8 Comments
Feb 18, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

"...the victory of the corrupt." How to sum up an entire generation in and out of sports.

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Feb 18, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

The Olympics have lost their luster in the midst of international power struggles, cheating, commercialism, and just plain corruption on the part of the structures that support it. It is no longer amateur athletes competing - those competing are pros - and are funded by their governments and the private sector. I don't watch the Olympics any more, and I will bet that the numbers watching all over the world are way down. You can't watch the Olympics for all of the commercials and interviews with American athletes, and any of us normal people couldn't get close to the Olympics in person, and not just because of the Pandemic, but because it is exorbitantly expensive. I hate it for those young people who work so hard to get there, but for what reason? The gold? More than a medal, isn't it?

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Feb 18, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

Yes, it's a horribly sad situation...but yes, this girl should NOT have been anywhwere near the ice once she was found to be doping. Yes, she's only 15. but she was deemed old enough to compete--that means following ALL RULES. Again, she's 15. All the more reason why she should have been spared the trauma of having to go on in front of the entire world once the world knew what she was doing--willingly or not. And the Olympic athletes of all sports should have been spared the outrage of the unfairness of it all. It effected everyone, and it effected the sport, and the entire concept of competing at an Olympic level--something every athlete competing has worked so hard for.

Just WHAT was the point here?

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I did not see Valieva skate, though I’ve seen what she is capable of. After she was given the green light I decided the fix was in…I wanted no part of it…However, this young woman may very well have given her handlers the ultimate Fuck You by seeing to it she never made the podium…Hard to know if a child of 15 has the wisdom and the strength of self to take matters into her own hands…anyway you slice it, her skating career is over…truly a shame…

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Feb 18, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

"The more we assume that’s just the way it is—that we ought to accept this grim fate—the more that ravenously amoral power-seekers will keep finding new ways to get ahead."

hmm...sound wisdom on - and off - the ice.

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Feb 18, 2022·edited Feb 18, 2022

Ah, Steven, it's a sad world we live in when morality and human welfare are sacrificed at the altar of expedience and the bottom line.

It made it especially heart-wrenching to watch the event knowing that a young child was being offered up for sacrifice in a hypocritical attempt at demonstrating her nation's dominance in her sport. What made it all the more galling is that her nation, Russia, is already under censure for having had a program to systematically drug its athletes and should not have been allowed to participate in the first place.

Shame on those who drugged the child, shame on those who covered up the abuse, shame on the IOC for allowing her to compete after she had failed her drug test. Shame on those officials for allowing Russian athletes to compete behind the mask of representing "The Russian Olympic Committee" and not the nation itself.

That very same nation is now poised to unleash war on a neighboring country. That tens of thousands could be killed, that the lives of countless more would be ruined - and all for no real reason but to serve the corrupt ambitions of one thug to consolidate power at any cost - are entirely beyond the pale.

How have we come to this? To remain silent in the face of evil is to be complicit.

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I’ve watched NBC for about 40 minutes total. I’ve seen 30 commercials, 15 human interest packages and 10 athletes.

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Feb 18, 2022·edited Feb 18, 2022

Would have been a Pyrrhic victory worthy of a post-truth world.

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