Winter of Discontent

Let’s get one thing straight: I’m an Olympics buff.

I love the idea of the Games, the spirit of the Games and the whole “international goodwill” thing that seems to occur during the fortnight.

I’m just not pumped up for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Hell, if these games weren’t being held in America I probably wouldn’t flip on the television at all. The only interesting item to watch may be Friday’s opening ceremonies, when the U.S. team marches in with the tattered flag that was found at Ground Zero.

So what’s wrong with the 2002 Games? I can point to three specific problems: 1) they’re in winter; 2) they’re corrupt, and; 3) the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is getting ridiculous.

In the first place, as an American sports fan it’s hard to get excited for any Winter Olympics. Conceptually, they’re difficult for us to grasp except for a few folks in the Northeast and Rocky Mountain regions.

Think about it— one of the beautiful things about the Summer Olympics is that people can relate to the efforts of the greatest performers. We all run, swim or play some table tennis. Everybody can get on a bike or kick a soccer ball. When we watch the Summer Games, we empathize with the competitors and imagine ourselves in their places.

But the sports at Salt Lake, with the exception of skating, hockey and (maybe) skiing, seem like exotic concoctions dreamed up by the Vikings, which of course they are. How many of us have careened down an ice chute in a bottle rocket (bobsleigh) or cross-country skied while firing a rifle (biathlon)? Does it make any sense how someone loses points during the moguls competition?

Another problem with the winter sports is perception. Olympics television coverage goes out of its way to tell stories about various athletes who have overcome great obstacles.

During the Olympics in Sydney in 2000, for example, I recall a moving tale of a Kenyan middle-distance runner who perservered in the face of civil war, poverty and famine. The considerable complexity of many of the winter sports leads to less dramatic tales. A human-interest story at the Salt Lake Winter Games might go something like this:

“Wilhelm Doppelganger has been ski-jumping all his life. The 27-year old Austrian, the son of a world champion speed skater and an Olympic gold-medal-winning luger, grew up in the ski-resort town of Blaadfrey. At age four he was sent to private school in the Alps and then to the Olympic Training Center in Vienna. By 15 he was traveling the Grand Prix World Circuit.”

What kind of underdog is that? You can see why “Cool Runnings” was such a big hit.

With such few countries able to compete in the Winter Games, the usual patriotic fervor of a Summer Olympics is also lost. While there will certainly be a strong American spirit at Salt Lake City, this year is an exception.

Corruption has also tainted these Games, no matter how much Mitt Romney, Senator Orrin Hatch and the rest of the Salt Lake Olympic Commitee (SLOC) try to bury the story. Much of the stain on the Olympic Games in the past five years has come from the scandal over 1995’s selection of Salt Lake City as the host city.

Kickbacks, pay-offs, and other sundry dealings involving officials from the Mormon State were exposed under the previous IOC presidency of Juan Antonio Samaranch; he was forced out and so were dozens of Olympic bureaucrats. Salt Lake got to keep the Games, however.

A recent report in “Sports Illustrated” showed how the Utah congressional delegation was able, in concert with other Representatives, Senators and the White House, to appropriate tens of millions of dollars from the federal budget for the Salt Lake Games between 1995-2000. They fleeced the taxpayers, the report claims, because much of this expenditure was unnecessary from the federal level in light of how much was spent on the Atlanta Summer Olympics in 1996, which was a much larger event. In any case, the report adds to the growing mountain of evidence of wrongdoing. Right now, the IOC is making a half-hearted effort to clean itself up.

Which brings me to the third problem. The IOC is being run by narrower and narrower interests. It spends time bashing Athens for not spending enough government money for the 2004 Summer Olympics while awarding the totalitarian Chinese government the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing. Lip service is being paid to improvements in drug testing. The committee adds sports to each Games like there’s a sale on them at Filene’s. Ballroom dancing? Extreme snowboarding? Oy vey.

But as I said from the start, I’m an Olympics buff. I’m an American sports fans, and I’ll be watching (a little) and rooting. Especially for Harvard’s own Olympians, like speed skater Dan Weinstein or the various members of our women’s hockey team competing for the U.S. and Canada. Things should change, however, and change soon. Everybody knows the next Summer Olympics are being held in Athens, but do you know where the next Winter Games are? Rather, do you remember where the last Winter Games were held?

Behind the bright lights and celebration, covered over by NBC and Michelle Kwan, there are dozens of little things and a few big things that the IOC needs to fix. Maybe cut some sports, or put the Winter Games back in the same years as the Summer Games. Spend less money on extravagance, or spend more money spreading winter sports during non-Olympic years. Do something.

Otherwise, “Cool Runnings” is as popular as the Winter Olympics will ever get.