I love watching the Olympics every 2 years--summer or winter--I love them both. As the old ABC Wide World of Sports opening montage put it so iconicly: "The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, the human drama of athletic competition." I love the stories behind the competition--how people got to the games, those who started skiing at age 3 and those that never even played their sport until adulthood.
I love the pride that both the athletes have in their countries. I love to see athletes genuinely happy for their fellow competitors--even when they lose to them. I am most moved, when I watch an athlete be overwhelmed by the playing of their national anthem as they stand on the top of the podium with a medal on their neck. I have seem grown men cry and it moves me.
Anyone who knows me knows that I have little but disdain for events which are won or lost by judges--give me a sport where the winner goes fastest, flies further, or scores the most objective points in hockey or curling. I don't deny the skill or athleticism required in figure skating or free-style skiing, but just don't expect me to consider it a 'real' sport. Of course, I save my deepest athletic snobbery for figure skating. Any sport that has a "Kiss and Cry" area cannot be a real sport. I could go on, but why?
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