One thing always makes me a little uneasy about the Olympics, especially the summer games, is the extreme dedication today's athletes have. I know dedication is supposed to be a good thing, and usually it is, but there's a limit.
Usually we think of sports as a measure of humanity. We like to think the “best” person won, whether that be the strongest, bravest, smartest, most skilled or most dedicated. But when I watch the Olympics, particularly the unending lets-meet-the-athletes mini-docs, I can’t help but find their single-minded determination to be way beyond admirable and downright unhealthy. The “best” person doesn't win, they finish last because they have enough of a balanced approach to life and thus spent only fifteen hours a day practising. Meanwhile some borderline-sociopath practised sixteen hours because they have nothing else in their life, and for that they take the gold.
It's not quite as bad in the Winter Games, since there's a much smaller pool of competitors, so you don't have to be quite as crazy to be the best. It's also a good argument for some of the much-maligned new or obscure sports. BMX biking and Trampoline haven't been reduced to a science by an international coaching complex yet.
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