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The spirit of the Games
Deseret News editorial
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
And thus it is with the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.
The lighting of the caldron tonight at Rice Eccles Stadium during the opening ceremonies will add the punctuation mark to the phrase, "the spirit of the Olympics."
As the Games have gotten closer, the magical feeling that is a companion to them has increased in intensity. The torch relay runners have felt it, as have many of those watching them.
The spirit of the Olympics is powerful because the intent of the Olympics is noble.
The Games are competitive, no doubt. But what transcends the competition is a feeling of equality. Champions are determined by performance, not ethnicity or belief. The feeling of brotherhood and sisterhood is manifest throughout the Olympics, not only at the venues but in the athletes' village and in the communities fortunate enough to be part of the Olympic process.
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the Frenchman who is chiefly responsible for the modern Olympic Games, envisioned the Games as not only an event dedicated to the pinnacle in athletic performance but as a gathering of nations around the globe to promote world peace.
Athletes in many ways are better suited to de Coubertin's ideal than politicians. The discipline required to become an Olympian gives the competitors instant credibility with each other. They have a shared understanding and respect.
They, probably more than others, can appreciate de Coubertin's "An Athlete's Creed:"
"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."
All of the Olympic participants have already fought the good fight to qualify for the ultimate international athletic event.
The 2002 Games will not be perfect. There will be glitches — the wishes and comprehensive planning sessions by the Salt Lake Organizing Committee notwithstanding.
The Olympics are a lot like life. They're too big and too complex for nothing to go wrong. The key, as de Coubertin has already noted, is to fight well. The Olympic athletes and organizers have done that. They have not only fought well, they have fought long. Their efforts will be rewarded.
Tonight represents commitments in time and energy that would require the efforts of a super computer to calculate.
Let the Games begin.
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February 8, 2002
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