31st July, 2012
By Tayo Ogunbiyi
“I declare open the Games of London celebrating the 30th Olympiad of the modern era”. With these words, 86-year-old Queen Elizabeth, the powerful British monarch, declared open London 2012 Summer Olympic Games amidst fanfare, colour and drama.
The evolution of the Olympic Movement during the 20th and 21st centuries has resulted in several changes to the Olympic Games. Some of these adjustments include the creation of the Winter Games for ice and winter sports, the Paralympics Games for athletes with physical disability, and the Youth Olympic Games for teenage athletes. The International Olympic Committee, IOC, has had to adapt to the varying economic, political, and technological realities of the 20th century. As a result, the Olympics shifted away from pure amateurism, as envisioned by Coubertin, to allow participation of professional athletes. The growing importance of the mass media created the issue of corporate sponsorship and commercialization of the games. World Wars led to the cancellation of the 1916, 1940, and 1944 Games. Large boycotts during the Cold War limited participation in the 1980 and 1984 games.
Nigeria first participated at the Olympic Games in 1952, and has since sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games, except for the boycotted 1976 Summer Olympics. Till date, Nigerian athletes have won a total of 23 medals at the Olympic Games with a substantial part coming from athletics and boxing. Perhaps, the peak of the country’s success in the Olympic Games was in 1996 when the national U-23 football team won the gold medal in the soccer event at the Games held in Atlanta.
In an increasingly troubled and endangered world, the Olympic has become a magnificent metaphor for world cooperation. The Olympic dream brings together people from around the world. Its positive values of hard work, fair play, excellence and team spirit foster a communion that transcends borders, cultures and ethnicity to unite us in these troubled times.
The various skirmishes across the globe are distressing reflection of serious breakdown in communication among countries of the world. On a daily basis, we read and hear of needless internal crisis in many countries resulting in avoidable loss of lives. One basic lesson the Olympic teaches is cooperation. We see this mostly among athletes competing in team events such as football, basketball, handball, rugby among others. Irrespective of their religious, ethnic and tribal affiliations, athletes representing their countries in team events collaborate to bring glory to their nations.
Using the relay race in athletics as a typical example, all the athletes representing their countries in the race have one thing in sight- to deliver the coveted prize for their respective countries. In like manner, nations of the world need to embrace cooperation in all ramifications for the globe to be a peaceful place to dwell in. Effective collaboration among countries of the world, like the one we see in the Olympics, is a pre-condition for the attainment of a less turbulent world. The truth is that, if we refuse to cooperate for the sake of achieving peace in the world, we must be prepared to face the consequence of our actions. Today, many countries in the world have become theatres of warfare because major power players of the world refuse to enter into meaningful agreement on how to intervene in the crisis.
The Olympics, therefore, present a potent prospect for mankind to rise above past trials and strive to accomplish the triumph of oneness. To do this, we must heal the core wounds where our divisions have been sewn, to realise that our human struggles are the same and our cooperation makes us stronger. Unity, peace and stability, though still very elusive, are the most essential needs of the world today. Yet, the Olympics have taught us that we are one and that we can relate as such, if only we are ready to embrace the common elements that bind us together. In the next three weeks or thereabouts, athletes and administrators from various cultures, traditions, languages and beliefs, across the world, will be in London in an atmosphere of brotherliness, love and unity.
In a world where divisions (whether religious, cultural, economic or political) almost always take the lead over other considerations, the Olympic presents a platform for nations of the world to foster unity and friendship. Sport allows us to engage in dialogue and to build bridges, and it may even have the capacity to reshape international relations. The Olympic Games embody perfectly the universal vision of a world where peace, love and harmony reign supreme.
The symbolic significance of individual athletes’ achievements has sometimes proved more productive than the negotiations of diplomats or politicians. These examples illustrate the mission of achieving unity that is implicit and inherent in sports. This mission is all the more necessary today because of the fragmentation of our societies. Sport is one of the few spaces where people can learn about different cultures in a spirit of trust and friendship.
Today, sport remains a vast field of life that offers the youth an enduring opportunity for personal development and growth. It teaches endurance, discipline, hardwork, tolerance, teamwork, focus, preparedness, ruggedness among numerous other noble virtues that are currently in short supply across the world. But beyond the values and benefits of sport, the Olympics create a universal feeling of excitement, offering the world a moment of enchantment around passions and shared dreams.
The ruling and political elite across the world, often tend to compromise the peace and unity of their respective countries, and by implication that of the world, primarily for selfish motives. In Nigeria, for instance, the ruling elite plays up the ethnic, tribal and religious cards in as much as it suits their egocentric considerations. In most cases, the people, out of intellectual and material poverty, often fall victim of the antics of the ruling elite. Why, for instance, has zoning continued to be a recurring vocabulary in our political lexicon? Was the idea of zoning mooted because the power elite love their people so much and would like to preserve their interest through the instrumentality of power? Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, for instance, has been privileged to rule the country for about twelve years (first as a military Head of State and later as a civilian), but it is yet to be seen how the southwest, where he hails from, has particularly benefitted from his years of being in power. Same goes for the northern part of the country which has produced seven out of those that have ruled the country since independent.
In the spirit of the Olympics, now is the time for leaders across the country to rally together to save our nation from going down. Let the truth be spoken, if we allow the current fire of discord being fanned across the country to continue, none of us might live to tell the story. This is the time to hold on to the ideals that bind us together as a people and jettison primitive tribal and ethnic concerns. It is only in doing this that we can benefit from the ideals and principles of the Olympics.
•Ogunbiyi is of the Features Unit, Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja