The Olympic Games is about so much more than sport. Cynics would say, “You’re right – it’s about corporate advertising, athlete endorsements and big money.” And while that has some truth to it — more importantly, it’s about fair competition, fostering peace through sport, forging “borderless” friendships and increasing global awareness through international participation. And there’s not much else in this world that delivers that to us every two years.
I had the good fortune to work on the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and the opportunity to attend the past four Paralympic Games. The Paralympic Games (celebrating the world’s best athletes with a disability) take place 10 days following the Olympic Games and are a truly extraordinary display of athletic achievement, tenacity, commitment and optimism. And they enjoy the same and passionate, collective spirit that the comes with the Olympic Games.
Working in tourism for many years, I’d understood the importance of welcoming the world to your destination, to having a global perspective and an appreciation and gratitude for international visitors. But I had never experienced the idea of a “global village” until I was at a Paralympic Games. The Olympic and Paralympic Games bring this concept to life like no other event or gathering on the planet.
Everyone is your friend at an Olympic or Paralympic Games. Whether you’re from the host country or from halfway around the world — you are part of the experience. People cheer for their nation but they also cheer for great athletes from around the world. They celebrate excellence and heart and soul, regardless of nationality or a nation’s politics. What happens on the field of play can transform us, whether we are athletes are not. It’s a showcase of the shared human experience — triumph, tragedy, disappointment and celebration. And that’s something we can all relate to.
People connect at the Games and strangers quickly become friends. We hug, we take photos of people we don’t know, we buy you drinks, we let you go ahead in the bathroom line, we return lost items (more cameras turned into lost and found than you could ever imagine), we help you find your way and we find out that we are much more alike and that the world is a much kinder place than our daily news would have us believe. It’s remarkable and I wish I could bottle it and then release the spirit of global friendship and affection over every country in the world, like some crazed hippie crop duster.
And we don’t even have to be there in person to feel this impact. As broadcast statistics start to roll in, the London 2012 Olympic Games are shaping up to be the most-viewed Games in Olympic history. The personal stories, the unfolding dramas and the remarkable achievements draw so many of us to our screens for 17 days every two years. We revel in the spectacle and it consumes our water-cooler talk for the entire run of the Games. We connect with colleagues, friends, family and even strangers to discuss Olympic controversies and celebrate unexpected victories. And we’re surprised at how connected the Games make us feel — both to our neighbours and to every other citizen of the world.
Community engagement is an understatement at the Olympic Games. It’s global engagement at its best. And I hope that we can find a way to keep that engagement alive every day, not just when the Olympic and Paralympic Games are on.
P.S. Here’s one simple way to start. Try hello. (click me.)
~ Maureen Douglas
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