Opening ceremony: Clara Hughes, the only Canadian athlete to have won medals in both winter (speed skating) and summer (cycling) games will light the Olympic flame. Singing of Canada's national anthem will be led by James Keelaghan. Other Canadian performers will include Bruce Cockburn (who will debut a new song about irresponsible parliaments and the evils of torture), k.d. lang (who will debut a new song about the Women's Ski Jump event, which is going on because the Men's Hockey teams would boycott otherwise), and Marg Delahunty (who will threaten to smite the Prime Minister unless he gets back to work, pronto). Further, the corporate sponsors will have agreed that, for the sheer joy of supporting the games, no athlete will have to wear a logo on their uniform, thus reverting to the days when we could readily determine nationality without having to look for a flag among the Nike swooshes, and logos for VISA, Coke, Cheerios, etc. i know this is hopelessly naive, but i am actually old enough to remember when corporations were high-minded enough to sponsor great television programming like a play from the Stratford Festival, with an ad only at the beginning and the end -- "This special program is brought to you by IBM."
And speaking of corporations, the sponsors (bless them for their deep pockets) will be big enough to allow the charity RIGHT TO PLAY high visibility at the Games, even though none of the sponsors are "official" sponsors of this worthy NGO.
Clara fans will recall she donated $10,000 to Right To Play after she won gold at Turin - and our government did not give athletes a financial bonus for medalling (to use that strange new verb). If you haven't, check out RIGHT TO PLAY online.
Back in 1980, my first visit to New York city, i went to the famous toy store, F.A.O. Schwartz on 5th Avenue, where there were a ton of teddy bears wearing Olympic sweaters...and they were being offered at a deep discount. Do you recall the boycott of the Moscow Olympics? Do you recall why so many nations withdrew? It was in protest of Russia's invasion of Afghanistan. Funny old world, isn't it?
Protest doesn't usually sit well with sports fans. Sport can be an escape hatch, a time to enjoy the physicality of people unlike us (that is, those who train hard and push their bodies to perfection), team spirit, national pride. But if these spectacles come at the cost of shutting down worthy causes like RIGHT TO PLAY, continuing sexism (no Women's Ski Jump events), denying freedom of speech....hmmm. Even those cute red mittens we're being encouraged to buy to show our support for Canada's Olympians are made in China. And CBC news recently revealed that souvenirs being sold at the Games as Aboriginal art are likewise made in China (okay, maybe by Chinese aboriginals?)
i'll watch the games, especially the Speed Skating, the most elegant sport on offer. And i'll be rooting for Clara, an amazing athlete, a generous spirit, a deep thinker (to hear her on spirituality and sport, go to www.cbc.ca/tapestry/archives/2008/021008.html).
But part of me will be longing with all my baby-boomer heart for the days when all of us were gutsier about protesting injustices. Remember Carlos and Smith at the 1968 games? Sport is not above comment, or above debate, or above human rights.
