Blog

As the torch goes out on another Summer Olympics, I am reminded of the 1988 Games – the last time I remember watching the summer version. (Usually the only thing that brings me to the Olympics is the figure skating.) This year, however, I was swept into all of it – due mostly to all the Guy Candy on display, but also for the contagious competitive excitement. It became addictive wanting to see the reactions of the athletes to their wins and losses – and when it turned into good sportsmanship and mutual admiration and respect I was truly touched.
Back in 1988, long before the Internet, when television was the medium that brought the world together, the Summer Olympics were the biggest event of the season. My parents allowed me to spend the night in the family room, in front of the television, on my Grandmother’s fold-up cot. I’d fall asleep to the flickering background of the latest track and field race, and wake as my Dad left for work the next morning.
It was, for the most part, a solitary experience, but it felt better knowing the rest of the world was watching at the same time. That was echoed in these games, in the way that social media made it a collective event, in ways more direct, if more diffuse. While we may be more fragmented in some ways, we’re closer in others. The strange twists the world has taken in these ensuing years, and the ticking of time, struck me as I watched a grey-haired Greg Louganis – the gold medalist in 1988 – looking down on David Boudia completing his gold-medal-winning dive.
Another circle is complete.