The Winter Games
Nostalgia for a lost world, except for East Germany.
With everything in the world being horrible, I am so grateful for the Winter Olympics. Normally I am the opposite of a sports fan; I take extreme nerdy pride in knowing as little as possible about the various forms of sportsball that consume others’ TV schedules, but every four years I remember that yes, I really do understand why people become fans. From seeing Peggy Fleming in Grenoble in 1968, when I was 5, and blossoming in 1976 in Innsbruck with Dorothy Hamill and the greatest recorded sports event ever, Franz Klammer’s ski run, to the 1980 Miracle on Ice (final score of the game against the USSR announced by my school principal who let us out of class an hour early in celebration.) Even with East German judges (ask your parents, young ones) I loved the winter games.
ABC and Jim McKay did something subtle and special with their coverage: they really emphasized the fact that the whole world was in the games, having a blast, together. In 1980, when Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev won pairs figure skating gold for the USSR, the cameras showed her crying while the band played their national anthem and their flag raised over the medal podium. The next day, the DJ’s at KVIL commented on the fact that Rodnina and Zaitsev weren’t Eeeeevil Commies, they were normal people who loved their country and were proud to represent it. It was small chips like that one that undermined and finally toppled the Berlin Wall and ended the Cold War. It’s hard to hate people who gave us so much joy.
I was on maternity leave in 2002 when the Games were in Salt Lake City. I watched all the snowboarding events, and found it hilarious that all the medalists looked like the cast of ‘Dude, Where’s My Car?‘ (No surprise at all when the place that invented snowboarding became the first place to legalize cannabis a few years later. Like, really no surprise, dude.)
I don’t have a powerful conclusion or punchline here, only that I hope that we can sometime return to the world where we can get some of that kumbaya cringey spirit back and everyone enjoy sports invented with the phrase ‘hold my beer and watch this.’
Except East German judges. Those guys stank
I wish all the Olympics could eliminate national anthems and, for that matter, national teams. There are many beautiful and courageous athletes who deserve the opportunity to shine globally, winter or summer. I’m a track-and-field fan and once scheduled periodontal surgery so I could watch the second week of the summer Olympics ... none of which I can remember because of the much-needed pain meds. Oh well.
Thanks for reminding me of Franz Klammer's thrilling run; to this day, though I have zero interest in ski races otherwise, I always watch the Olympic downhill and it never fails to amaze. And also for mentioning Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev who remain in my memory as the pinnacle of beauty and delight in sports.