Last weekend in a random conversation, a very good friend, in the company of other Alan Jones listeners and supporters, said that now that I have been off air for medical reasons, she always asked herself what would Alan say about this. She then said I should message my thought of the day. Now, while it is a very good idea, I am sure you are aware that I am still battling with doctors and physios and rehab; yet there are so many things happening that sharing a viewpoint may provide some perspective.
We have just come through the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games. I thought I must have viewed something entirely different from what mainstream media apparently saw. They went overboard calling it a blend of cultural, social, historical and athletic achievement relating to France and the wider Olympic movement.
Well, here’s one thought for the day. What a palpable waste of money. $1.5 billion it reportedly cost, b for billion. What did we see? Athletes being wheeled down the river Seine, in often torrential rain, from which they couldn’t escape; and we will never know how many suffered diminished performances in the subsequent two weeks, as a result of the consequences of being part of such an Opening Ceremony. It is always difficult to define the word “obscenity” but when, in France itself, people are sleeping on the streets, they’re homeless, they lack basic comforts that a modern society should provide yet this kind of money is spent on a drawn out event only saved by the glorious voice of Céline Dion – such spending is obscene.
This raises further questions. Surely the Olympic model is flawed. We have had billions and billions of dollars spent, for example, since the year 2000, and including Sydney, on magnificent sporting infrastructure, built at taxpayers’ expense. It is estimated that by 2034, 11 cities will have hosted the Olympic Games more than once, Athens, Paris, London, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Beijing - in all these cities taxpayers have paid for massive infrastructure projects. Why do we have to have “a city” to host the Olympic Games in this age of extraordinary technology. Sydney could host rowing and equestrian; Beijing, swimming and diving; London, track and field; Rio, cycling; and so we could go on, using existing infrastructure. We would still have patronage of the Games via a diversity of host cities. Billions of dollars wouldn’t have to be spent every 4 years when, in places like Barcelona, some of this infrastructure is left to rot. This kind of extravagance can’t be justified when other human needs should be met.
Which brings me to the next point. Take Ariarne Titmus or Grace Brown, the brilliant cycling gold medallist. Here the athletes are providing rich entertainment to the world via technology which provides modern pictures providing a better view, to the millions who are interested, than you would get if you were there. We would still have the public paying to go but there are a limited number of tickets for any venue, anyway. But billions of people around the world would watch an Olympic Games, dispersed amongst many cities and the current waste and extravagance would be avoided. How does this sit with athletes like, say, Ariarne Titmus or the great cyclist Grace Brown. These young people are performing before the world for nothing. I mentioned Titmus because she was asked a question about the time she swam to win the 400m freestyle gold medal, to which she replied, “it was probably not the time I thought I was capable of but the Olympic Village is definitely not made for high performance”. What did she mean by that? Well, Olympians from all around the world are complaining about uncomfortable cardboard beds. There is no Airconditioning. There have been food shortages in the dining hall because, in this woke world, the Olympic movement has gone vegan. Getting from the village to the venues, for the athletes, involves travelling by bus but many of the competitors have to sit on the floor or queue up waiting for the next bus, after they have already stood in the rain for a painfully long Opening Ceremony. The athletes don’t get to stay at the star studded hotels, like the officials. But the Australian swimmers have been told to just suck it up; or as the Australian swimming head coach rather amazingly is quoted as saying that all this primitive living and apparently performing for nothing is just part and parcel of the tests that come from trying to triumph at the biggest event on the planet. Yet in this biggest event, someone is making an awful lot of money out of athletes who are getting nothing. It has always mystified me that, in this day and age, athletes haven’t said there is no Olympic Games without us. We, the viewing public, on behalf of these gifted young people, should be asking why is $1.5billion spent on a shambolic Opening Ceremony when the Olympic athletes are living in subpar conditions.
I repeat, there is no Olympic Games without the athletes but the athletes are being dudded. There is obviously plenty of money to be spent but none of it on the athletes who provide the entertainment. I don’t think the Olympic movement can survive these circumstances for very much longer.
That’s my thought for today.
Alan
