Blogocentric Formulations

Summer Olympics

"Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise"  | Day 3132 Prompt ▼

Olympic Trials are happening in Eugene Oregon for the Olympics in Paris. Are you going to watch the Olympics? If so do you have favorite sports?

Alternate prompt: July is almost upon us, do you have any activities planned or contests you want to participate in?

I love watching the Olympics. Despite all of the problems with the business of the Olympics lately, the Games themselves are always something that I've looked forward to, because I think there's something really encouraging and aspirational about being of the best athletes in the world, competing against the best athletes from other countries in order to win a medal for your own. Although I enjoy them both, I'm partial to the Summer Olympics over the Winter Olympics, and I've always enjoyed the Gymnastics, Swimming, and Track & Field events in particular. Those are the ones that I really prioritize trying to watch, but I also try to catch Beach Volleyball, Diving, Martial Arts, and Tennis if I can.

On the topic of the Olympics, I was just reading an interesting article in The Washington Post about how not every city who hosts the Olympics can host every event. The 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles just announced that they were going to host a couple of events (specifically Canoe Slalom and Softball) in Oklahoma City because apparently Oklahoma City has world-class facilities for those two events, and it will save considerable money to host those events in existing facilities rather than trying to build new facilities in Los Angeles in the next four years.

The article took kind of a condescending tone to that choice, like, "Wow, sad that Los Angeles can't figure out how to host these events," but honestly I'm okay with it. That "business of the Olympics" I mentioned earlier? Yeah, not really a fan of the steep financial and labor costs that some of these events put on a region when they are determined to host all the events in the same city. There is of course necessarily some construction that has to happen and cost that's incurred (Los Angeles is building a temporary pool in SoFi Stadium for the Swimming events), but it shouldn't be overly burdensome on a host city, especially when there are alternatives available. And particularly since hosting certain events in other locations is a necessity. The 2024 Summer Olympics is being hosted in Paris this year, but the Surfing events are being held in Tahiti; presumably because Paris doesn't have a lot of ideal surfing destinations. Similarly, the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina will have certain events held in venues up to 4-5 hours away from those cities.

Honestly, I wouldn't be opposed to having just an entire country host the Olympics (like they do for the World Cup), with that country designating where events are held and able to use their existing infrastructure to the best of their ability. It's more cost-effective and less labor-intensive, and encourages travel and revitalization rather than new construction that will be used for a couple of weeks and then largely abandoned (which has been a major problem for past host cities of the Olympics).

Anyway, I am really looking forward to the Summer Olympics this year, and plan on catching as many of the events as I can.


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