The Rio 2016 Summer Olympics are here! The world's best athletes will gather together for a two and a half week long competetition of sport which has been running since ancient times. I've seen several Olympics on TV: Athens in 2004, Bejing in 2008, London in 2012 and now Rio. It's a splendid affair of pagentry and national pride which warrants my five cliché reasons for loving the Olympics.
1. The Opening Ceremonies
In perspective, a huge stadium is filled with tons of people which, unless they are doing something in unison (cough, cough Bejing) cannot be enjoyed as a whole and must rely on rapid zoom to enjoy invidiually. Nevertheless one lucky artisitic director gets to essentially put on a show for the world. Creative freedom and world peace initatives are sure to appear. Lots of cute kids, happy people, funny costumes and more. Even if I had to direct traffic or ride a bike, goodness, the world is watching: pressure. But, OH SO FUN.
2. The Outfits
What are those? Scarves or ascots? Please Ralph Lauren, don't make your logo so BIG this time. Okay, the opening ceremony outfits can be kind of dorky or overly traditional. This year it seems feminists got up in arms about which countries allowed their female athletes to wear pants. But, at least it is fun to watch the colors and enjoy seeing who seems genuinely happy to be wearing something they may only ever wear once.
China
Spain
Norway
Mozambique
3. The Athletes
The stories. The struggle. The smiles. For two and a half weeks, the names of Ashton Eaton, Michael Phelps, Gabby Douglas, Simone Biles and many others will become household words. We get to know all the first time Olympic hopefuls so intimately in the hushed commentary and we wish them only the best.
4. The Pride
- There are downsides to nationalism, but these folks here, for a few short weeks are the face of their country. They are someone's child and they get to REPRESENT!
5. The Commercials. Make you feel more inspired than Super Bowl ads for Doritos.
My favorite one, that I actually teared up watching a second time. VISA's 'Come Together' narrated by the fabulous Morgan Freeman. "We forget what makes us different and remember what makes us the same."
Then there is this awesome commercial McDonald's did for the 2008 Bejing Olympics.
P&G get's me every time. They know how to celebrate Moms.
Then there are fun peppy ones like United's 'One Journey Two teams'
Yes, I love the Olympics. I will be cheering on the nations: funny outfits and all. Go #TeamUSA!
