Ayoon wa Azan (The 2012 Olympics)

Britain hosted the Olympic Games; the opening was splendid and the ending was fantastic. British athletes performed their best in 100 years, and perhaps they got revenge against my saying that the British were good at organizing the games, but not winning in them. I have seen about three weeks of amazing achievements (with no Arabs, because they were busy being amazed) and records (I will not say "new" records, as they have taught us in western journalism that every record is "new"). How will the world view the London games five years from now, or five decades from now? I have no answer, but I will say that the dominant aspect has been controversy. There has been controversy since before the start of the games, and on every day of the games, up to their conclusion. On the eve of the opening there was a commotion about a private security company that was tasked with supervising the security of the games, amid fears of terrorist acts. I read that the company did not have enough employees to carry out the job, and that the ones they had were not well-trained enough to perform what was required. The opening brought another controversy. It was very refined, bringing together Shakespeare and the Industrial Revolution with sheep, cows and geese. I acknowledge the success of film director Danny Boyle, who "directed" the opening. Some of the scenes were as exciting as what we see in science fiction. In a fine gesture, Queen Elizabeth II arrived with James Bond (the actor Daniel Craig) at the opening, while the closing saw a symphony and a show with thousands of participants – scenes performed by 4,100 people, including volunteers and young students. The next Games will be in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. As one billion spectators around the world who followed the games on television are aware, the opening was in the evening and the games did not begin until the following morning without a new controversy, namely the empty seats in some venues. Demand for the seats was much greater than the availability. The controversy nearly became a scandal and the organizing committee passed out free tickets to students and military personnel. I learned that companies that funded the Olympics, through advertising for their products, received tickets that they did not distribute, or they distributed them but those who received them did not attend. Meanwhile, there were people willing to pay high prices for scalped tickets, to attend the events they want. Here is another controversy, but a personal one. I am against boxing, even before women took part as they did in London, and I do not consider it a sport, since the goal is to hurt the opponent in an unsportsmanlike fashion. I do not consider beach volleyball a sport, but a fashion show for women wearing the littlest possible. Today, I should add that I am now against gymnastics. The desire to win in some countries outweighs every other consideration, including the lives of the athletes themselves. Some of them are children, who are isolated from their parents. They receive training that is torture by another name; I have seen photos of them as they cry with pain during training. China is a country that wants to win at any cost, especially against the United States. It is the opposite of Canada, for which winning means seeing the US lose, to engage in some schadenfreude. China was deservedly criticized because of its female gymnasts. Then, it was subjected to a campaign of criticism which appeared to involve considerable jealousy, after the miraculous swimming performance of China's Ye Shiwen, who is 16. The American trainer John Leonard said that her performance was "unbelievable" and "disturbing." The first four gymnasts had been tested for doping, and the controversy over the Chinese gymnast was about something else. I read about a performance-enhancing drug that lets one take in more oxygen and burnit more slowly. The Americans had a case of spoiled grapes, and they went further, saying that Ye Shiwen's hands and feet are big for her small size and young age; they let her use them like oars, as if she were swimming. But this was also the secret of success of the American swimmer Michael Phelps, who set a medal record: 18 gold, two silver and two bronze. I read that Phelps has a more than 2-meter wingspan. The swimming building was designed by Zaha Hadid, the Iraqi-British architect. I found its wavy ceiling one of the most beautiful buildings of the games, or perhaps I am biased to a talented woman from an Arab country. Before I forget, there was another controversy, stirred by eight badminton athletes from China, North Korea, South Korea and Indonesia. They lost the two first games on purpose, to be in a better position in later rounds. They were expelled and the countries they represent were reprimanded. A final controversy, at my expense this time. How could North Korea win more medals than those won by 22 Arab countries? In defense, I will say that our talents do not lie in the world of sports, but in modern technology, astronomy and stem cell research… or maybe someday they will. --- The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.