Grange blog: The IOC likes their Olympians a certain way
Posted Friday, February 26, 2010 5:37 PM ET
By Michael Grange, The Globe and Mail
There’s a reason that the Olympics – even the Winter Olympics – are worth billions in television rights.
And why companies like Coca-Cola and Panasonic pay hundreds of millions more to be the official Olympic soft drink or television of the Olympic Games.
It’s because the Olympic movement is flush with people like Clara Hughes; who talk about the way sports and the pursuit of excellence through sports can have a redeeming quality that transcends the mindlessness of skating in circles – and then deliver, not only by providing inspiring athletic performance in the moment, but by sharing the rewards widely.
In 2006 Hughes donated $10,000 to Right to Play; this week Hughes donated her $10,000 bonus that came with her bronze medal to Take A Hike Foundation.
When that’s the kind of message being delivered, no wonder it resonates. Like a secular religion the Olympic movement is rich in homilies and lessons that at some deep level we all want to believe in.
That’s what struck me when I covered the Olympic torch relay on frigid night in January. The park was packed and the place was absolutely electric; all to see a flickering flame, but one that meant something.
In terms of supply and demand, it’s a pretty fair bet that there’s a lot less belief – or things to believe in – than there is the need for people to believe in things.
The IOC have got a good little racket going, in that respect, and doubtless the reason the IOC – or it’s national brand managers like the USOC or the COC — are so laughably heavy-handed when it comes to protecting their image, be it sending home US snowboarder Scotty Lago for having his bronze medal kissed below his waist, something the kisser seemed all too happy to do, or the stern response to the images of the Canadian women’s teams beer-and-stogie victory celebration.
The IOC likes their Olympians a certain way; boozy and puffing on cigars doesn’t quite fit. The IOC has since come to their sense, deciding not, in retrospect, to investigate the party. But their impulse runs deep.
Anyone who’s ever had a drink with friends to celebrate anything (it’s Friday! It’s summer! It’s a Friday in summer!) knows that having a few cold ones – provided by Molson, a VANOC sponsor, naturally – and a victory cigar doesn’t make the Canadian women’s team bad people.
But it’s probably worth a reminder that not every Olympian is Clara Hughes. Some might not be very nice. Some might be remarkably selfish. Some might be using drugs – performance enhancing or otherwise. Some might have been so swept up in their Olympic pursuit that they’ve left themselves ill-equipped to deal with life outside those narrow parameters. And much as we’d like to believe it so; winning an Olympic medal doesn’t make you a good person either.
I’ve got no doubt the women’s hockey team is full of people you’d be happy your daughter might turn out to be. In fact as they were here in the IBC Thursday nigh waiting to go through the “car wash” – the endless cycle of interviews with various media outlets – it reminded me a lot of the scene at some of my daughter’s birthday parties. They were kind of loud; gently obnoxious and generally sugared up.
It all makes sense now!
So enjoy the Olympics and by all means, and I’m sure there’s plenty of role models to go ‘round.
And if you have to answer the question: “Daddy, why are those Olympic hockey players smoking in that picture?”
The answer is obvious: “You’re only allowed to smoke if you win a gold medal.”
