London Excitement

With only a few days remaining before the world will be watching the Olympic games in the City of London  The city is bursting at the seams. Not only the streets, hotels and parks are filled but for miles around there is zero available space for the person who did not have the good sense to make reservations.

News reports give a picture of overcrowded streets with thousands of cabs demonstrating because they are unable to get use of the streets near the many sporting venues. Complaints about the use of the Olympic logo is causing a stir and broadcasters are trying to get the most favourable views for their viewers back home. It  is estimated that 7 billion people will be watching at any one time and the people paying for the privilege of advertising will get great world coverage.

We in Canada as well as in other countries are being bombarded with the names of the people who will be representing us at the games. There is so much emphasis on the medals that the pressure is enormous for our athletes . Just being there representing your country is a huge privilege but getting a medal is a bonus. Some countries reward their competitors with cash awards for medals won.

My feeling that there is too much emphasis on the medals as coming in fourth or tenth among all the world is a tremendous accomplishment. The original code of the Olympics did not have the nationalistic emphasis but today it is all for country and not for personal gain. What a reversal.

A small country like Canada does well to compete at the world level and we should feel proud of all our athletes no matter how they place in the medal count. London will do a great job in hosting these games and with all the world fears for violence and terrorist attacks will be attended to by this country.

We will all be watching the events and shed a tear when they play our national anthem when some of our people stand on the podium. Let us hope that the Olympic code is present in all the events and their objectives are met at the end of the day.