Ah, I probably shouldn't get all political and spew my thoughts on the olympics but I've been resisting so hard on facebook I need to get it out somewhere, so here we go. 1. Those articles from journalists about their hotel rooms. Okay, so obviously these accommodations are incomplete, and that quip about the Evian-Kardashian thing was pretty great, but what would have been an interesting and meaningful way to report on these hotels is why this points to corruption and mismanagement in Russia, not how uncomfortable these journalists are. I mean, there are many many many people across Russia (and elsewhere) that don't have basic amenities, so I am so sorry Mr. Journalist that you need to sleep for a few nights in a room with a crooked curtain wire (although you're right to be a little skeeved out by the topless Putin photos...) This is just another opportunity for the Western media to propagate their negative view of these olympics (which is pretty common, I'm not saying this is only for Sochi, pretty much the same deal in London) and that is just bad coverage. There are a lot of questionable things around these olympics (and we are going to delve into more of them)! But there are the positive things as well, and you would think these outlets would at least pretend to have some degree of neutrality on the issue. That being said, I am not a humourless person all the time, and some of those Twitter photos are priceless. I'd just like some accompanying coverage on the rest of it. 2. Gay Rights There is just so much to talk about here I am going to focus on the closer-to-home aspect, which is Mayor Rob Ford (Toronto...in case you somehow haven't heard about him). City Hall had planned (like many other major cities in Canada) to fly the Rainbow Flag as a symbol of solidarity with the gay community and he insisted they take it down and replace it with a Canadian one. Now - I am a big advocate for not politicizing issues that are overly politicized, but when it comes down to something as fundamental as this, I think it is unavoidable. This is clearly so tied to people's view of these olympics, and rightly so! People are arguing that we should not be repudiating another countries laws, that this is not what the Olympics are about, etc, but unfortunately it is! There are certain elements of a countries laws that *would* be totally silly to call them out on during the olympics - it just isn't relevant - but when it is dealing with basic human rights, and when it is impacting the athletes and people of the country hosting. I think one can say it is relevant to the olympics. (Blah, blah, Rob Ford is the worst, blah). 3. My solution This will never, ever happen, but I have plan (which only works for the summer olympics though, so we'd have to brainstorm on the winter games). The Olympics should only ever take place in the one spot - Greece. There is a historical connection (duh) and so it makes the most sense. This means we could build one set of stadiums, that would allow for steady job creation, less impact on the environment, less exorbitant spending on the games, better long term security measures (although, there is some danger to having the exact same layout year after year, but I think this is offset by planning time). Overall - this just makes way more sense. We would avoid things like what is happening in Qatar in prep for the World Cup (slave labour to build stadiums resulting in DEATH), and the risk of unfinished amenities. Again - never, ever gonna happen. But wouldn't this make sense?!?!? The problem is people loooove hosting the Olympics. I don't think you could find an uncontested zone for the Winter olympics. So yes. Sorry to rant. I am rooting for all my fellow Canadians, and wish the best of luck to every one who has spent years and years training. (PS: I have an Olympian Uncle which is pretty cool, and two friends who have been to the Olympics)!
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