Olympic flameout
In the United Kingdom these days, one can hardly avoid noticing advertisements for the Olympic Games to be held in Paris from July 26 to August 11. Come to the City of Light, they beseech us, words accompanied by arty photographs of parts of France’s capital city that we have all seen: the River Seine, a news kiosk, a Métro station sign.
Before the arrival of World Cups and World Championships in sports such as football, rugby, swimming, athletics and even baseball, competing and hopefully winning either a gold, silver or bronze medal at an Olympics was recognised as the gold standard for that sport. In many ways, it still is. Nelly Korda recently conceded that her heart had never raced so fast as when she stood on the podium accepting her gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Games. Winning a gold medal brought considerable personal distinction but huge prestige for one’s country.
An added attraction of the quadrennial sporting event was not only that it was one of the most watched sporting events in the world but that it threw up eccentricities who caught the eye of millions of TV viewers around the world.
How can (Joost) Luiten and (Momoka) Kobori fight for medals when they aren’t allowed to compete? Shame on the authorities.
Who can forget Eddie the Eagle, the shortsighted plasterer from Cheltenham, England, who was the first Great Britain competitor in Olympic ski jumping and took on the mighty Scandinavian and Alpine nations in the 1988 Winter Games. He never really stood a chance, finishing last in the Normal Hill and Large Hill competitions. Few people know who Michael Edwards is; many remember with great affection Eddie the Eagle, a nickname that still resounds around the world.
Or, at the same games, the bobsleigh team from Jamaica, which doesn’t have much snow, had few if any bobsleighs and hardly any bobsleigh runs yet produced a team that competed with spirit at Calgary. Their efforts prompted the making of a film: “Cool Runnings.” These competitors are remembered long after the winner of the 4x200-meter men’s relay or the women’s three-day event or a synchronised swimming competition are forgotten.
The Olympic spirit, if not an official motto, is that “it’s the taking part that matters, not the winning.” So, shame should be poured on the heads of the authorities who have prevented competitors such as the Netherlands’ Joost Luiten and New Zealand’s Momoka Kobori, who have qualified for the 2024 Games but been told by the authorities that they are not allowed to compete in Paris because they are not considered likely enough to win a medal.
The Olympic creed says, “The important thing in life is not the triumph, but the fight; the essential thing is not to have won, but to have fought well.”
How can Luiten and Kobori fight for medals when they aren’t allowed to compete? Shame on the authorities. Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games, must be spinning in his grave.
John Hopkins
E-MAIL JOHN
Top: "Eddie the Eagle" Edwards soars at the 1988 Winter Olympics.
DAVID CANNON, ALLSPORT/GETTY IMAGES