Incredibly Selfish Athletes

Tibet. I've never been especially worked up over Tibet because the types that do get worked up are the same that get worked up over EVERYTHING. I hope I was just being a little more discerning. But with the recent violence in Tibet and some reading on the Interweb I am a little more supportive of the protests against China and especially the torch relay.

What I am also getting a little more intolerant of is the whining of athletes. Catriona Le May Doan on leaders considering boycotting the opening ceromonies

"Well too bad for them"

Funny. She goes on to say "The Olympics are about the athletes, who train their entire life to represent their country. This has become a platform for political situations."

Let's break down that sentence.

"Who train their entire life to represent their country"

There are two things there I think need clarifying. First, they train their entire life. OK. Do they do it all by themselves? Do they pay for it themselves? Or do they EXPECT and DEMAND that Canada support them? Well, it’s the latter. We pay them and they, or at least that twit Le May, Doan expects us to pay and shut up.

Second, Catriona states that these athletes “represent their country”. And that’s why we pay them, I guess. Still, if they represent us should we not, through our elected representatives, have a say in how they represent us? If we are embarrassed by their participation in an event we should, at the very least, be able to state our displeasure by removing our REAL REPRESENTATIVES from the opening ceremonies.

Ms. Le May Doan should be a little more grateful for the tax dollars that supported her in her when she needed it. She should understand that Canada is at these Olympics, not just the athletes. She should be frickin’ thankful we don’t just pull out of the whole sordid thing.

Finally, maybe we shouldn’t wrap our national pride up in selfish athletes. Maybe we should make the Olympics an individual event without nations. Maybe that would both get us off the hook for these self-serving ingrates and remove politics at the same time. Think on that Catriona.