Olympic fever

 


I confess that I LOVE the Olympics. I love the drama, the excitement and suspense, the human elements, and the accomplishments of people who are so devoted to developing and perfecting skills, many times overcoming serious obstacles in the process. To borrow a phrase from the old ABC "Wide World of Sports" program, it's "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat." But it's also the pride of the competition, of seeing individuals do their best and frequently achieve or surpass their goals.
I read that NBC will broadcast and stream a total of 7,000 hours of competition events for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. SEVEN THOUSAND HOURS of events to choose from, in 339 different events, over the course of a little over two weeks!! If I watched 16 hours a day for 16 days I would see only 256 hours out of the 7000 - less than 4% of the total.
I think I could almost stay glued to the TV that much if it were possible, but there are a lot of other things competing for my time. And sadly, I am going to be offline all of next week and so will completely miss six days of events! (Advance warning: a gap in my daily posts starting next Monday; don't want you to think I've died!)
Witnessing the Winter Olympics "up close" in Salt Lake City in 2002 was particularly rewarding. I was employed by the LDS Church at the time and worked closely with public affairs efforts supporting the events, translated into a dozen of the most common languages. It was fascinating. I would love to have that opportunity again, to attend more events in person, now that I have more free time!
I #GiveThanks for the miracles of technology that make it possible to witness competition that is happening halfway around the world, and for the athletes who make it exciting with their superb training and performance.




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