http://www.eurasiareview.com/05072016-the-not-so-beautiful-game-the-corruption-that-dogs-the-olympics-oped/ tells about the corruption that is now part of the Olympics.

”Russia could easily claim the gold for its spectacular mishandling of the Sochi Olympics, which included everything from rumors of bribes that it had paid out to win the bid away from Austria, to shoddy construction standards and allegations that Putin’s cronies cremed off the most lucrative contracts. And the string of controversies didn’t end there, but made a comeback earlier this year when clear evidence of industrial scale athlete doping was revealed to the New York Times by Grigory Rodchenkov, the director of Russia’s anti-doping laboratory during the Sochi Olympics.”

“The financial problems the Games is causing for Brazil are already well-documented, as is the fact that poor Rio inhabitants are being forcibly pushed aside to make way for the Games.”

“The 2018 Winter Games in South Korea are already tinged by controversy, … as South Korea’s president, Lee Myung-Bak pardoned chairman of Samsung and IOC member Lee Kun-Hee for tax evasion, making it quite clear that he hoped this kindness could be returned when it came to assessing his nation’s Olympics bid. With the bid now confirmed, the team is already facing resignations of key players and even more corruption allegations.”

When I was seven in 1932, the Olympics came to my town of Lake Placid, NY. There was no Olympic Village. The athletes were amateurs who came to Lake Placid and looked for a place to stay. My artist uncle created the designs on the ice for the figure skaters and supervised the creation of the rink. The achievements of the individual athletes were more important than the number of medals won by a particular nation. The Stevens brothers won the bobsled competition and were back at work in their garage the next day.

In 1936 the Nazi Olympics were held in Berlin. Goebbels initiated the torch bearing, and the Olympics were completely transformed to an arena of international rivalry rather than friendly competition. In my opinion the Olympic cheating, commercialism, nationalism and corruption cannot be corrected. The Olympics should be ended.

I second this, David.

Some people take life far too seriously. Others are just miserable buggers.

' n my opinion the Olympic cheating, commercialism, nationalism and corruption cannot be corrected' yep the adamic nature David f just like yours and mine.

The Olympics lost me when they opened up it's ranks allowing professionals to participate, when previously it was strictly for amateurs. When the pro's were permitted then corruption started to rear it's ugly head, as does any activity where sadly, filthy lucre is a force to be reckoned with.

The question, whether they should disband the Olympics altogether? No, but it should be inverted back, to the days of a strictly amateur competition, thus dissuading those with the big money, from getting involved at all.

Dear o sung wu,

It would be fine if they could go back to a purely amateur contest, but I don't think they can. There would still be advertising, national competition with competitors rewarded in some manner, broadcasting rights etc. Olympics would be held with professional athletes masquerading as amateurs. That's the way it is with some supposed amateur university sports in the USA.

Hi there DAVID F...

What a sad state of affairs when money becomes the epicentre of everything associated with sport or any active recreational pursuit. Of course the Olympic organisers, might take all reasonable steps to ensure all competitors are rigorously screened to make certain they're bona fide amateurs.

While everything else that matters will no doubt, have a 'dollar amount' structured into it, entirely to make sure it's capable of proliferating considerably more revenue, in order to establish whether it's economical viable of even staging the Olympics at all. After all, the Olympics are very much a fiscal imperative aren't they? And sport itself is merely peripheral and inconsequential.

Dear David F.,

Yes, granted the games are expensive, complex to put on,
and marred by drug use and bribery. However, perhaps we
should be writing about how to reform and strengthen the games
instead of wiping off the ancient concept altogether.

There's a reason the Olympics has survived the generations through
war, scandal, tragedy, and controversy. There's a reason why the
Games still inspire the young and old and why billions around
the world tune in to watch the spectacle of the ceremonies and
athletes around the world. However we may define it, there is
little doubt that the Olympics inspire in a unique way - the
Olympic Spirit moves the soul and hopefully will continue to
do so for a long time yet.

Instead of eliminating the Games - we need to look at overhauling
them. Bring back Peace and Good-Will as the desired goals.
After all the Games do generate revenue for the Host countries.
The Games are an excellent way for different countries to come
together for diplomatic reasons. The Representatives for these
different countries are able to come together in a non-threatening
way. And of course the Games give athletes a reason to strive
for excellence in their chosen sport in order to be able to
represent their country and win the highest accolade - Gold -
a recognition as being the best.

Dear Foxy,

I think it is a trivial exercise to train a person to jump higher, run faster or outdo another person in some other physical way. It is only a limited period of their lives that they can perform in such a manner, and they have the rest of their lives to live. Their intensive athletic training to reach those goals may and often does occupy them to such an extent that they are not adequately grounded in the arts, sciences and familiarity with the wonders of nature that a better rounded person achieves. What do they do when they have passed the bloom of youth? Do they endorse products, be a front person for a sales effort, comment on sports, go in for drugs or get involved in other activities that former athletes do when they have passed their glory days? Intense athletic training can mean a deprived life after glory because the athlete has been given neither the time nor opportunity to learn about non-sport activity.

The games in general do not inspire peace and good will. They are a competitive exercise, and the couch potatoes who watch can imagine that their country is somehow better than other countries as their athletes can outdo athletes of other countries.

There are measures of excellence of a country that are more worthwhile than the medals gained in international competitions.

Can we have a lower infant mortality rate? Do all of our citizens have an adequate diet? How do our students stand in numeracy, knowledge of literature and science and other measures of academic excellence? What is our level of corruption? Rather than have a few highly skilled athletes compete while most watch wouldn’t be better if more of us actually participated in sport and keeping fit?

A true amateur not only competes in sports for the love of it but has a full life outside of sport. When sport takes over a person’s entire life whether or not they get money for the effort is immaterial. They have lost much of what makes life worthwhile

Dear David F.,

Thank You for your views and you do raise some valid
points. However, I believe in the Olympic Games.
To me the Games are a way of building bridges between
countries. I believe that Pierre de Coubertin saw
the purpose of the modern Olympic Games as a way of
promoting peace and unity within the International
Community through the medium of sports. A way of
bringing political enemies together. A way of breaking
down cultural barriers and bringing people together.

The number of countries and athletes continues to grow
with 204 countries participating in the 2008 Olympics and
more that 10,000 athletes in the 2012 Olympics.

The games unite nations throughout the world and show
different countries the human side of nations of which
they are unfamiliar. While yes, the Olympics are about
competition and winning they are also about learning about
other cultures and the similarities between all cultures.
In this day and age it is good to learn what unites us
and not focus on what divides us.

Trade, travel, and telecommunications have made the nations
of the modern world more interdependent than ever before.
Yet today's societies entered the nuclear age with political
institutions inherited from a previous era. The human population
is spread among a series of sovereign independent states -most
of them with their own armed forces and so there is a built-in
potential for warfare whenever two nations have conflicting
interests. Therefore having events such as the Olympic Games -
that unite nations - to me at least, seems like a good idea.

Dear Foxy,

You wrote: "However, I believe in the Olympic Games."

Against belief there are no rational arguments.

I agree completely with this article and the supporting comments. Either return to the amateur games as they began, or scrap the entire shebang and spend the billions of dollars wasted on creating elite processional athletes in 'Sports academies', on improving the health and well-being of our nation's children through a wide variety of non-competitive but enjoyable physical activities that generate a love of exercise and fitness and health.

Hi there YBGIRP...

You've managed to say it all in my opinion ! These elitist sports professionals make big money, from all the endorsements, Television appearances, and prestige sporting events. As well as receiving much public adulation for their 'heroic' achievements on the athletic field.
All of which smacks of money, and yet more money, a monumental disgrace in my opinion. Well said YBGIRP, very well said indeed.

The bare-chest hockey and judo ironman Putin had a straight face when he declared Russia must be dope-free. Russian dopes should figure out that number one caused Russia's Olympic shame as well as bank sanctions and just maybe his time is up.