The 2024 Paris Summer Olympics have provided us with many great moments when viewing them through the eyes of a Canadian.
Led by swimmer Summer MacIntosh’s haul of four medals, Canada should be proud of the way our athletes have represented our country.
Whether it was the athleticism of Nanaimo’s Ethan Katzburg in the hammer throw in which he won the gold medal or the resiliency of the Canadian National Women’s Soccer Team after being docked six points for an idiotic mistake by their coaching staff, there have been plenty of opportunities to jump on the bandwagon.
But I just couldn’t do it.
Don’t get me wrong. I have all the respect in the world for our athletes – all athletes – that participate in the Olympics. The amount of dedication that is required to get to the level of an Olympic athlete is mind-blowing – especially for those who have to battle for funding just to scrape by.
But the summer games lost me a long time ago.
The strange thing is I used to be glued to the television watching the summer Olympics from morning to night. I loved to learn about an athlete and his or her amazing journey to get to the Olympics. I, like many, would become an ‘expert’ every four years in some mainly anonymous sport like handball. Simply put, I was into it.
Now all I do is watch highlights.
Maybe there’s a part of me that’s afraid that I’ll get consumed by the games again but it’s more than that.
I remember when the Olympics were strictly for amateur athletes and professionals were prohibited. That line got blurred with the old Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries but the Olympics, for the most part, were for amateurs.
Once every four years, it was their opportunity to be on the big stage and have the spotlight on them. With the world watching, they could display their athleticism and let their stories be told.
We would become emotionally engaged to them as we learned what they had to go through to get to the Olympics and become champions.
But if you want the truth follow the money.
By 1988, the IOC opened up the games to professionals.
The International Olympic Committee realized that by opening up the games to the pros, the games would become immensely more popular. The U.S. basketball “Dream Team” of 1992 with Michael Jordan and company reinforced what the IOC was thinking.
The lure of professional athletes and their fans was too big to ignore. TV numbers would go up, which in turn, would mean more revenue for the IOC.
The Olympics went from being an event to a spectacle.
That trend has obviously continued with Lebron James, Novak Djokovic, Justin Rose and other pros participating in various events.
Sorry but seeing James and company win Olympic gold does nothing for me.
These are NBA players who have plenty of fame and fortune. I’d rather see a bunch of NCAA kids win an Olympic gold than an NBA All-Star team. The same holds true for golf where PGA Tour star Scottie Scheffler just won a gold medal. I’m hard-pressed to think that Scheffler winning an Olympic Gold does anything to move the needle as a sports fan.
And this also holds true for the Winter Olympics and hockey. I’d rather see junior players be part of the games than NHLers. I’m just not a fan of professionals being part of the Olympics.
Then there is the size and politics of the games.
How is it that break dancing is an Olympic sport while baseball and softball are not?
How is surfing in Tahiti – which is 9,765 miles away from Paris – considered part of the Olympic Games?
To me, the Olympics have become one big sell-out.
Three-on-Three basketball?
C’mon man.
Now before you start the ‘old man yelling at the clouds’ argument, I have to say that I still love watching the Winter Olympics.
Maybe it’s because those games are much smaller in size. After all, it’s going to be easier to follow the 16 disciplines of the upcoming Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics compared to the 44 disciplines that are part of the Paris games.
Maybe it’s because they have more of an amateur feel to them (hockey notwithstanding). Maybe it’s because the locales are smaller and quainter. Maybe it’s just because the games are in the winter and there aren’t as many distractions.
The bottom line is that I can still connect with the Winter Olympics.
Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about the Summer Olympics.
Veteran B.C. sports personality Bob “the Moj” Marjanovich writes twice weekly for Black Press Media.
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