Who would’ve thought this tiny island nation would outperform the mighty United States in the premier Track and Field events of these Olympic Games?
(“2008 Beijing Olympics: Jamaicans Bolt…” The iPINIONS Journal, August 21, 2008)
I made no effort to disguise my Bahamian schadenfreude as Jamaican sprinters (with the notable exception of Usain Bolt) followed up their breakout performances at the 2008 Beijing Olympics by getting busted, one by one, for taking performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). Not least because I warned it would be thus:
I wonder if it’s a testament to their national training methods or the performance-enhancing ‘herbs’ they use to flavor their sports drinks that make these Jamaicans so incredibly fast….
(“2008 Beijing Olympic Games – the Phelpsian Touch … Pure Gold,” The iPINIONS Journal, August 16, 2008)
Therefore, I shall make no effort to disguise my Caribbean pride as Jamaican sprinters still took four of the top-five finishes yesterday in the Men’s 100m – the premier event at the IAAF World Track and Field Championships that is playing out in Moscow (August 10-18). This, despite having so many sprinters banned from competition.
Unsurprisingly, Bolt continued his reign as the world’s fastest man. Never mind that the only lightning bolt on this occasion came from the storm clouds hovering over the stadium – as he clocked a relatively slow 9.77 seconds. (His world-record time is 9.58.)
What’s more, with all due respect to Bolt, I could not help being far more animated by seeing so many empty seats in the stadium than by watching the race itself.
The world’s best athletes have been performing in front of empty seats in Moscow a year on from the electric atmosphere of London 2012’s packed Olympic Stadium.
Sergey Bubka, the IAAF vice-president, has blamed hot weather for the ‘disappointing’ crowds. Organisers have reduced the capacity of the Luzhniki Stadium from 75,000 to 35,000 seats and offered tickets for as little as £2 over the weekend, but the arena was still only a third full.
(Daily Mail, August 11, 2013)
Except that this might just reflect the fact that perennially touted interest in Track and Field outside the United States is finally following the downward trend that began here soon after the euphoric days of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. And having so many top foreign athletes test positive for PEDs might’ve had the same demoralizing effect overseas that having Marion Jones turn out to be nothing more than a juiced-up fiend had here.
As it happens, I presaged the eyesore of empty seats in Moscow today by lamenting a similar eyesore at no less a venue than the Olympic Stadium – first at the Beijing Games:
I find it more than a little difficult to reconcile all of the Chinese hype about these Olympic Games being such a source of national pride with all of the empty seats at so many events.
(“2008 Beijing Olympics,” The iPINIONS Journal, August 15, 2008)
And then just last year at the London Games:
I’m already irritated: Why the hell are there so many empty seats at so many venues?! This has become a quadrennial farce.
(“2012 London Olympics,” The iPINIONS Journal, July 28, 2012)
And if you think this simply reflects the fact that neither Chinese nor Russians figure prominently among the top athletes in this sport, perhaps you can explain this:
Apropos of irony, there’s no doubt that their matchups in London will be even more hyped and watched than Phelps and Lochte’s. Yet Bolt and Blake attracted so little interest for their 100m showdown in Kingston on Friday that they ran in a practically empty stadium…
By contrast, the 15,000-seat stadium in Omaha was packed all week for every one of Phelps’s races, including the preliminary heats.
(“Olympic Trials, Preview of Exciting Feats to Come,” The iPINIONS Journal, July 2, 2012)
Of course, it may just be that Russians share my Lance Armstrong-inspired suspicions about superstar athletes like Bolt being on PEDs – despite their protestations about being “clean.”
It can only be a matter of time before the lightning Bolt himself gets struck for taking performance-enhancing drugs.
(“Now Tyson Gay et al. Drugs as Rampant in Track as in Cycling,” The iPINIONS Journal, July 16, 2013)
Related commentaries:
Jamaicans bolt…
Phelpsian touch..
London Olympics
Olympic trials…
Now Tyson Gay…