I didn’t watch the Olympics this time, except for a bit of the ice dancing after the Superbowl, which my wife wanted to watch. I find the controversies around the Olympics increasingly unpleasant, starting with the corruption involved in even awarding the Olympics to this or that city, including the enormous financial losses to the host cities, usually sluffed off to the local taxpayers, and the highly political media focus on which country wins the most medals. This has little to do anymore with sportsmanship, and everything to do with national politics and money.
But I thought the whole debacle surrounding little 15-year-old Russian skater Kamila Valieva was simply cruel. It is cruel for Russian coach Tatiana Tarasova to exploit young girls, with little regard for their health, just to win gold medals. It is cruel for the Russians to continue to violate the doping rules with their athletes, and most especially with children. At 15 years of age, Valieva was unlikely to have decided to take a proscribed drug on her own. In fact, I suspect she never even knew she was given it. And it was unfair to other athletes to let her continue to compete after a failed drug test – a real double-standard. I assume the real reason she was allowed to compete had to do with money and viewership – she was very popular – rather than ethics. But no 15-year-old ought to be put through such a painful situation. I even wonder, cynic that I am, if the Russians arranged for her to fall to fourth place in the final standings so that there would be a medal ceremony for their other skaters. I wouldn’t put it past them.
The Olympics have simply become another big-money media event, like reality TV, and I find it increasingly disgusting.
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