Blogging Matters!!! : 'My 5ive' - The Games of Criticism

Day 36.

Hello Readerland and welcome once again to another special edition of BM's!!! - 'My 5ive'. In my past blogs, I discoursed the subject of Olympics in a 3 part series and I even signaled a blog on the criticism of Olympics. So, tonight we'll be looking at the top 5 reasons for which the Olympic Games can be criticized.
So, let the blog begin -

1.) Political Affairs : - 

• There has always been a nexus betwixt the Olympic games and Politics. There are a number of examples which portray this union, both from the Ancient games as well as their Modern 'avatar' and they also show how these games have been used as a means of relaying political ideologies and exerting political pressure.
• Ancient Games - In 366 BC, the 104th Olympiad were reigned by the Arcadians. The place of Altis had been taken over by them. However, when Eleans cam to power once again, they professed the 104th Olympic games as void.
• Modern Games - In 1956 during the Melbourne Olympics, 6 countries withdrew as a sign of protest to Israel's take-over of the Suez Canal. The 6 countries to pull out were - Egypt, Iran, Spain, Lebanon, Netherlands and Switzerland.

2.) Profligacy : -

• The opening ceremony of the games constitutes of intense profligacy and show. Millions of dollars are dissipated by hosting nations in a bid to prove to others, their powers of entertainment.
• In China, the Bird's Nest stadium or whatever it's called, was built only when the houses were broken down .
• The ceremony although beautiful, is performed only when a large sum of money is dissipated on irrelevant dances, songs, etc, instead of using that money for more benign purposes.

3.) Business : -

• Today, the television companies and corporate conglomerates are willingly paying millions to secure their rights.
• Athletes are offered remunerative deals and their success in games determines the sale of products. At Barcelona Olympics, the players were given $600 million just to promote products using the Game's logo.
• The opening ceremony of the Atlanta Olympics of 1996 saw an audience of about 3 billion worldwide, making it an advertising dream for the corporate world. 

4.) Impact On Local Sports : -

• Like I said earlier that profligacy and dissipated spending on constructing the aristocratic game venues have been a serious issue. But, what about the local sports of a country?
• There is a need to build sports' facilities inside a city to help build the athletes for the future for that country. But, what we see before these games is that in order to fund the Olympic bid, governments pigeonhole the local sports projects. Sometimes, they even take out the money from their sport budget.

5.) Male Despotism : -

• Ancient Olympics - The ancient games were totally dominated by the males, in terms of their great number of participation, demanding physical nature of games as well  as the traditions colligated with the sports. Women were prohibited from the ancient events due to the policy of the games.
• Modern Olympics - In the modern games too women have always been kept next to men. The male athletes are bestowed with higher fame and reward than women.
• The International Olympic Committee (IOC), has never even sought to design games, which would give female athletes a chance to win in parallel competition to their male counterparts.

The Olympic games are without a doubt, the greatest sporting spectacle of the modern times and have a rich history associated with them. They are the biggest event from an economic point of view. People like Coubertin, who constructed the Modern avatar of the Olympics, saw peace and harmony through these games. It is very unfortunate that the most important social movement of our times has become a victim of such criticisms. We need to ponder over these criticisms and try to find solutions amicably to the impediments that are there in the path of this movement.
Thanks for Reading.
Image : google images

Thought Of The Day : - ''Acquire knowledge. It enables its professor to distinguish right from wrong.''
(ref; wiki, bmartin.cc/pubs/96freedom)