“If you don’t try to win, you might as well hold the Olympics in somebody’s back yard.”

-Jessie Owens

This Friday, in Beijing China, the world will hold the opening ceremonies for the 2008 Olympics.  It’s amazing to me that the eyes of every nation will be collectively cast on an event that is celebrated now (although I’m sure that we are a bit more dramatic), just as it was thousands of years ago.  

One World, One Dream

Most historians agree that the original Olympics began in 776 BC, or earlier, and ran until the Romans outlawed them as a pagan festival in 393 AD.  And now, all these many centuries later, the world looks back with a shared nod to an ancient global history that first died and was then reborn to pull us all together every couple of years.

Think about everything that the Olympics represent: history, competition, honor, respect, commitment….  

And like the Greeks, our Olympics are brimmed with tragedy and drama; a legion of human souls throwing their everything into a lifetime of training just to get the opportunity for a chance to compete.  But there’s only one gold medal, and almost everyone who competes will exit the arena with their head held high and not so much as a bronze bouncing from their neck.  

Here in America, we’re home to both the highest amount of total medals (2197), and the highest amount of gold (897).  We’ve watched our heroes rise to glory: Mary Lou Retton, Mia Hamm, Flo Jo, Jessie Owens…  

And we’ve watched them fall: Nancy Kerrigan, Greg Louganis, Ben Johnson... 

When I was a kid, the ’84 Olympics came to Los Angeles, daddy to the city where I live.  My parents owned a photo mat at the time, and our house was spangled with Sam the Eagle stickers and assorted paraphernalia.  Mary Lou Retton was the star, at least as far as I knew, and I remembered seeing her do a guest spot on Kids Incorporated.  I don’t remember the episode exactly, but I’d bet what’s in my wallet that she managed to teach those children a thing or two about hard work and/or integrity.  

And I may be rolling right down the mountain into dork meadow here, but I also think it’s pretty cool that the Olympics are falling on 08/08/08.

And thousands of Chinese agree.  

They expect nuptials to be especially high on that date, because the Chinese consider the numbers to be lucky.  

I’m not saying that you have to watch every event, or tip the tank of the Tivo, but the Olympics offer an awful lot to talk about, and us moms and dads should use the games as fodder for conversation over the next few weeks.  

The olympics will be in London in 2012.  Our daughter will be ten, and our son eight.  Both of them will be old enough to make the trip and fully appreciate it.  We’re exposing them now, and we’ll be there for sure.

Writer Dad

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Have a great day.