Olympian Conflictedness

As I write this, the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia have begun. The opening ceremonies aren't until later in the day today (Friday), but somehow events are already underway. This year the games are especially marred by politics and controversy. It seems worse than it was in Beijing, where it was not inconsiderable. There's also the actual series of athletic competitions, and I guess I have thoughts on both of those things.

I've always enjoyed the winter games. It's funny to me that people consider them lesser than the summer games. The winter events are admittedly more obscure to Americans on the whole, and the entire event is a smaller, quainter affair (which is also anathema to spectacle-minded Americans), but I don't really see how those are bad things. I like a smaller, more manageable Olympics. Maybe that's just my personality.

I also like the strange, unfamiliar events. It's fun to learn a new game. All of the winter events were exotic to me, growing up as I did in Phoenix. It's conceivable that I could have learned to ice skate if my parents were of a mind to have me do so. It just wasn't something I was going to pick up from the culture of where I grew up. Skating, skiing and all the rest of it was entirely foreign, as was the notion of being really, really cold or trudging through snow. Just seeing snow and ice on the TV was worth something.

My affection for the Winter Olympics will contend with my discomfort at how things are playing out in Russia, where the range of possible outcomes seems to range only between "Marred by incompetence and oppression" and "Stricken by lethal terror attacks". It certainly looks rather grim. I will likely not be able to just plain enjoy the thing, but maybe I can still see the goodness in it all if I squint into a telescope.