A gold medal to …

 James Masters, Owen Sound Sun Times

SOCHI, RUSSIA (Feb. 12) – Larisa Yurkiw’s Olympic debut did not follow the Hollywood storyline she’d written so far.

The 25-year-old finished 20th on Wednesday in the women’s downhill at the Sochi Olympics.

From our archives: What is behind the Olympics figure skating furor?

By DAVID WALSH

wsws.org (Feb. 19, 2002 ) – THE most striking aspect of the furor over the Olympics pairs figure skating medal is the disparity between the intrinsic significance of the incident that sparked the flap and the media/political uproar it provoked. The affair has shed light on two interrelated phenomena: the degraded state of the Olympics and the poisoned state of international political relations.

The sports story is clear enough. On February 11, by a 5-4 decision, judges awarded the gold medal in the pairs figure skating competition to Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, and the silver to Canadians Jamie Salé and David Pelletier.

Sochi 2014: Commercialization of sport

Olympic action accounted for just 24.4 per cent of NBC’s primetime and late-Night broadcasts on Tuesday, February 11, according to a study by The Wall Street Journal, less than breaks in the Olympic action (26.8 per cent ) and almost 22 minutes less than commercials (per cent ). A similar Journal analysis from 2010 found that Olympic action made up 25.5 per cent of a Vancouver Games broadcast. “But NBC pays billions of dollars for Olympic broadcast rights because of what happens between the Games: commercials. In fact, some of the most prominent advertisements were for NBC…”

 

Olympics or not, capital-centred sport for Russia’s sports managers

Campus of the Olympic University in Sochi | © RIA Novosti. Mikhail Mokrushin

SOCHI, February 20 (Alexey Eremenko, RIA Novosti) – THE 15-story glass tower that houses the Olympic University in Sochi has the eerie vibe of a high-budget pandemic thriller: immaculately clean and completely deserted.

Normal life should resume when students return from the Olympic venues where they are interning. But their numbers will still average about two people per floor.

Harsh criticism of big power ‘reforms’ in cricket

By Søren Bang*

Photo | TGIGreeny/Flickr

(Feb. 14) – THE decision by the governing body of cricket, the International Cricket Council (ICC) to give the ‘Big Three’ of cricket, India, England and Australia, a dominant position in the organisation is met by criticism from the sport’s stakeholders to Transparency International.

Sochi 2014: ‘Chokers’?

It is tragic to hear incredibly talented youth who have given their all speak of how they have let down their country if they finished a fraction of a second or a few points behind those who won a medal. In a post-skate interview, figure skater Patrick Chan was forced to say he apologized – twice – “to the Canadian people for letting them down.” A chart was repeatedly shown depicting Canadian figure skaters who held the World Championship but filed to win Olympic gold in the same year. This impression given is that there were “chokers.” Chan did make some mistakes but Moir and Virtue did not, yet still received a silver. What happened to the idea that participating in the Olympics is itself a huge achievement. How could any of the athletes be considered “losers” or “chokers”?

Sochi 2014: Respect for one’s opponent in sport (2)

Mike Babcock’s rant: “And the other thing that happens for the NHL player, and probably for you in the media, is the respect you have for the opposition.” Welcome to the G-20 Winter Games and the Harper agenda for a “new patriotism.” | TONY SEED*

Sochi 2014: Norway, Slovenia lead medal count – in proportion

Medal count per capita shows a dramatically different result than the gold medal count being slavered over by the chauvinist media (as of February 18 at 1 p.m.):

Sochi 2014: Respect for one’s opponent in sport (1)

What is the real match, the real contest here? Is the Olympic spirit manifested in Sochi or is it something relegated to the distant past? The whole pragmatic, unprincipled “winning is everything” approach embodied by the “Own the Podium” program of the Harper government and the corporate monopoly sponsors of the Canadian Olympic Committee is incompatible with the high ideals of sport and the modern spirit of friendship and mutual respect between peoples and their athletes. These ideals are manifested in some of the most indelible Olympic memories that have nothing to do with medals and victories. One of those moments happened a few days ago when a Swiss gold medalist waited at the finish line of a cross-country ski race for 28 minutes to shake hands with the skier from Peru who came in last, as pictured below. 

Respect for one’s opponent in competition is a well-known norm and one of the high ideals of sportsmanship. This human-centred ethos is under assault from all sides by commercialized, professional sport, with its basis in the fetish of capitalist competition. The big sports monopolies, such as Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE), stage the arena to promote blind, mind-numbing support for the “home team” as “our team.”

LA Galaxy David Beckham is covered in streamers handed out by management as he prepares to take a corner kick against Toronto FC during the first half of their quarter-final CONCACAF Champions League soccer match at the Rogers Centre in Toronto on March 7, 2012

Fans at the Air Canada Centre are organized to disrupt opposing players when they take foul shots, or incited to boo basketball or hockey players who have been either traded away by MLSE or signed with another franchise. The sports media sets the table with a “debate” as to why the athlete should be vilified. This hooligan behaviour is astounding.

Sochi 2014: Friendship first

SOME of the most indelible Olympic memories have nothing to do with medals and medal counts, podiums or world records. One of those moments happened Tuesday when Russian competitor Anton Gafarov took a spill during a tricky turn in his cross-country sprint semifinal. What followed is a defeat for the self-serving “winning is everything, the only thing” spirit proclaimed by the rich countries at the Games, which have become an unscrupulous commercialized bazaar, where everything is promoted, bought and sold. It gives hope that humanity will someday remedy the disappearance of the amateur spirit and the highest sporting ideals in world sport. Here’s how it went down.

Anton Gafarov crashed hard halfway through the race: