Vancouver Olympics

Wow! They are over as of the last day of February, 2010. We have watched so many, many hours of the events during the past two weeks, so many stories and such an amazing performance by the North Americans. Never has there been as strong a collection of performances by American winter athletes. Some friends do not watch at all, while others were addicted, as I was for the past 17 days. Some of the sports leave me cold and wondering, the crash and circus events that seem, as Apollo Ohno puts it, "insane." They are undeniably athletic, but the best do not necessarily win and this does not satisfy the purest in me. It's complicated. I guess it boils down to what is more commercial no longer extricable with amateurism and dreams of Baron Coubertin. The Olympics have become too big a spectacle with far too much money at stake. My favorite events are tainted: I am not as pure-minded as I think. I love the downhill skiing; I am amazed by the performances on the cross country ski course. The long track oval speed skating appears to have a purity few others match. The halfpipe and aerial ski events are subjective and acrobatic, death-defying stunt sports. And then there is figure skating which seems to combine artistry with athleticism and some commerciality. This year, the skating seemed more about people doing their best than failing to deliver performances they have crafted over months and years. I have little interest in the luge and bobsled runs, so poorly explained, leaving all but the initiated wondering about the perfect line, g-forces and the technology of the equipment. All one senses is the speed and danger involved. Hockey is exciting, but how many times does a puck hit the metal post and riccochet or carom to the advantage of one or the other team? It is exciting. It is incredibly athletic, but the best team does not inevitably win in a single game. Russian, American and Canadian hockey fans, among others, know this acutely. Soccer and baseball fans know this. Long seasons and stats help allow the consistently best teams to emerge. One slip on a breakneck run down a giant slalom course puts a racer into the netting alongside of the course, which brings another factor into the equation: often unequal conditions for the athletes starting early or late, with a headwind, rough ice, snow or fog. Well. It's over, and I loved it.