olympics

Fiddling While Milan Burns

I suppose I still have quite a naive, romanticised view when it comes to the Olympic games. It seems to me that they are festivals of world unity unlike any other: periods when, every couple of years or so, the attention of the entire world is focussed on one city or region, and we can all enjoy the sports and festivities together. I still think back fourteen years to London 2012. Just to have been here in London that year was incredible. The metropolis had a buzz to it; it felt like the centre of the entire world as we played host to human civilisation. To see Lyn performing at the paralympic closing ceremony will always be one of the greatest moments of my life. For those few weeks, humanity felt as one, centred around London. It wasn’t just a sports event, but a celebration of culture and place.

I freely admit this is a highly naive view which (probably deliberately) ignores all the overt corruption and scandal which underpins the olympics. In a way I think it ties into my love of travel: I like how it gives a city the opportunity to show itself off before the world. From this perspective, olympic opening and closing ceremonies are effectively performances, not just to be enjoyed but read and analysed. What do they reveal about a city’s culture, and what is the community trying to say to us? Thus, in an ideal world, I’d like cities from all across the world to host the Olympics and Paralympics, so that the global community can focus on them and they can show theirselves off to us, as London and Paris did. I also think it would be cool to see more such mega-events, just as gigantic, but focussed on other disciplines such as arts or technology.

But again, I’m being naive. The world is far from ideal, especially at the moment. The olympic games take billions of pounds to put on, money which many countries do not have; so obviously only the most affluent cities get to show themselves off like this. More to the point, the world of 2012 or even ’24 is long gone: we stand at the brink of a profound global catastrophe. Thus as intrigued as I am to watch the Winter Olympic Opening Ceremony in Milan this evening, I can’t help thinking there are now more pressing issues at hand. Celebrations of human unity are all well and good, but at a time when we may well be about to blow ourselves apart, it feels like fiddling while Rome (or Milan) burns. I”m not saying that I think the games should be cancelled or delayed, just that to hold such an event right now feels like we are wilfully ignoring wider, darker issues, giving rise to quite an unseemly mismatch or juxtaposition.

A Sickening Spectacle Nobody Wants To Watch

A couple of days ago I looked up when Danny Boyle was selected to direct the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony. The answer was 2010, obviously two years ahead of the ceremony itself. I was wondering when we might hear that Los Angeles had selected someone to direct its opening. I know it’s still some time away, but believe it or not I’m already becoming curious about what LA might do.

Such events still fascinate me. It seems to me that Olympic opening ceremonies are unique artistic events in that they draw the entire world’s attention onto one city for a few hours. They thus give a city and the country it represents the once in a lifetime opportunity to show itself off before the entire world. When else do we see incredible spectacles like James Bond meeting queen Elizabeth, a huge flotilla of boats gliding down the Seine or Eric Idle (apparently) being shot out of a cannon, before bursting into Always Look On The Bright Side of Life?

What, then, could we see happen in LA in three years time? To be honest it’s a question which I’m beginning to feel nervous about. I keep hearing that Trump is now trying to turn VE Day in the US into some kind of birthday parade for himself. Frankly, it sounds a bit far fetched but I wouldn’t put it past the self important prick. The question is then, assuming Trump is still in office in 2028, to what extent could he try to turn the ceremony into some kind of sickening spectacle of self-aggrandisement? Again I wouldn’t put it past him; but imagine how utterly repugnant it would be to see the world’s most awesome cultural event commandeered by such a vainglorious charlatan? I’m sure nobody wants to watch that! That’s why I am already so keen to know who might direct the ceremony; it’s something that I plan to keep a fairly close eye on.

The World’s Greatest Charlatan on The World’s Biggest Stage

They may still be four years away, but I have recently started thinking about the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. Believe it or not, I still have a wierd interest in the Olympics: it seems to me that they are the world’s single biggest sporting and cultural event, bringing the attention of the entire world onto one city for about two months every four years. There is no other cultural event, festival or phenomenon like it, or which holds so much power or impact.

The next games will, of course, be held in Los Angeles. Before now, I saw no problem with that, and was looking forward to them, and particularly the Olympic and Paralympic ceremonies. Last week, however, the United States took an extremely dark turn by re-electing Donald Trump, who will still presumably be in office in 2028. I am now wondering whether trump will try to hijack the games somehow. We all know what an egomaniac he is: might he attempt to make the games, or at least the ceremonies, about himself? Might he try to turn them into a festival of self-justification and aggrandisement? Given the opportunity of having the entire world’s attention drawn onto an American city, I wouldn’t put it past him.

Granted, by 2028 Trump will be 82, and may well not be around any more. But if he does try to commandeer the games and turn LA28 into his own personal ego trip, the results could only be hideous: Imagine Trump’s vile cult of personality writ large to epic proportions; abhorrent far-right vomit delivered on a platter covered with the star-spangled banner. The international Olympic committee will have handed the world’s biggest stage to the world’s greatest charlatan, which is why, frankly, I’m starting to favour reallocating the 2028 Olympics. If trump has his way, by then America will be something approaching a fascist dystopia, and surely anything would be preferable to seeing the Olympic Games, which for so long has been a festival of global unity, sportsmanship and tolerance, abused and distorted by such a fallen country and it’s megalomaniac leader.