DIGGER27
In Memory Of
I used to really look forward to and enjoy watching the Olympics ever since I was a kid.
After a second rate East German swimmer won gold after gold one year by swimming way above her normal talents, thanks to doping it was found out later, they all became tainted to me and I haven't been able to enjoy them the same way since.
It wasn't just the swimmers, either.
There have been stories that East Germany has been doping their athletes since the 60's up until they were dissolved, many athletes knew but many more were lied to and doped without their consent.
It wasn't just that country, even US athletes have been caught and shamed among others.
Doping is still a huge issue, the entire Russian track and field team might not even be allowed to enter and for all the great athletes that compete clean there are always a few that slip in and might never be caught or if they are it is months or years later.
Imagine training for so hard for years and years, hoping to win a medal and take your once in a lifetime place on the platform and hear your country's anthem played only to lose to a cheating doper...and then be given your actual and deserved medal months or years later with no fanfare and maybe just one line mentioned in the news.
Heartbreaking.
Then there is that Zika virus thing not to mention all the other health risks.
Water in Guanabara Bay, where many Olympic events will take place, is so polluted that an investigation by the Associated Press concluded that the water could make Olympians "violently ill."
The president has just been impeached, the economy is depressed and in shambles and some of the venues are still not completed last I heard.
It takes money to move such a massive amount of people around any large geographic area in an organized and timely matter, I am not sure this country is ready for that.
Most are predicting that this is going to be one huge train wreck of an Olympics, if it is not postponed or cancelled which is a small but still real possibility.
Some say the news about the problems will way overshadow the athletes performances.
If it goes off I will watch some events but the thrill that I had watching these things with the innocence I had as a kid is long gone.
I hope it works out well if only for the honest athlete's sakes but things don't look great right now for most anyone competing in or attending this event.
After a second rate East German swimmer won gold after gold one year by swimming way above her normal talents, thanks to doping it was found out later, they all became tainted to me and I haven't been able to enjoy them the same way since.
It wasn't just the swimmers, either.
There have been stories that East Germany has been doping their athletes since the 60's up until they were dissolved, many athletes knew but many more were lied to and doped without their consent.
It wasn't just that country, even US athletes have been caught and shamed among others.
Doping is still a huge issue, the entire Russian track and field team might not even be allowed to enter and for all the great athletes that compete clean there are always a few that slip in and might never be caught or if they are it is months or years later.
Imagine training for so hard for years and years, hoping to win a medal and take your once in a lifetime place on the platform and hear your country's anthem played only to lose to a cheating doper...and then be given your actual and deserved medal months or years later with no fanfare and maybe just one line mentioned in the news.
Heartbreaking.
Then there is that Zika virus thing not to mention all the other health risks.
Water in Guanabara Bay, where many Olympic events will take place, is so polluted that an investigation by the Associated Press concluded that the water could make Olympians "violently ill."
The president has just been impeached, the economy is depressed and in shambles and some of the venues are still not completed last I heard.
It takes money to move such a massive amount of people around any large geographic area in an organized and timely matter, I am not sure this country is ready for that.
Most are predicting that this is going to be one huge train wreck of an Olympics, if it is not postponed or cancelled which is a small but still real possibility.
Some say the news about the problems will way overshadow the athletes performances.
If it goes off I will watch some events but the thrill that I had watching these things with the innocence I had as a kid is long gone.
I hope it works out well if only for the honest athlete's sakes but things don't look great right now for most anyone competing in or attending this event.
