THE OLYMPICS DISADVANTAGE
The Olympics are games whose aim, among others, is to bring the world together through sports. And indeed the world has been brought together. Every country prepares teams to participate in the various events in the sporting arena. This goal of uniting the world is best seen in the five interlocking rings of different colours – interlocking to show unity and having colours that, I am informed, could be found in all the national flags of the nations of the world. And I am yet to see a purple flag. Or pink, for that matter.
The games played too reflect the unity of purpose of this great sporting event. Some are universal to mean that, wherever you go, you will most likely find one form or the other of the games being played. Talk of football, netball, volleyball and many track events and someone will positively identify a time when they played these games, or watched a local team play.
Beyond that, it is all nasty, given that there are some games which are not universal. A friend told me that, even before the games begin, there are countries whose medal tally could be in the hundreds. This is courtesy of some games where only THEY participate in. a good example of this is the just-concluded Winter Olympics. Then there is doping that really dampens the spirit of the games.
My suggestion is that, to show the diversity of the games, and therefore to further unify the world, the International Olympics Committee should adopt many indigenous games from as many parts of the globe as possible. I am already thinking of Ajua, Bano and hide and seek. Which other games do you think the Olympics should embrace?
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