Olympic Committee or Athletic Nanny State?
Earlier this month, an actress in Greece dressed up as a high priestess and lit the Olympic flame, sending the torch on its first steps toward the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, British Columbia. While supporters of the Olympic movement may characterize the event as a moving tribute, for the rest of us it should be a prompt that the Olympics really need to remain nothing more than a show.
Unfortunately, this month has been a reminder that the Olympic movement wants to be something more than an athletic pageant. Regretfully, it persists on asserting itself as a moral arbiter. Despite a checkered moral history of its own that includes Olympics set up to press agendas that were either abhorrently fascist (see the 1936 Berlin Games) or questionably nationalistic (see the 2008 Beijing Games), organizers believe they can define rules on do’s and don’ts outside of the sporting arenas.
Two weeks ago, the New Zealand Olympic Committee decreed that an athlete seeking funding for his Olympic dream in the less-than-lucrative sport of taekwondo can’t choose his own way to raise said funds. Logan Campbell, who competed in the 2008 Games, decided that rather than burden his parents with the cost of paying his way for training and travel in the hopes of winning a spot at the 2012 Olympics in London, he would start a brothel.
Such an establishment, if registered, is perfectly legal under New Zealand’s liberal laws. But the New Zealand Olympic Committee felt compelled to police the matter. “Based on the Olympic values of excellence, friendship and respect, we would place your actions as totally inconsistent with these values,” the committee said in a letter to Campbell. “Your open solicitation of ‘clients’ for your ‘business’ while using the Olympic or Olympian connection must cease immediately, or the NZOC will be forced to consider taking legal action against you.” The sports sub-organizing body, Taekwondo New Zealand, had already warned Campbell that his involvement with his high-end escort agency could impact his selection to the Olympic squad.
hmmm…. maybe he shouldn’t have called the brothel, “Swifter, higher, stronger” ?
This is just one more nail in the Olympics coffin. They’re already so corrupt that it’s time for the new Pierre de Coubertin.
“Now I actually believe that climate change is a worthy issue.”
Really now…statements like this certainly destroy the credibility of the rest of your well reasoned article. This climate change crap is a much greater scam than the ongoing Olympic sham.
Much more to the point, the IOC is essentially a criminal organization that should have been dealt with under RICO provisions ages ago. Like the UN they should have been banished by US Administrations past.
Why past? The Chicago Way…professional courtesy.
So was this sufficient to allay the lingering guilt of rooting against America? I mean, conservatives didn’t really have time to demonize the games prior to their outrage of Obama trying to bring the games to Chicago. Does this make you feel better about being anti-American?
Oh, I see no reason to be upset that Olympic fundraising can’t include running a brothel, legal or not. I does show the the Olympic Committee has a few standards left and we should be thankful for that. Josh Chetwynd seems to prefer that they have none, and seems to think that this sports competition exists merely to keep little Joshie entertained and occasionally titillated.
Thinking that “legislating individual morals” is wrong and “that climate change is a worthy issue” demonstrates that this journalist an occasional lawyer is so shallow and clueless, he’d be more at home back at USA Today and US News rather than at PJM. This is a guy with a mind like a bumper sticker and heart of ice.
Wrong is wrong, whether that wrong is committed by an individual or a giant corporation. In fact, in my experience the harm caused by individual transgressions, a husband visiting this brothel for instance, is far greater than that created by most corporate greed, say my current clash with Comcast for miss-billing me and pig-headed refusing to fix the problem. And miseries in marriage impose miseries that children will carry with them for the rest of their life.
But then that’s not something this Josh Chetwynd cares about.
I am curious as to why you think climate change is a serious issue. So far I cannot find anything but isolated anecdotes along with temperature projection models that are either a) so complex that they have no chance of improving on a rough guess or b) purposely designed to support climate change religion. And, even if otherwise valid, the “human-caused” factor in these models is grossly overstated.
The real evidence staring at us is that societal wealth created by a free market is the best thing for the environment. Those driving the climate change movement want to slow this down in pursuit of their own power and enrichment. The rest of us are being duped.
But back to your point – I wish we could know how many members of the IOC have visited brothels in the course of their travels and site selections
Hmm, do you suppose greenhouse gas emissions and climate change were on their minds when they drew up the plans for this?
http://www.vancouver2010.com/more-2010-information/olympic-torch-relay/olympic-torch-relay-interactive-map/
What sort of footprint is that going to have? Don’t worry though, it’s all “sustainable”, http://www.vancouver2010.com/sustainability/, or you could buy them an offset.
Thankful conversation. I’m luckily found this expose again and get a wonderful chance to allocate my opinion in this issue. I think that’s show brings real opportunity for the Olympic and I watched his flame show in last night. Keep it up though!