Winter Olympics–Didn’t We Just Have One?

I am a big Olympics fan. Have been since I was a child. As I grew into a Hellaphile and learned the history and legends, I came to embrace the larger meanings and traditions of the Games beyond it being a sports festival. I looked forward to all the games held every Olympiad. Each quadrennial became a year of special enjoyment.

Then the International Olympic Committee decided to move the Winter Olympics from the traditional time of celebration. We are now coming up to the fourth Winter Olympic Games under this staggered system, and I have to say that not only haven’t I warmed to it, but it’s actually diminished my enjoyment of the Winter Games, and to a small extent, the international Olympic movement.

From 1992 on back, there was this build-up to the Olympic year. Once every four years. This was something special. Something even the general public could viscerally feel. This was more than world championships–it was all the world championships in one venue (or, rather two…since there is that need for snow and ice). The Winter Olympics served as a prelude to the summer games, but since it was an Olympic year, it garnered special attention as well.

Now?

I think both Winter and Summer Games have lost some of the luster, but the Winter Games most of all. I used to use the build-up to an Olympic year to acquaint myself with all of the new faces and the new dramas. There was an expectancy that is now missing. Instead, there’s a lot of, “Really? The Winter Olympics? Didn’t we just have one?”

Yes, it’s easier on the networks and IOC to not have to mount two major offensives in one year, but at what cost? Shouldn’t the Olympics be difficult, to an extent? The hard is what makes them great. Wouldn’t it be easier yet to spread the games over, say a year, at different venues all over the world–hotbeds for each sport? Oh wait, we already do. They are called World Championships.

True, there was the problem in the past of “Olympic Burnout”. One twelfth of the year being devoted to sports is a lot. Still, there were four years to recover. Now there is little let-up. Even someone who loves olympic sports as much as I do can feel over-saturated. Like I said before, now it’s a lot like, “Didn’t we just have one?”

While I will definitely watch a lot of the Winter Olympic Games at Torino (I’m a writer…what else do I have to do?), it saddens me that it’s with decreasing enthusiasm. It feels like the off-year Congressional elections. Yeah, there are stories and dramas and import…but a lot of the luster is gone. And it only gets worse every quadrennial. So, I will continue my futile effort to build popular opinion to return to having both sets of Games in the same year of an Olympiad.