Reply #129: I know what you mean.

[sammythecat]

I get sick of all the jingoistic nationalism displayed in the Olympics. And some displayed in this thread as well.

I remember the last Olypics I paid attention to was in '88 or '92. NBC covered it and their almost exclusive attention to the American athletes was big turn off for me. It rose to the level of sickening. I got to learn about every detail from birth of every American and almost nothing of the other athletes. They were the focus even if they weren't expected to medal. It didn't matter, the were our American athletes and thus the only ones deserving of our attention.

We're one of the most populous countries and definitely the wealthiest. We have wealthy sponsors to nurture and support our athletes. India's population is 4 times bigger than ours but they have 10 times the problems. For a lot of these people, and others in the third world, just living past middle age is a gold medal event. They usually don't have the luxury of devoting their summers and after school hours (if they go to school at all) playing in well equipped gymnasiums and attending expensive sports camps. I know there are exceptions, but I'm speaking in general terms, and, in general, American athletes have every advantage known to mankind. The fact that we come away from every Olympic event loaded with medals should'nt be any surprise. Yay, here's a golf clap. My eyes are tearing up and my chest is heaving with pride. We dominated their asses. We're #1. Again. As usual.

The Olympics is about amateur athletics about as much as big time college football is about local student-athletes. I don't boycott the Olympics, I just don't buy the story that this is some kind of pure amateur competition where sportsmanship is the goal. It's all about money. For a number of reasons, a poor country is not going to win a lot of medals. They're just not. We're a rich country, we have any and all advantage, and we win a lot of medals. Ho-hum.