The 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics End — Much Hype, but…
I still love watching them. Many of you reading this realize these athletes compete in their sports every winter, but it is only the Olympics that get attention. To be fair, the same happens for many of the summer games, how many of us pay attention to competitive swimming, track and field, diving, gymnastics, and so on outside of the Summer Olympics? Not many, it is the big professional sports that people pay attention to (baseball, NFL, NBA, etc). The attention the Olympics draws to some amazing athletes who do their thing not so much for pay (in all honesty the majority of the Olympic athletes are professional) but for the love of the sport. Very few become super rich being a professional skier and only a few garner any sort of fame of note (the particular may note skiers in Europe are regarded more highly there than here, but even then I bet professional soccer players far outstrip their skier counterparts in fame and fortune).
Actually, I find there is much to detest about the Olympics. I generally dislike the pomp and pageantry, I dislike the politics (global and local) that tend to overshadow the games, I dislike the fickleness of the attention, and in many ways the games to distract the athletes from bigger and more important goals.
Still, when the world is shining its spotlight on you — you dance and take in the applause when the dance is done. The Olympic spotlight is much brighter than the world cup spotlight.
The 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics End — A Deeper Sadness
I watch the grand bike races every summer (after my ride is done) and each are a bit more than three weeks in duration (about 21 days of racing with a few rest and travel days interspersed among the event) and when the particular tour is on its last day exhibition ride there is a feeling of sadness I experience. The big difference is the bike tour races are annual events and the Winter Olympics come only once every four years.
Now, there is workday watercooler talk of the skiing, the luging, the hockey, etc. No more of that for four years and I revert from being the office ski expert to being the freak who likes that crazy sport.
The 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics End — We’ll See Summer Come Again
Winter gray and falling rain, well see summer come again,
Darkness falls and seasons change (gonna happen every time).
Same old friends the wind and rain, summers fade and roses die,
Youll [sic] see summer come again, like a song thats [sic] born to soar the sky.
The wheel of time rolls and in four years time the world again will see the Winter Olympics come again!
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