the olympics went away and micke-midlife appeared on the international running scene. away with all the clinical clean and analytically cool world record performances and hello to the sweaty flesh and blood training sessions squeezed in after work and before family time.
thinking about it, what were those olympic games in beijing anyway? they’re far from the original olympic idea, which is manifested in the link between sport and peace. originally there were no war activities allowed during the month of the olympic games. russia just rendered that aspect a joke when tanks moved in into georgia. the link between peace and sports also clearly connects sports and politics in the olympic games, the very core of this event that china several times stated that it wouldn’t exist and all participants should please only pay attention to the sports aspect. if you don’t the local police will “correct your behavior”.
moving on the to olympic creed, “the most important thing in the olympic games is not to win but to take part…”, lol (laughing out loud for all non-IM’er) there’s no time for anything else but the winner. do you still remember anyone second placed in beijing? the games just 6 days gone and top athletes already continued competing in major events - golden league, madison square garden, finland vs. sweden (eh, not so major) - and you really need to dig into the international press archives to remember.
some time ago the olympic commitee did away with the requirement that athletes need to be amateurs and not pros. when it all comes around this is irrelevant, it’s more relevant to rethink the selection of diciplines. let’s face it, the olympics are from a mainstream viewer point of view except for swimming and athletics either to some extent a freak show or second class. on the one hand there’s shooting with pistols and rifles or archery in zillion different flavors … or even better horse dressage … and then on the other side there’s football, boxing, baseball, basketball where the best of the best are nowhere to be seen, since the money keeps them in their respective leagues. the committee needs to do real strategy work and decide what they want to go for, either “mass market me too” or “even more freak show”. the latter would ensure sports innovation and ingenuity.
but the olympic committee most probably would need to be rejuvinated for such a move. meanwhile we see jacques rogge preferably looking after the athlete’s behavior post finish line and ordering them to behave correctly (see his comments after usain bolts 100m victory), who does mr rogge think he is. he definitely had too much of that chinese rice liquor with his committee buddies there.
most intimidating and actually in the end quite boring was the announced series of victories of super athletes such as the grinning fish mr. phelps. with clock work precision he swims from world record to world record without any other outcome than predicted, no surprises. if phelps had been a country, it would have come ranked 10th in the overall medal table.
finally doping, a topic that was a bit under the radar screen while the olympics were on. but no reports or no mass incidents doesn’t mean that it’s not there anymore. assume a leap advancement in the usage and substances and non-tracebility with laggarding methods would be the logicala consequence for a while. don’t know whether doping’s good or not for the sports, but the basic premise is and remains: there where’s (too) much at stake, there will always be methods used outside the rules.
nah, the credible real life heroes don’t seem to be those on TV anymore, too distant and unrealistic. it is more those who run around laajalahti between helsinki and espoo in the early autumn rain, the shorter ones with crooked legs, the longer beanlike ones with red noses, those who run out their stress or frustration from work and those who just want to catch some fresh air and a moment in their thoughts before turing home to their families.
one week down, 56 to go. with 88.5km overall distance this week has been a pretty good start into this episode one. the tough parts of the training program still turn out to be a wee bit challenging (the intervals marked in red above) , but over time we’ll get there. week two looks equally exciting.
fortsetzung folgt…
