I can't bring myself to. The Olympics lost something when competition stopped being about self-mastery. If you look at the ancient Olympic Games or maybe even just several decades ago, competition wasn’t just “who runs fastest.” It was embedded in religion, civic honor, and virtue. Excellence includes discipline and character. There was a seriousness to it...
The modern Olympics branding, broadcasting, social media, and the Olympic Village basically being treated like a giant adult summer (winter) camp. I know people say the sex, the substance use, etc... is just stress relief or “they’re adults, who cares.”
But to me, sex isn’t recreational stress relief. It’s powerful. It shapes you. So, when the highest level of competition, something that should represent extreme focus and self-command, is surrounded by that kind of culture, it feels off. Debauched.
I guess the heart of the matter is how competition is viewed: Is it sacred or is it a spectacle? What is elite sport actually for?
I cannot really cheer for team USA because I know a majority of these athletes do not represent these things. Though I can see and recognize achievement, it doesn’t inspire loyalty or emotional investment for me because the underlying values are absent.
I have a hard time caring about the athletes. To me, if someone comes from an affluent family then spends their whole childhood dedicated to a sport while being trained by the best coaches in the world, them winning the event loses its appeal to me.
I want to see Bob, the accountant who snowboards for fun on weekends go up against Tim the car salesman who used to be friends with Bob and they snowboarder together until Tim fucked Bob's now ex-gf.
Countless countries, with China really being the modern prime example, have already proven that all winning takes at the Olympics is whoever devotes the most amount of resources to winning. That's not interesting to me. Certain countries always win certain events simply because those countries have the best trainers, facilities and sponsorships to train for those events. I want to see any country be able to take the medal in any event because all the competitors are real amateurs.
I think the Worlds events should be for the professionals who train for events. The Olympics needs to go back to true amateurs only.