Let the good Games begin

An aerial view of the 2016 Rio Olympics Park, which will become the centre of the sports world for a few weeks in August. Photo: Ueslei Marcelino

An aerial view of the 2016 Rio Olympics Park, which will become the centre of the sports world for a few weeks in August. Photo: Ueslei Marcelino

Published Jul 17, 2016

Share

Brace yourselves, Olympic fever is coming. No, not the supposedly dreaded Zika, but the other one. The one that swept through South Africa as the countdown to 2010 went into days instead of months and years, and pipe dreams.

The one that will have diehards sitting through the small hours to watch sports as randomly charming as synchronised swimming, artistic gymnastics and all those other things that matter.

That fever that will turn Rio into the centre of the world, for a few weeks at least, and where that entire world prays and hopes that all the headlines are made for human feats and not twists of brutal fate.

The fever that will see the millions of citizens of a troubled metropolis put aside their grievances, and welcome the international community with a smile, rather than a snarl.

The fever that will, inevitably, have little boys and girls asking questions about alternative sports, those that seldom get a look-in on the back pages or on our social platforms.

Major names in minor sporting codes will become overnight heroes, and their glow will hopefully enhance the timeless hope that the Olympic flame represents.

Hope that humanity will continue to strive to be better, regardless of the challenges. Hope that harmony and respect will become an international norm, rather than the fear and savagery that dominates our news every week.

That baton of hope is passed through each city that hosts these Games, and Rio has the responsibility next.

“The Olympics? The real, live Olympics, in Brazil?”

My son, bless him, has a hard time believing some of his father’s extravagant claims, so when I revealed to him that I was going to Rio for my maiden Olympics assignment, there was more than a raised eyebrow.

There was a rash of questions, about time-zones, and immediate negotiations opened for souvenir options to bring back for the hallowed ‘show and tell’, and also a muse on the chances of personalised messages from Bolt, and Sonny Bill and the official mascot.

In the mind of a 7-year-old, no dream is too far-fetched, no request too random.

“Is it safe there?” he asked.

That is a question with no definitive answer, but that would be the same if it was asked of any major city in the world today.

There is no certainty, save for the eternal hope that our time is not yet, not nearly yet.

The world we inhabit is in turmoil, and no congregation of people, be it a hundred or a million, appears immune to the spontaneous threat of those who thrive on spreading terror.

Paris, London, New York, Ankarra, Sousse… the long and lamentable list of cities around the world that have been scythed through by terror grows ominously by the year.

But the world knows nothing else but to push on, and hope that goodwill shall ultimately thrive through the adversity.

Will the athletes who compete in Brazilian waters be safe, from Zika, or crime or many of the other challenges that Rio has to address or manage?

Who is to say? But there, in Rio, they will be, to culminate the work of two, or four, or maybe even 10 years, in order to just maybe touch a glint of magic that comes about every four years.

That maybe is enough motivation, even if that fickle window of opportunity may still close in a second, due to any imperfection.

That maybe has seen them look beyond Zika, and security fears and everything else that has been put forward as obstacles to Rio 2016. Because maybe, just maybe, Rio will be the time of their lives.

Some have chosen to see the Rio glass as ominously half empty, and given it a wide berth. But others, those of us who live in hope want to see Rio’s cup runneth over with rapture, and records and a rowdy celebration of the diversity and brilliance of this mad place we all inhabit.

Bring on the fever.

Related Topics: