I love The Olympics, have done for years and will continue too, staying up until 4am watching Poland play Greece in Handball, why? Why not I say?
The Olympics is a truly special event where you can come from anywhere, be anybody, but as long as you can run, jump, swim, catch, whatever, you can be a star.
In my mind, there is no doubt the Olympics is a globalising force, its bringing cultures together on the biggest stage of them all, and challenging boundaries like few other events or conferences can do.
The fastest man in the world, Usain Bolt, appears cocky and arrogant, but the world loves him and cheers for him because he does what he does so well, many find themselves cheering against their own country because they want to see athletes like Jamaica's Bolt beat a world record or the USA's Michael Phelps swim for yet another gold medal.
The power and opportunity that the Olympics gives and provides is something that you cannot really argue with, not just for the athletes either.
"In the past two years, the number of 'amateur', 'citizen', 'participatory', or 'grassroots' journalists, have soared." (Singer, 2007).
The topic of "participatory journalists," is raised, because so many people in so many countries around the world want their fix, opportunities arise for regular people to chase their dreams, be it through competing or reporting or just meeting a superstar from the other side of the world, the Olympics draws together a world wide audience, for a stage which none other can compare.
Reference:
Singer, JB c2007, ‘Bloggers and other "participatory journalists"’, Online journalism ethics: traditions and transitions c2007, M.E. Sharpe, Armonk, N.Y, pp. 115-150
Image: http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4013/4353114920_e23c078835.jpg
I feel you’ve touched on a very broad concept that needs to be dissected further. The body of the post outlines the ‘power’ of some countries, particularly heavily populated countries like USA and China, but perhaps they need to be compared amongst the ‘opportunities’ of lesser known countries. The digital divide plays a pivotal part in this discussion as globalisation dictates that the games is not exactly the global event that it is talked up to be.
ReplyDeleteIf your personal experiences of watching the games were applied with a little more theory you would have a much stronger supported argument.
Being a sucker for the Olympics I really enjoyed your post as it mirrors my own enjoyment of the games and all that it stands for. Your incorporation of the Olympic rings as a symbol I think reiterates your idea of unity and all that the Olympics stands for in a positive fashion. Your mention of 'challenging boundaries' really plays into the idea of globalisation and the way that it increases connectedness between countries, speaking the one language of sport.
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