Remember my Olympics rant just as it began? Out of my 8 reasons why I am turned off #4 was leadership. But that article was referring to Juan Antonio Sammaranch who left around the Utah WInter Games. Well this Dan Wetzel column proves that "the apple does not fall from the tree". Based on what I see here, Rogge does not seem to pick his spots well. I want to thank Bolt for one thing. Giving the shows I listen to somebody else to talk about that is 1) not initialled M.P. and 2) not American. I mean the attention given to he who must not be named by me was of Pacquian proportion . Believe me that is a deja vu that I do not enjoy. Reason why I hate attention given to he who got 8 golds in the pool is where were all those fans this time last year? What else do these people root for between Olympics? Kohoutek? Also you may notice hypocrisy not only in the 2008 Olympics but in this blog. For a Kill Joy like me , I must have milked the Olympics for about two dozen blog entries. Anyway click the links and enjoy Mr. Wetzel's fine column.
Ed
Rogge rips the wrong guy
By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports Aug 21, 10:40 am EDT
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BEIJING — Jacques Rogge is so bought, so compromised, the president of the IOC doesn’t have the courage to criticize China for telling a decade of lies to land itself these Olympic Games.
All the promises made to get these Games — on Tibet, Darfur, pollution, worker safety, freedom of expression, dissident rights — turned out to be phony, perhaps as phony as the Chinese gymnasts’ birthdates Rogge was way too slow to investigate.
One of the most powerful men in sports turned the world away from his complicity. Instead, he has flexed his muscles by unloading on a powerless sprinter from a small island nation.
Rogge’s ripping of Usain Bolt’s supposed showboating in two of the most electrifying gold-medal performances of these Games has to be one of the most ill-timed and gutless acts in the modern history of the Olympics.
"That’s not the way we perceive being a champion," Rogge said of the Jamaican sprinter. "I have no problem with him doing a show. I think he should show more respect for his competitors and shake hands, give a tap on the shoulder to the other ones immediately after the finish and not make gestures like the one he made in the 100 meters."
Oh, this is richer than those bribes and kickbacks the IOC got caught taking.
All the powerful nations — including the United States — have carte blanche at the Games. They can pout and preen, cheat, throw bean balls, file wild complaints, break promises that got them a host bid, whatever they want. They can take turns slapping Rogge and his cronies around like rag dolls as long as the dinner with a good wine list gets paid.
A single individual sprinter? Even if you don’t like his manner, that’s whom Rogge deems it necessary to attack, to issue a worldwide condemnation?
"I understand the joy," Rogge said. "He might have interpreted that in another way, but the way it was perceived was ‘catch me if you can.’ You don’t do that. But he’ll learn. He’s still a young man."
Perceived by whom? Old fat cats making billions of Olympic dollars on the backs of athletes like Bolt for a century now? They get to define this? They get to lecture about learning?
Bolt is everything the Olympics are supposed to be about. He isn’t the product of some rich country, some elaborate training program that churns out gold medals by any means necessary.
He’s a breath of fresh air, a guy who came out of nowhere to enrapture the world with his athletic performance and colorful personality. This is no dead-eye product of some massive machine.
He was himself, and the world loved him for it.
On his own force of will, Bolt has become the break-out star of these Games. He saved the post-Michael Phelps Olympics. It wasn’t so much his world-record times, but the flair, the fun.
No one at the track had a problem with this guy; they understood he is everything the sport needs to recover from an era of extreme doping. The Lightning Bolt made people care about track again, something that seemed impossible two weeks ago.
"I don’t feel like he’s being disrespectful," American Shawn Crawford told the Associated Press. "He deserves to dance."
Apparently, Rogge would prefer 12-year-old gymnasts too frightened to crack a smile.
IOC President Jacques Rogge (seen here on August 18) said Thursday he will decide in October at the earliest whether he seeks another mandate next year in Copenhagen. The 65-year-old Belgian said that he would not just take into account how the Beijing Games had been perceived when taking his decision but also set them alongside the other three that have taken place during his reign.
It got better when, in the same press conference, he pretended to forget all the lies China told him to get this bid, all the troubles, all the challenges, and praised the host nation. Yes, these have been an exceptionally well-run Games from a tactical standpoint, and the Chinese people have displayed otherworldly kindness.
None of which denies the promises broken, the innocent jailed, the freedoms denied — the kind of issues someone with Jacques Rogge’s standing should be talking about.
He has no spine for that. Not for China. Not for any big country. He had to criticize someone, he had to make headlines, he had to show he was a tough guy. So who better than someone from somewhere that can’t ever touch him back?
Yes, Usain Bolt is the problem of the Olympics. He’s the embarrassment. He’s the one who needs to learn.
Sure, Jacques, sure.
Dan Wetzel is Yahoo! Sports' national columnist. Send Dan a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.
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