Olympic Spirit

As you likely have surmised by the over abundance of red mittens with a Canadian flag on the palm and the incessant commercials involving a Canadian flag, wilderness or beavers, the winter Olympics are currently happening. I have a strange ambivalence to such an event, something along the lines to how C.L.R. James describes Lucian, an early commentator on the Greek Olympic games, as both repulsed and unable to stay away at the same time. I love sports and yet fully recognize that sport is not something pure and detached from society at large: it reproduces inequalities, is intricately involved in cultural production and re-production, and fully participates in racist discourses.

Here are some of my early observations on the Opening ceremonies and the Olympics as a whole:

1. Why make such a big deal about the Native chiefs being late? Dignitaries are late all the time and slip in with little fanfare or notice, so why feed the narrative that First Nations people are always late, lazy, unaware of time, etc... I hope it was an act of purposeful resistance. It was either that, or they were held up by security on their way in and had their fingers tested for explosives residue....

2. The Native dancing was one of the most blatant displays of trying to 'write' Canada as a diverse, multicultural space while at the same time ignoring the historical reality of what the land means to First Nations people. The welcome also ironically echoed the many times First Nations people welcomed the first explorers only to be thanked with death, colonialism, reserves, and exploitation. I secretly hope that when they were talking in their native tongue that they were cursing out the Olympics.

3. I almost spit out my drink when after the dancing, when the nations were about to walk into the arena, all these people clad in white came out and started to encircle the dancing First Nations people. I thought perhaps they were indeed going to be historical and start shooting or rounding them up to move them to a smaller area....

4. I then actually did spit out my drink when, as Greece was the first country to enter, the commentator said something to the like of: "They should give Greece a gold medal for their contributions to civilization around the world." Uh, seriously? Not only is modern Western society a bastardization of Greek democracy but if we take that line, the contributions that Western society has made to the rest of the world include colonization, the Atlantic slave trade, mass-scale exploitation, the spread of misogyny, etc... If we're awarding medals for such "contributions" perhaps we should award the silver to Germany for their "contributions" during World War 2 and America the bronze for their "war on terror".

5. The whole ceremony was an exercise in narrating against history, specifically in narrating Canada as a diverse, accepting, polite, forward-thinking country. From the hybridity of the punk-rock Scottish fiddlers, to the commentators constantly highlighting the diverse communities in Canada "Listen to the crowd go wild for the Chinese team, there's a large Chinese population in the greater Vancouver area...", to highlighting the benevolence of Canadians to 'developing countries' (The community coming together to buy the poor Indian team matching costumes).

6. And finally, the gross exoticism of non-White nations (speaking of which, is there anywhere a Whiter gathering of sports than the Winter Olympics?). From the mystique of the "Snow Leopard" to the appeal of the lone Jamaican athlete, there was the pandering to the "underdog", the racial other.

I know this all seems quite negative and like I hate the Olympics, and I haven't even touched on the economic or regional impact of such a bombastic, self-aggrandizing, consumerism driven event (okay, maybe I just did...) Yet, like I said I am oddly drawn to watching the breath-taking speed of the downhill skiers, the mechanical determination of the speed skaters, the high-flying snowboarders, and the thrill of the crowd when hockey is on (except for women's hockey; 18-0 is hardly a competitive sport...)

It's here and I'm not going to don a mask and smash windows but at the same time I'm not going to willfully blind myself from some of the realities of what is going on.

Interestingly enough, the first Olympics in Greece were not only about sport but it was also a time for intellectuals to gather and share ideas, for drama and theater, etc... Instead of protesting in the streets perhaps we should call for an international symposium to gather every Olympics in the host city to share ideas on sport, society, culture, etc... Actually, even in the modern era medals were awarded for "events" such as architecture, town planning, and various forms of literature such as lyrical, dramatic, and epic. Perhaps Vancouver should award medals for protesting... ;)