WASHINGTON — I see that the Olympics Games are again taking
place. Nonetheless, the boycott that I slapped on them a couple of
decades back remains in effect. I shall not watch them voluntarily.
Perhaps I shall be passing through a room where the games are being
boomed and blathered, but I shall avert my gaze.
Admittedly the games have suffered no setback since my boycott
began. In fact, they seem to be tawdrier than ever. But my boycott
has finally attracted the support of my old friend, the former
Olympian, Alan Somers, who recently set a world record for the
3000-meter swim for men sixty and over. Al was a teammate of mine
on the Indiana University swimming team in the early 1960s where
many of our teammates were Olympians and world record holders. When
I slapped my boycott on the Olympics he dissented. Worse, he chided
me, attributing my boycott to sour grapes over never making the
team.
Well, it is true that I never made an Olympic team but I never
won a Rhodes Scholarship either, and I have never been critical of
Rhodes Scholarships. Yet I accepted Al’s rebuke with my usual
benignity, confident that as the Olympics lurched ever further from
the Olympic ideal of amateurism and good sportsmanship Al would
capitulate. It is immensely rewarding to have him on my side during
this Olympiad. What is more, next week he will collaborate with me
in this space when we shall deplore a particularly egregious excess
in this year’s swimming competition.
For now Al, whose Olympiad was in 1960 in Rome, is at work
reviewing David Maraniss’s confused book on those games Rome 1960:
The Olympics That Changed The World. Among other deficiencies,
Maraniss fails to report that the 1960s swimming competition was
the first in which male swimmers shaved their body hair to improve
their times. One of the great news stories of the games issued from
one reactionary American’s refusal to follow the fad. Al was the
reactionary. He gained instantaneous worldwide recognition after
propelling his shaggy body to an Olympic record in the trials for
the 400-meter freestyle. How he did in the finals I shall leave for
Al to explain. He still denies shaving has anything to do with
performance and in fact wore a mustache when he broke the world
record in the 3000-meter swim.
What makes this Olympiad fouler than previous games is the
behavior of the Chinese government. I can understand its concerns
for security. I can even understand its attempts to dissuade
political protests — I said dissuade not
repress. But now comes word that the Chinese government is
going to oppose displays of faith either before or after an event.
Not only that, but apparently the Olympic charter is supporting the
repression of religious gestures. Its charter prohibits displays of
“political, religious or racial propaganda.” No such boilerplate
was to be found in the original Olympic charter.
One of the repellent aspects of the Olympics is the megalomania
of the athletes, the coaches, even the fans. One of the saving
moments is the occasional display of sportsmanship. An athlete
graceful in victory or defeat is a noble sight. An athlete thanking
his or her maker is equally moving. As our great quarter-miler,
Sanya Richards, has said: “It’s important [her quick genuflection
and prayer of gratitude] because I want people to know that I’m not
the best because I’m Sanya Richards. I’m the best because of God. I
truly believe we can’t will ourselves to win. I hope people see the
same thing I see.”
It will be interesting to see how the Chinese officials respond
to one of the last noble traditions of the Olympics, an athlete
giving thanks to God. And will the Olympic officials aid the
Chinese? What will the Olympic officials do, deny the athletes
their medals? And the Chinese what will they do, send the athletes
to reeducation camps?
Actually, I have an answer for both groups of officials.
Thanking God for victory after an event, or asking his help before
an event, is not “propaganda” as mentioned in the revised Olympic
charter. It is prayer. Where prayer is viewed unfavorably no
civilized person should want to be.
