After Friday night’s Opening Ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, the Olympics are officially underway. Over the next two weeks, athletes from 205 countries will compete in 306 events from 42 different sports disciplines in 37 arenas around Rio. Records will be broken and history will be made as different athletes showcase their talents and hard work, but hopefully spirits will be renewed and lifted as well.
It is no surprise that the last few months have been marred with a lot of negativity. From the displacement of refugees and bombings abroad to mass shootings and the drama surrounding the Presidential election in the United States, countries around the world have been plagued by dreariness. Even as the days to Rio dwindled down, people were speculating the issues that would arise at the Olympics as an effect of Rio’s political unrest and environmental concerns. It is not a surprise that the world desperately needs a pick me up.
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The Olympics comes at a perfect time. It is a brief time for people to step away from the monotony of our daily routines and rally behind our countries and athletes. The Olympics gives us an opportunity to remember that we should always be proud of our countries and rally behind in support. The Olympics is a reminder that we should be proud to say we are American, or Spanish, or Greek. We should be proud of our roots and where our story lies. That doesn’t mean we should be proud of the way things are run or of the daily things that are going on there, but we should have a sense of pride to say “that’s where I am from.”
4 years ago I had the opportunity to go to France with people from all around the world. We spent two weeks together and learned a lot about where everyone was from. There were students from France, Colombia, Mexico, Brazil and the Philippines. We spent two weeks learning about each other’s cultures and what life is like for them in their lives back home. The Opening Ceremony for the London Olympics was on our last night together. We all sat around together and watched it. Everyone cheered for their countries as they walked out and sang their national anthems. It was a moment that I will never be able to truly put into words, but it was in that moment that I saw firsthand what the Olympics really is all about -- people from all over the world coming together and rallying behind their country in support of where they come from.
After I left France, I flew to London for a week and got to see where the Olympics were taking place. It was such a cool and unique experience to walk around the venues and to see the Olympic Village, where the athletes were staying. One day we went to a mall near the Olympic Village and even got to see different athletes from around the world. It was a memory I will carry with me for the rest of my life, but beyond that, it was a moment where I truly saw unity. Everyone was united in their excitement for the games, in their pride in their countries and in their love for their athletes. It didn’t matter where anyone came from or what he or she did in his or her life at home, we were all united in the fact that we were human.
The purpose of the Olympics is unity through sports. If you look at many of the symbols that surround the Olympics, you will see that unity is really what it is all about. The Olympic flag, which has been used to symbolize the Olympics as a whole, and this year is being used to represent refugees from around the world that are going to be competing under the flag, consists of 5 rings (red, blue, green, yellow and black). The 5 rings are meant to represent the 5 continents that have athletes competing. In addition, the colors were chosen because every competing country’s national flag contains at least one of those colors. It is truly a flag of unity.
Pierre de Coubertin is considered the father of the Modern Day Olympics. In 1894, de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee, which is the governing body of the Olympics. It is a non-profit, non-governmental organization based out of Switzerland and it serves as the supreme authority over the Olympics. In 1908, Pierre de Coubertin founded the Olympic Creed, which reads, "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well." It was adopted from a sermon delivered by Bishop Ethelbert Talbot at a service for Olympic champions during the 1908 Olympic Games.
The most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well. Let that sink in for a minute. It is not how well you succeed at life, but the fact that you showed up and you took part. It is no surprise that we are not all going to succeed at everything we do. There are going to be times when we fail and fail hard, but the important thing is that we are fighting. You are not going to conquer everything life throws at you, but you cannot stop fighting. You cannot give into the struggle. When you concede defeat and surrender, you are giving up. You must acknowledge that the struggle is part of the ride and if you want to get to the end, you need to take it all: struggles and conquests alike.
The Olympic games comes at a time where the world is in desperate need of an ego boost. The games provide us with a two-week break from all that is going on around the world. It gives us an opportunity to rally behind our countries and be proud of where we come from, at least for two weeks. The Olympics provides us with a two-week retreat and sanctuary away from all that has marred the world lately. It gives us a brief break in the hatred and hostility that has come to drive the world.
Hopefully, at least for a few, the Olympics will renew their faith in their country and in the world. Maybe for a few, they will be reminded that what the world really needs right now is to be reminded that we are united, we are all in this together and we need to figure out how to struggle and conquer life together. We need to abolish our hatred and hostility towards each other and embrace one another. Admittedly, it’s an extremely optimistic view, but maybe that’s what the world needs right now: a little optimism.
