The problems with the Olympics

Every other year, we have the opportunity to watch either the summer or winter Olympic Games. In many ways, this is a refreshing change from the problems we are now seeing in professional sports. Unfortunately, the Olympics provide some problems of their own.


Before I go any further, I want to focus on the games themselves. I'm not going to make too big a deal out of NBC's horrible coverage, and I'm not going into any details regarding the USOC's insistence that it's wrong for Washingtonians to reference geographical features.

One of the problems that I have with the Olympics is that I want the best rather than the best amateurs. The games have changed over the years, and professionals in many sports are now allowed. Even so, you simply can't be certain the the Olympics will be up to the level in sports that we can see otherwise.

Another big issue that I have with the Olympics is that there is too much focus on the nations of the competitors. This can be divided into several smaller issues that I have with the Olympics. For starters, the Olympics are used as a source of propaganda. If the United States performs well, the media will try to use that to force us to like our country, even though our best athletes tend to be embarrassments to our country.

Another issue is fairness, especially in team sports. Larger countries have unfair advantages. Hockey is a good example of this. The United States does not really care about hockey, and we don't push the sport nearly as much as smaller countries. Overall, we are weak. Because our country is so large, we are likely to have a large number of strong players despite this weakness. By comparison, there are many hockey-obsessed nations that do incredible jobs with their resources, but they don't have enough players to provide the same depth. Of course, this is not just an issue with hockey.

Sticking with team sports, this is unfair to strong athletes when they represent nations that are weak overall. Some of these athletes have limited opportunity for success. Others play for nations that fail to qualify for Olympic tournaments. Again, I want the best athletes. National teams include weaker players in the lower-tier teams while some strong players lack the opportunities that they deserve.

Individual sports aren't as bad because success and representation should be more proportional to size. Of course, you still have to deal with various strengths of nations and nations such as our that take corrupt approaches to lead to success.

In all honesty, I wish we could come up with a new approach to major sports competitions. I would prefer to have the best athletes. Elite athletes should receive decent compensation, but it shouldn't be so well paid that they are playing more for the money than the sport. I want decent options to be introduced to new sports. I want an international display, but I also want teams of mixed nationalities.