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Guest column: For all their faults, Olympics what we need right now

The Olympic Games have their faults and weaknesses. But in many respects, they’re exactly what we need right now.

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When French educator Pierre de Coubertin and Greek philanthropist Demetrios Vikelas co-founded the modern Olympic movement in 1894, the world was in turmoil.

Japan used its upgraded military capacity to attack China and its vassal state, Korea, with ambitions to dominate both. France and Russia made a secret treaty whereby Russia promised to come to France’s aid if it were attacked by Germany.

The United States officially surpassed Great Britain as the world’s largest economy and began a quiet but rapid ascent toward greater international influence and its own brand of imperialism.

In Africa, the colonialism of European powers led to partitions and local wars, some of which persist today. Power began to shift from Great Britain and Europe to ambitious rivals.

It was against the background of such international ferment that Coubertin invited 2,000 educators, politicians, philanthropists and business titans to Sorbonne University in Paris. There, on June 23, 1894, they acclaimed a proposal to revive the Olympic Games.

The movement’s stated goals were simple and lofty: to promote friendship, fair play and the “joy of effort,” rather than victory, thereby promoting understanding between nations and fostering peace.

“Wars break out because nations misunderstand each other,” Coubertin said. “We shall not have peace until the prejudices that now separate the different races are outlived.”

The first Games under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee were held in Athens two years later, bringing together 241 athletes from 14 countries. Coubertin died in 1937, but the modern Olympic movement has so far survived.

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Its founders likely could not have imagined the many ways, over the nearly nine decades that followed, in which the movement has been compromised or politicized. The Olympics have been used as a propaganda tool and a political football. IOC members have been expelled and sanctioned over allegations of bribery, nepotism and corruption. The cost of hosting the Olympic Games has skyrocketed — the estimated cost of the Milan-Cortina Games is $8.4 billion.

Yet still we watch. Do we ever watch.

According to research conducted for the IOC by Nielsen, Ipsos and Publicis Sport & Entertainment, more than five billion people worldwide followed the 2024 Summer Games in Paris. Media rights-holders, such as CBC in Canada, garner huge audiences and millions of “engagements” on digital platforms.

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Cynics abound. One Olympic historian in Australia this week put it this way: “It used to be about amateur athletes bringing countries together in peace. Now it’s about highly paid professionals acting ‘amateur’ for two weeks every four years. It’s about sponsorship, TV rights, bragging, national chest beating and now the Olympics have become highly political.”

So why are we paying attention?

In a world of growing pessimism, negative public discourse, rising authoritarianism and outright nihilism, we look to the Olympic Games as a preserve of altruism, honour, peaceful coexistence and the pursuit of excellence. Olympic athletes are obligated to exhibit integrity and fair play and to display high standards of conduct, courtesy and respect toward others.

For all of the modern Olympic movement’s faults, it is one of the few international forums where “ordinary” citizens (though possessed with great skill) become, momentarily, a shared centrepiece of world attention. Politics are largely sidelined by individual effort.

We witness “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” (to borrow from an old TV sports program) and find within ourselves the capacity to both celebrate and empathize.

Though intense competition prevails, we watch as individual athletes honour each other, whether or not they’re from the same country.

For two weeks, national enmities seem to take a backseat to shared humanity. Borders seem to disappear, as they would from the vantage point of outer space, even if we are emotionally invested in the outcomes of certain events.

Our world is not dissimilar from that into which Coubertin injected his Olympic movement, though our methods of conflict and warfare have become exponentially more deadly.

A new geopolitical world order is emerging, as authoritarian regimes vie for global dominance. Old defence alliances and trade agreements are undergoing a “rupture,” to use our prime minister’s term. Russia is waging a war to reassert its imperial ambitions.

America’s president is destroying its democratic norms and shredding its constitution, leaving middle powers such as Canada and the European countries to try to shore up democratic ideals and the rule of law.

Certainly, the Olympic Games have their faults and weaknesses. But in many respects, they’re exactly what we need right now.

Larry Cornies is a London-based journalist. cornies@gmail.com

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