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Remember the spirit of the first Olympics

This year's opening ceremony to the Olympic Games in Athens was impressive for the mixture of allusions to antiquity and modern innovation. The ceremony, which was attended by representatives from 202 countries, was watched by an estimated global TV audience of 3.9 billion people. This included numerous Taiwanese sports fans, who were glued to their sets in the wee small hours.

The Olympics, a quadrennial event going back 2,780 years, were originally held on the plains of Olympia. The nation-states of Greece put down their weapons for the duration of the contest. The peace, humanity and sportsmanship embodied in the Olympic Games became ideals cherished by human civilization.

Recent years have seen the Olympics evolve into an extravagant global sporting event. Now the games are often criticized for their commercialism, and for the greed and corruption that go along with the swelling financial benefits that the event brings to the host country. Furthermore, the use of banned substances has reared its ugly head as athletes seek better performance.

The 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games were a watershed in the encroaching commercialism that now characterizes the Games. With this commercial model established, the Seoul Olympics in 1988 grossed huge amounts of money. Later Olympic host cities, namely Barcelona, Atlanta and Sydney, however, did not earn as much as expected. The Olympic Games is not without its economic risks.

The budget for the 2004 Athens Olympics is US$8.6 billion, a fact that has stirred up considerable debate within Greece and abroad. Greece, trying to carve a higher profile for itself in the EU, did not shirk at running a budget deficit in order to win the right to host the Olympics. It is spending in excess of 4 percent of its GDP, more than permitted in EU regulations. They set their sights on the economic and non-economic benefits that come with the Olympic Games, and on extending the spirit of the Olympics to the world.

Perhaps pride in being the Games' birthplace can explain Greece's willingness to take on the economic risks of holding them. Greece has previously asked for the Olympics to be held there exclusively, to no avail. With this year's opening ceremony, they were able to show the world how intimately linked the ancient and modern Games are with each other, and with Greece itself.

Baron Pierre de Coubertin was responsible for starting up the Olympic Games in modern times. Now that the Olympics has returned to Athens, we should perhaps recall his words. He said the spirit of the Olympics was about creating a way of life, and that it was based on the fundamental principles of mutual respect, bringing joy through hard work and providing a paragon of excellence for others to follow.

When we in Taiwan watch the Olympics, we should remember that the games are not just about competition, they are about the Olympic spirit. This is particularly good to bear in mind when the media brands China "The Mainland" because our teams have to be called "Chinese Taipei." In recent years there has been little sportsmanship in evidence among the Chinese-speaking world in either sports or politics, and China has even applied pressure to prevent Taiwan promoting itself during this Olympics.

As they watch this year's Games, Taiwanese and other viewers should not forget the universal values of peace, humanity and sportsmanship.

Lu Shih-xiang is chief executive officer of the Foundation for the Advancement of Media Excellence and is a member of the Taipei Society.

TRANSLATED BY PAUL COOPER
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