Too Big to Fail? A Look at the IOC-Russian Eligibility Dilemma
Too Big to Fail? A Look at the IOC-Russian Eligibility Dilemma
By Toni ReavisRio is fast approaching and questions of Olympic eligibility are causing thumbnails of concern to dig into unclean hands, causing half-moons o
By Toni Reavis
Rio is fast approaching and questions of Olympic eligibility are causing thumbnails of concern to dig into unclean hands, causing half-moons of anxiety and who knows what else. All the while the clay feet of our major institutions, whether in the church, government, or sport, continue to make cynics of us all. Thus what the current IOC-Russian eligibility dilemma suggests is that the whole system has become far too out-sized, and has grown beyond the scope of honest oversight.
That the IOC still has to mull the Russian question after all the evidence that has come out showing how reprehensible they have been in undermining the principles upon which the Olympic enterprise supposedly rests, leaves one wondering what level of offense it would take for a summary judgement to be handed down?
But really, doesn't this remind you of the American housing market collapse of 2008 when the major banks had consolidated so much wealth they were essentially deemed too-big-to-fail?
The Olympics without Russia is hard to imagine, yes, but let them participate in Rio after all that’s been exposed in Sochi (and elsewhere), and the IOC is essentially saying there are no boundaries whatsoever. The whole thing is an elaborate con, and those who still think of the Games as a ring-around-the-rosy international group hug are the suckers, the marks.
In light of all that, I recall a conversation I had 20 years ago about the state of the Olympic movement pulled from journal No. 57.
I was sitting at the end of the bar of the Eliot Lounge on Monday August 5, 1996. Parked next to me was Bill Squires, legendary coach of Boston State College and the Greater Boston Track Club. The day before the Atlanta Olympic Men's Marathon had been run with South Africa's Josiah Thungwane prevailing in the heat and humidity. South Korea's Bong-ju Lee took the silver just three seconds back, while Kenya's Eric Wainana brought home the bronze.
Spinning from one subject to the next, as was Squires want, the following emerged after a discussion of Atlanta's overly commercialized, flea-market Games:
"I said in 1960 when they began introducing new events in droves, what they should do is stage the traditional Olympic events - track and field, swimming, wrestling - put those in a sacred location like Athens. Then a month later have boxing and basketball and begin filling in with archery, equestrian etc. Then the following month stage another particular group of sports led by gymnastics at a different venue, one that could handle it logistically and financially.
“In 1960 you only needed to have 60,000-seat stadium for the Games. Now it's up to 85,000. In 1960 3000 or 4000 people would watch swimming. Now it's 15 to 20,000. You can't have the Olympics swamp a city like Montreal, which took decades to pay off their 1976 debt. Get people who really appreciate and love a sport, and IOC could spread the bids around to different venues. Call it the Olympic Summer rather than the Summer Olympics.”
Known for how many idea angels he could place onto the head of a pin of time, Squires might have been onto something there.
Recently, Boston had the bizarre idea that it could mount an Olympic bid, only to realize that there were only certain metropolitan areas in the world that had the staging capabilities and economic backing to enter that auction tent. And even then there are far too many dark corridors and isolated corners where unseemliness can, and does, take place. But if the Olympics could be segmented throughout a full summer season, then an entirely new round of bidders could enter while oversight might be more manageable.
With so many sports and independent federations wriggling beneath a giant, extra-national constrictor slithering here and about, the process is sure to get wrapped in mystery, squeezed by greed and suffocated by injustice.
This latest series of headlines only re-opens the question: has the Olympic movement grown so far beyond the base of its original intent that it has become little more than a cash-engorged mockery of itself?
Let the Russians play and we will know the answer unequivocally.
Rio is fast approaching and questions of Olympic eligibility are causing thumbnails of concern to dig into unclean hands, causing half-moons of anxiety and who knows what else. All the while the clay feet of our major institutions, whether in the church, government, or sport, continue to make cynics of us all. Thus what the current IOC-Russian eligibility dilemma suggests is that the whole system has become far too out-sized, and has grown beyond the scope of honest oversight.
That the IOC still has to mull the Russian question after all the evidence that has come out showing how reprehensible they have been in undermining the principles upon which the Olympic enterprise supposedly rests, leaves one wondering what level of offense it would take for a summary judgement to be handed down?
But really, doesn't this remind you of the American housing market collapse of 2008 when the major banks had consolidated so much wealth they were essentially deemed too-big-to-fail?
The Olympics without Russia is hard to imagine, yes, but let them participate in Rio after all that’s been exposed in Sochi (and elsewhere), and the IOC is essentially saying there are no boundaries whatsoever. The whole thing is an elaborate con, and those who still think of the Games as a ring-around-the-rosy international group hug are the suckers, the marks.
In light of all that, I recall a conversation I had 20 years ago about the state of the Olympic movement pulled from journal No. 57.
I was sitting at the end of the bar of the Eliot Lounge on Monday August 5, 1996. Parked next to me was Bill Squires, legendary coach of Boston State College and the Greater Boston Track Club. The day before the Atlanta Olympic Men's Marathon had been run with South Africa's Josiah Thungwane prevailing in the heat and humidity. South Korea's Bong-ju Lee took the silver just three seconds back, while Kenya's Eric Wainana brought home the bronze.
Spinning from one subject to the next, as was Squires want, the following emerged after a discussion of Atlanta's overly commercialized, flea-market Games:
"I said in 1960 when they began introducing new events in droves, what they should do is stage the traditional Olympic events - track and field, swimming, wrestling - put those in a sacred location like Athens. Then a month later have boxing and basketball and begin filling in with archery, equestrian etc. Then the following month stage another particular group of sports led by gymnastics at a different venue, one that could handle it logistically and financially.
“In 1960 you only needed to have 60,000-seat stadium for the Games. Now it's up to 85,000. In 1960 3000 or 4000 people would watch swimming. Now it's 15 to 20,000. You can't have the Olympics swamp a city like Montreal, which took decades to pay off their 1976 debt. Get people who really appreciate and love a sport, and IOC could spread the bids around to different venues. Call it the Olympic Summer rather than the Summer Olympics.”
Known for how many idea angels he could place onto the head of a pin of time, Squires might have been onto something there.
Recently, Boston had the bizarre idea that it could mount an Olympic bid, only to realize that there were only certain metropolitan areas in the world that had the staging capabilities and economic backing to enter that auction tent. And even then there are far too many dark corridors and isolated corners where unseemliness can, and does, take place. But if the Olympics could be segmented throughout a full summer season, then an entirely new round of bidders could enter while oversight might be more manageable.
With so many sports and independent federations wriggling beneath a giant, extra-national constrictor slithering here and about, the process is sure to get wrapped in mystery, squeezed by greed and suffocated by injustice.
This latest series of headlines only re-opens the question: has the Olympic movement grown so far beyond the base of its original intent that it has become little more than a cash-engorged mockery of itself?
Let the Russians play and we will know the answer unequivocally.