The Olympic Shames
published on 2008-08-08 00:00:00 by juergen in english.
related to aus dem leben..., olympia, auswuechse der gesellschaft, medien | 0 comments

I just watched the inauguration of the Olympic Games 2008 in passing and completely unprepared it hit me like a slap in the face. The inflammation of the big torch in a stadium that seems to me more like a huge video wall and fireworks that surely have cost hundreds of millions of dollars, shot in the air in a city that had to close down factories to get to a nevertheless high level of air-pollution. Factories, that produced raw-material for needed medicine for instance in India, where the prices of bulk drugs (like Paracetamol and Ibuprofen) have gone up by over a 100 percent for the reason of closing factories in Beijing.

In a time where everyone complains about high fuel prizes, and (at least a few) people tend to not using their cars concerning the increasing worldwide air-pollution and seemingly oil-shortness, an Olympic Flag goes round the whole world, having a carbon footprint for which any person of general interest would be torn to pieces by media.

I thought the idea of the Olympic Games was to be a peaceful gathering of sportsmen from all over the world, to compete in a friendly disposition, but it has become an unequalled media-event. A dissolute show where athletes get doped, officials get bribed and not even politics is kept out.

You don't need million-dollar-fireworks to celebrate the beginning of a peaceful gathering of athletes from all over the world. You don't need a stadium paved with video-walls and a whole city masqueraded for a fair, Olympic (in its old, true sense) competition. Its all done yet with a bit of the Olympic thought. But I guess that's the only thing apart from a multi-billion-dollar micro-infrastructure with all the fancy bits that lacks in Beijing 2008.

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picture by lacitybeat.com

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