The Rings.

   A little over half way through the XXXIII Olympiad and we have seen some pretty incredible things.  Like Simone Biles,  who is so powerful, so in control, so complete.  And for all her physical talents have done for the discipline,  let us not forget what her recovery and her addressing the mental journey she has taken this last four years has done for athletes around the world.  

    Of course, if you're a fan of swimming from any country,  Canada's Summer Macintosh has been pretty jaw dropping.  A 17 year old as well versed on giving an interview as she is swimming the butterfly,  or being a team member.   

    The fastest man in the world 100m will always be the draw,  and this time the fastest man in the world was five thousandths of a second better than the second fastest man in the world.  Then out of nowhere a B.C. kid, years younger and less experienced than the rest of the field won a gold medal with a single toss of the hammer.  He looked more like a patron at a rock concert than a world class athlete.  Mellow.  People like me who never have been admire those who are mellow.  

     So many wonderful things come out of the Olympics.  We should concentrate on those wonderful things.  But the world being what it is, and people being who they are, well......   So why would I be any different?

     SHAME is what I felt when our  women's soccer team were accused of cheating by observing New Zealand's closed practice.  How dare our coaches and administrators risk all the work these beautiful young women have put into being a world class team.  Defending gold medalists.  National inspirations.  PRIDE is what I felt watching this coachless team of gritty women defy all odds and progress past the preliminaries and take Germany to a shoot out.  Well done Canada.  

    Gotta say I don't care much for the Canadian uniforms designed by Lululemon.  They don't look red and white,  they look pink.  We didn't dress our team very well.  Of course that is a taste thing and it might be that I am in the minority here.  Doubt it.  

     Because I am not a conservative person, and because I often say so,  the algorithms facebook use to decide what people like and don't like has plugged me into all kinds of neo right pages that would be cringe worthy for the stanchest of conservatives.    Now I didn't watch the complete opening ceremonies but what I saw was pretty Parisian.  The French, and particularly the Parisian have always seemed like they are pretty sure their culture is all that and a bag of chips.  And  although their culture pretty much annoys Brits, Americans, and a lot of the western world,  they pretty much don't really care.  That get in your face almost arrogant image is something I kinda enjoy about France.  I have only been to France once and that was only to Normandy on the northern coast.  I can assure you the people I met in France were absolutely wonderful, kind, beautiful people who were so welcoming to those of us from away.

   But It appears on this occasion the fluid inclusivity of the open ceremonies in the famous Parisian backdrop was a little more than the far right world could bare.  There seems to be some confusion that one particular scene was a mockery of the last supper.  The official line is the scene was inspired by Dionysus and a pagan feast of the Gods of Olympus.  (Note the word Olympus and the similarity to the title Olympics.)  But everyone dining on the same side of the table and the similarities to Da Vinci's Last Supper are certainly present.  Regardless, it was fuel for those who find terms like inclusion more than they can bare.  

   You will never convince some people that the French weren't poking at the Christian faith.  And that's where our old friend AI and the anti inclusion status quo kicked into high gear.  Those who were never a fan of this whole idea of inclusion had all the ammunition they needed to prove to the rest of us that a new world order was simply blasphemy.  

  To make matters worse,  An Italian boxer on the female card got her bell rung by an Algerian.  Problem was the Algerian boxer isn't exactly the most feminine looking woman in history.  She apparently has an imbalance that I am certainly not qualified to go into.  But here are some pretty rudimentary facts:  Imane Khelif the Algerian boxer was born a female.  She was raised as a female.   And truth be told, those most offended by her presence in the women's boxing ring are the same people that would strongly object to her having some male parts added.   Truth be told,  those who really don't want this whole inclusive thing to work jumped into this debate feet first when there was a suggestion that Miss Khelif was transgender.  So many of my facebook friends were ready to March on the city of light and pull the plug once and for all.  

   So here's what really happened:  Italy's Angela Carini got her bell rung.  She didn't have the will or the body to continue past a couple of punches in the first minute of her boxing bout at the Olympics.  Like any narcissist, she automatically assumed her loss had to be someone else's fault.  Being a looser, she captured what limelight she could be having a cry while holding up a picture of her father and suggesting she was cheated.  She has lost just about 25% of her fights, Her record being 84-28.   It appears she has been offered some financial compensation over being not just a looser,  but a quitter.  And she did so at the expense of a woman who is a better boxer.   That's pretty much the way the world works on many different levels.  

    I would suppose it is a shame on me for delving into the negatives of the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad.  These examples are exactly the opposite of what the games are supposed to be.  And all you have to do is watch the games to see what they are all about.   To see the athletes from all over the world embrace one another at the end of a discipline that has totally dictated their lives for decades.  That robbed them from many adolescent experiences, or cost them a world of normal.  People wth whom they travel the globe to compete against one another.  To see the fifth place finisher jump up and down with glee because they just beat their personal best.  To see young people wrap themselves in their flag and do a victory lap.   

   I recently reposted some film from the 1908 olympics,  and again from the 1976 Olympics.  The progression and improvements of the athletes, their training, their equipment are the raw truth that our world is not going to be like it was.   And the things that don't change?   Well maybe it's time to accept them.  And I am thinking there is no one better qualified nor more prepared do so than the French.   Well done Paris!   And to the rest of the world?  How do you like Canadian Summer?    Oh how I love the Rings!