our Olympic Odyssey road to...

London, England

London’s leg of the trip - the por-tion of our Odyssey emphasizing the “present” of the Olympic Games, since the upcoming Games will be held in London in just a few short months - taught us mostly about the

topic of sustainability. Sustainability answers important questions that have long been ig-nored by Olympic planning committees (which is a problem that we experienced firsthand later in the trip when we visited the 2004 Olympic fa-cilities in Greece). These questions include the following:

{1} What will happen to the Olympic stadiums , athlete housing, businesses, and other facilities necessary to pull off an Olympics?

{2} Can the host city recover financially from the costs involved with hosting an Olympics? Is it possible to break even? Can we consider the Olympic s an investment to the future?

In the past, host cities have suffered tremendous financial losses after organizing and throwing the Olympic Games. Although the Olympics do tend to bring financial success in the short-term

(e.g. increased tourism, new souvenir businesses) numer-ous nations have had to deal with major losses years after the event has taken place. For example, the 1992 Barce-lona Olympic Games completely destroyed the city finan-cially, and it took many years for it to recover.

It seems that London has learned from the mistakes of the past, and the city is approaching the Games in a com-pletely innovative way. According to Dr. Dakaia, our first lecturer on our Olympic Odyssey, the big buzz word these days regarding the Olympic Games is “sustainability.”

Instead of putting on a big show or trying to outdo the predecessor, which in recent years has more or less been what occurs in every Olympic Games (e.g. Beijing was on a huge mission to outdo their opening ceremonies for the 2008 Olympic Games, spending amounts of money for a single day even that were simply unheard of), London is hosting the Olympics to improve the quality of life of its citizens, particularly those that live in Hackney, the poor-est district or “burrough” of the city.

We were fortunate enough to visit the Olympic Park (and, in fact, were the last group to do so before it closed down for security purposes before the Olympic Games). There, we learned that not only is London emphasizing sustain-ability, but that nearly every single facility built exclusive-

ly for the Olympic Games can be torn down after the event or adjusted in size so that it is suitable for other smaller sporting events that are sure to take place in the future. The basketball court is even transportable, meaning that it can be used for future Olympic Games, and in fact, there have already been negotiations with Rio de Janeiro, host of the 2016 Olympic Games, about renting it out to them.

For centuries now, Hackney has been the poor-est and most disconnected district in the city of London, which we learned when we visited the Hackney Council. Thanks to the Olympic innitia-tive, an extremely efficient tube and train system has been built so that this area can be connect-ed to the rest of the city. In addition, the athlete housing will be used as government housing for those that cannot afford their own. Originally an industrial area, London’s Olympic committee thoroughly cleaned up the place, ensuring that in the future, Hackney residents will have a better quality of life. In addition, new businesses have been popping up in the area ever since London won the Olympic bid in 2005, so the Hackney Council believes that they will still be there years after the Games have concluded.

With more businesses, affordable housing, trans-portation, and cleaner air and soil, the London Olympic Games should become an example of sorts regarding the way that the event is run in the future. Perhaps for the first time in decades, the Olympic Games will be more than just a two week event - all because of that one buzz word: sustainability.

3

001

(001) Wem

bley Stadium (002) B

ritish Museum

(003) “London Bridge” (004) London E

ye

002

003

004

Ridiculous nicknames completely unrelated to the students’ actual names or personalities (i.e. “Danger Dan,” when the student is neither par-ticularly dangerous nor is his name Dan).

“Mind the gap, please” which somehow turned into “mind the crack” whenever we saw a nude ancient Greek statue...

The Kanye and Jay-Z concert...particularly when Jordan felt the need to remind us all over and over and over that this was the first time in the history of this music tour that they sang “Jiggas in Paris” five times. We get it, Jordan.

Jetlag. And Dave trying to stay awake.

Portobello Market, where elephant items are plentiful.

Professor Ryan’s 14 Pound cone of ice cream.

MEMORIESfromLONDON

paris, france

4

The Sorbonne, birthplace of the modern Olympic Games

France is the country on our trip that links the ancient Greek Olympic past to our modern Olympics present and future. It was here in France that Pierre de Coubertin decided that the ancient Olympics had to be reinstated in another form, as a friendly competition

among countries that would not only emphasize athleti-cism but the second buzz word on our trip - one that he himself created: “Olympism.”

Even those that are not overly familiar with the Olympic Games tend to understand that the Olympics are simply different than any other major sporting event worldwide. According to Dr. Dakaia back in London, this is because of the values that come along with the event. These values, of course, are what make up Olympism.

For Pierre de Coubertin, the modern Olympic Games would be more than a sporting event - they would also be a form of education. As he observed in England, rug-by brought schoolchildren together and taught them the values of hardwork, teamwork, determination, and pre-serverance. He wanted these values to be reflected in his Olympic Games.

At the Olympics and Paralympic Games, we speak of these very things: Determination, heroism, courage, teamwork, etc. We consider the Olympics to be the pinnacle of sport because they are more than just the game. The Olympics give sport a much deeper meaning, which is exactly what de Coubertin envisioned.

Another way in which de Coubertin wished to connect the ancient Games to the modern ones was by creating an en-vironment in which nations put their differences aside for the sake of sport. In ancient times, war was actually can-celled during the Games. Even today, letting politics get in the way of the Games is incedibly shameful (e.g. few will agree with Jimmy Carter’s decision to boycott the 1980 Olympic Games for political reasons).

In Paris, we visited the Sorbonne, a prestigious university that is also the birthplace of the modern Olympic Games. There, de Coubertin deliberated and was finally able to have his vision come to life in 1896 in Athens, Greece. Four years later, the Olympic Games also came to Paris.

Since Paris did host one of the oldest modern Olympic Games, we also had the privi-ledge of visiting a few of those sites, which in reality barely exist anymore. However, it is important to keep in mind that the Olympic Games back then were part of larger industrial festivals, rather than the big sports show that we get today. There-fore, you wouldn’t even know those sites in Paris were Olympic sites if you simply walked by them. For that reason, I am glad that we got to learn about this in the Olympic Odyssey course.

This also brings another factor into the Olympics equation: How did they evolu-tionize so quickly?

MEMORIESfromparis

Delana and Charma trying in vain to take the perfect jumping picture at the Eiffel Tower.

Plaut’s raw beef topped with a raw egg (and Charma’s face when she saw it).

Plaut eating sugar cubes with Tabasco sauce.

Plaut’s vocabulary and Bigel’s bottomless pit of a stomach (these two are memories for any country).

Crepes.

No stairs on the metro.

McBaguettes.

lausanne, switzerland

5

Although Lausanne, Swit-zerland is a beautiful town by the lake, there isn’t much for the regular old tourist to see or do. For Olympic Odyssey stu-

dents, however, Lausanne is heaven. It is, after all, the home of nearly everything Olympic Games-related, includimg the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA), The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the various international federations for different Olympic sports, such as the In-ternational Gymnastics Federation (also known as the FIG).

It is only fitting that the Olympics “home” would be in Switzerland, a country that has always been known for its neutrality, something that is very important to the Olympic Games, as we learned from Pierre de Coubertin in Paris and lat-er from the ancient Greeks in Olympia. It is the organi-zations in Lausanne that truly run the show behind the Olympic Games and ensure that de Coubertin’s legacy (another “buzz word” from our trip) is being carried out exactly as it should be.

We visited the CAS, where we learned that the organi-zation truly is the highest authority when it comes to sporting disputes and deliberations. A regular court-room would not be able to serve the needs of athletes and coaches in this respect - not to mention that many times, these are international disputes that cannot be solved by one particular nation.

These disputes can include doping issues, but surpris-ingly, the CAS deals with much more than that. For ex-ample, it deals with issues regarding eligibility to com-pete for a particular country if it is not the nation of residence or of birth of an athlete. It deals with particular event disputes, such as claims that an athlete purpose-fully got in another’s way to slow them down or injure them. According to our lecture, about 50% of disputes come from the FIFA. Another interesting fact is that not all doping cases are the same: Some athletes intention-ally dope; others might use some cream for athlete’s foot that contains a banned substance without them know-ing about it (as a gymnast, this reminded me of the 2000 Olympic Games when Romanian all around gold medal-ist Andreea Raducan had her medal taken away because her doctor gave her medicine for her cold that contained a banned substance. Ironically, eight years later, by the Beijing Games, the substance was no longer on the banned list. Raducan tried to dispute this via the CAS, but lost again.

Other important visits included a lecture at the IOC, a visit to the IOC Museum library, where many of us found books relevant to our final projects, and although the IOC Museum is closed for renovations, we got to see some of the items displayed on the boat pictured to the far right of this page.

MEMORIESfromlausanne Meals that literally cost an arm and a leg (this is not at all an exaggeration).

Jordan realizing on the train to Switzerland that he forgot his passport in Paris...and then it nev-er arriving in the mail.

The beach party (and for the girls, peeing in a hole).

Finally, finally, finally getting to do our laundry (expensive as it was).

The beautiful train ride to Montreaux.

The hotel hating us because we were too loud (surprising that we hadn’t gotten in trouble be-fore this one)

athens & Olympia, greece

6

MEMORIESfromolympia & 

athens And then there were 14...and then there were 15 again.

James’ wreath.

Nike likes to talk...a lot.

Plaut running a lap around the ancient Olympic site in all his “glory” (I will spare anyone reading this the photographic evidence)...

Pool trampolines breaking...

Glass doors breaking and Tyler’s leg ripping open...

Basically leaving Olympia before we got kicked out.

Dimitri, our favorite bus driver.

A riot on Delana’s birthday.

While on the bus ride from Ath-ens to Olympia, I heard Profes-sor Ryan telling our tour guide, Nike, that you can literally dig a hole anywhere in Greece and know that you will find some sort

of important ruin. Many of these ruins are, of course, sports-related.

In Greece, we focused heavily on the Olympic past, although we did get the priviledge to visit the 2004 Olympic facilities, connecting what we learned in Greece to what we learned earlier in London. First, we visited Olympia, home to the ancient Olympics. We learned about the nature of the Games at the time and about the similarities and differences to what we see today. A very impressive similarity is that for centu-ries, the Games were always, without exception, held every four years. It also did not matter what your so-cial standing was: If you wanted to compete, you could - and you could also win. The first Olympic winner, in fact, was a simple cook.

A major difference between the modern Games and the ancient Olympic Games, however, is that the an-cient games placed a major emphasis on pleasing the gods. The Olympic site is right next to temples dedi-cated to Zeus. If anyone ever cheated at the Olympics, they would have to pay for a statue dedicated to Zeus. Today, religion and sport are two completely separate entities, which was not so back then.

In Athens, we visited the stadium for the first ever modern Olympic Games in 1896, which was since ren-novated for the 2004 Olympic Games. We also, as I mentioned, visited the stadium for the 2004 Olympic Games, which we now know served as a lesson to fu-ture host cities that the Olympics cannot be used to build facilities that will be impossible to maintain post-Olympics. Sadly, the stadium and many other facilities are falling apart, and with a terrible Greek economy, this enfuriates many of the Greek people. Luckily, London is the first host city to truly focus on creating

a statue dedicated to Marcus, an ancient O

lympics w

inner

a sustainable Olympic Games.

Greece truly tied our entire trip together. We be-gan with our future (London), moved on to our past and present (Paris and Lausanne), and then got to see our really ancient past - how it all began in Greece.