be placed on the South African 4x400 meter relay team. He is, as far as anyone can tell, a model athlete, trains well, and would like a shot at the Olympics. However, in January, the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) prohibited from going to the Olympics.

The reason for that is that Oscar Pistorious is a double leg amputee. He runs with the aid of what are known as "cheetah legs," shown on Pistorious here. In January it was determined that the legs he uses gives him an unfair advantage in competition with able-bodied people. Note the wicked irony: a man who has neither of his legs is determined to be better equiped than those who have both of their legs, and thus is not allowed to compete.

Pistorious appealed his decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and research was done at Rice University's Locomotion Laboratory under the direction of Professor Peter Weyand. He is also part of a six-member team led by Hugh Herr of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (a bilateral amputee himself) and comprising of scientists from the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Saint-Etienne (France), and the University of Wyoming. This team presented their findings to the Court, saying that the prosthetics used gave no significant competitive advantage and the previous study was not scientifically valid.

In a shocking overturn, the Court reversed the ruling of the IAAF, allowing Pistorious to have a shot at competing on the highest stage in all of sports. Pistorious hopes to follow in the footsteps of fellow South African Natalie du Toit and make a trip to Beijing in August. Du Toit is a swimmer who has only one leg and will compete in the 10k open swim, which makes its Olympic debut this summer.

Other "Heartwarming Stories"
The Olympics will have some of the most heartwarming stories you'll here about--people who have defied the odds. Oscar Pistorious and Natalie du Toit are just two examples of people like that. Kenyan athletes will come out of a country torn by a recent bout of violence leaving 1200 people dead and thousands more injured. Some of their athletes sustained injuries in the violence that ensued. Yet they will be going to the Olympics this summer.

In 2004, the North and South Korean athletes marched into the opening ceremonies under the Korean unification flag, a hopeful gesture of future peace between two countries separated by one of the most heavily armed borders in the world.

During the Olympic torch relay, I noted in my last blog that the torchbearers made it to the top of Mount Everest. The torch was passed between five torchbearers to a Tibetan woman standing on the summit of Everest. It was perhaps a step towards unity between the Chinese and Tibetans--a step which is small, and smells of propoganda, but perhaps a nice gesture on the part of the Chinese government.

What are the Olympics About?
Those who place at the Olympics will bring home a gold, silver, or bronze medal and glory for their country. But very few of the athletes who compete actually win. There are swimmers who don't have a pool to train in--they train in their local lake instead. Will they come away with a medal? They're going up against athletes who have had their skills honed against stiff competition in the world's fastest pools in the world's fastest suits. Of course they won't. But that's not why they're there. They are there to be part of the Olympics, which is bringing together the countries of the world in a supra-political way. It is one event where people from Iraq and Iran, North and South Korea, Israel and Jordan, France and England, and the United States and Russia can come together in harmony.

Why would we want to ruin that? We are angry with China for their political deeds (or misdeeds). But the Olympics aren't Chinese--nor where they ever Australian or American or Spanish. A host country opens itself up to invite harmony between countries. Hopefully Beijing 2008 will fulfill that ideal.