People seem to think the Olympics are about individual determination, skill, and athleticism. Or maybe they think it's about patriotism or dedication to one's country. But they are SO wrong. The Olympics, or at least the 2008 Beijing Olympics, are about capitalism vs. communism. America vs. China.
As soon as China got the bid for the 2008 Olympics they began picking kids out of their billion person population and training them for specific events. The Chinese women's gymnastic team members were allowed to call home from their training facilities once per year after being taken away at age 3. The Chinese strategy seems to be "You work for good of country. We win Orympic gold, all for grory of country."
The United States method is very different. Sure, kids may start at a young age, and be encouraged or pushed to continue by their parents. But there's no government mandate that says "From birth you will train to compete in this Olympic event in 15 years." Much like the free enterprise system our country stands for, we allow kids to choose for themselves what they excel in, and only after they train of their own accord and it becomes obvious that they are the best in the country do we ask them to compete on our behalf.
That's why it pains me to read an article like this one. Apparently U.S. swim team members feel uncomfortable with the amount of attention Michael Phelps is receiving. Without saying as much, some are even hoping he loses.
But for every gold medal, or any color for that matter, that we don't win, China's lead in the medal count only increases. So if we have an utterly dominant athlete, then he should win and keep us in the competition. China has already come out and said they want to win the most golds in these short weeks. That is why we need to dominate in every sport we are capable of winning: swimming, basketball, softball, volleyball, track and field.
It's already disgusting to me that China has 7 medals (including 4 golds) from shooting events. SHOOTING! The United States practically invented shooting!!
As I watch the Chinese women's domination of double's badminton, it only further confirms that the Chinese have practically rigged these games in their favor.
1 comment:
It sounds like we need to start taking kids out of shelters and putting them into training camps. Then we would have the best of both worlds, parents pushing their kids to breaking points AND the government pushing kids to breaking points. If we focus on kids who don't have parents, they wouldn't even have to waste those minutes a year on a call home. That is valuable training time.
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