I was able to watch the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics at Pyeongchang. It was exciting to see athletes from ALL over the world come together to celebrate the start of the olympics. I personally love watching both the summer and winter olympics. It is a great opportunity to watch different sports I normally would not be interested in and I love that the olympics brings attention to these lesser known sports and countries. I was a little bummed that my favorite figure skaters, the Shibutani siblings were not at the ceremony with team USA that night. However, the ceremony was still entertaining as I got to see athletes proudly representing their countries. Of course, that is except for Russia who could not represent their country.

Russia’s olympic team was recently punished for doping and they could not hold up their flag or have their anthem played. The Russian athletes that were allowed to compete also wore neutral uniforms. I believe that barring Russia was just since they had state-backed doping programs. Therefore, the country as a whole should bare the responsibility and not be represented for their actions as it was a government supported occurrence. It is simply unfair to the other countries who compete fairly to go up against Russian athletes who have an artificial advantage. Besides the olympics, in any sporting event, athletes should not be doping for an advantage for their success would not be an honorable one. I believe that the decision to allow the athletes who were not involved with doping to participate and represent themselves was a fair one. I believe it is fair to continue letting these athletes show their abilities without being tainted by their country and possibly fellow peers’ decisions.

For over 70 years, Korea has been split into two different nations: one harboring the North and one harboring the South. The separation, originally along the 38th parallel, was the result of the dismantling of the Japanese empire at the end of World War II. Decades of tensions between North Korea and the rest of the world have culminated in sanctions and verbal threats. It’s for this reason, that the unified presentation of Korea at the Olympic opening ceremony was a very significant, and special moment. In a surprising diplomatic move, North Korea sent a high profile figure, Kim Jong-Un’s sister Kim Yo-Jong, to the Olympic games, and she brought with her an invitation for the South Korean president to engage in talks with the North Korean Kim Jong Un. Although this isn’t the first time Korea has participated in the Olympic Games under a unified banner, it’s the first time North Korean and South Korean athletes have competed together in a team, with women from both North and South Korea comprising the women’s hockey team. The seemingly good-spirited Team Korea opening wasn’t without its controversies, however. One of the most notable events involved current U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, who was seated near top North Korea delegation at the opening ceremony. Several headlines quickly proclaimed that Mike Pence didn’t stand for the Team Korea entrance, even though Team USA’s entrance was the only entrance Pence stood for. More recently, headlines are poking at possible consequences North Korean athletes may face when they arrive home, as they’ve garnered no medals so far. For reference, the 1966 North Korean World Cup Team was sentenced to concentration camps after losing 5 -3 to Portugal. After all the media attention and focus on North Korea at the Olympics ends, it will be very interesting to see how international relations between North Korea and the rest of the world change — if they do at all.

Last week, Rose House hosted a viewing of the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in the dining hall. I highly enjoyed the event, watching with other Rose Scholars and cheering when countries we identified with came into the arena (such as Australia, where I studied abroad last semester). However, although the games themselves identify a time in which people and countries can come together, like myself and my fellow Rose House residents, not everyone was allowed to participate in the excitement.

It is fairly common knowledge that as punishment for Russia’s doping scandal, the country of Russia was not permitted to compete at the Winter Olympics. Instead, members of Russia’s Olympic team instead were identified under “Olympic Athletes from Russia”, and a volunteer carried an Olympic flag rather than a Russian Olympian with Russia’s flag when the athletes walked into the Opening Ceremonies. In addition to these restrictions, not all of the Olympians were permitted to participate in the games, including 47 athletes and coaches whose petition to participate in the Olympics was rejected just hours before the Opening Ceremony began.

Although I can understand the need for regulation, as Russia should be punished for using the doping program, I don’t quite agree with the need to restrict certain athletes from participating, especially since the athletes who petitioned and were denied didn’t seem to be involved in the program. I appreciate that some Russian athletes have been permitted to participate in the Winter Olympics, but if the athletes themselves are not at fault, they should be allowed to participate as well.

While I will continue to enjoy the events of this year’s Winter Olympics with all the athletes involved, I hope that the Russian athletes denied participation will gain the opportunity participate in the next Winter Olympics.

nytimes.com/2018/02/08/sports/olympics/cas-russia-doping.html

http://tass.com/sport/989294

The Olympics is usually seen as an event in which the world puts aside its differences and comes together to admire the efforts and talents of elite athletes. The opening ceremony is a prime example of this as each country walks out after an elaborate performance while showcasing a defining part of their culture and people. However, this particular opening ceremony was an especially historic one. Four years ago, the IOC and WADA began investigating a Russia for executing a large scale systemic doping program. Such a wide spread program hasn’t been seen since the days of East Germany. Though Russia is banned from competing in the event, the IOC has allowed for athletes who tested clean to compete and represent themselves under the name, “Olympic Athletes from Russia”. To me, this seems like a very easy way out for the IOC as they try to maintain a somewhat good relationship with the Russians. Ultimately, while it would have been unfair for the athletes who were clean to not be apart of the event, every Russian athlete should have been banned. Such an act would have sent a stern message to everyone else that such behavior will not be tolerated under any circumstance. Russia continues to be at the forefront of a large number of news stories in 2018 and it will be interesting to see how the country responds going forward.

The second biggest talking point from the opening ceremony was the “unification” of the two Koreas. In a historic move, both South & North Korea walked together under one flag. While this was certainly heartwarming and hopefully a reality that will come to fruition, it is unlikely it will happen anytime soon. The actions of North Korea throughout the entire Olympics so far have been, what feels like, a giant PR stunt. From Kim Jong Un’s sister to this, North Korea is doing everything in its power to show they are a diplomatic nation that can change. Personally, I don’t believe the country’s actions are genuine and change will not occur for years. The question must also be asked as to why North Korea is allowed to compete. It is not uncommon for a country which has committed so many humanitarian crimes to be excluded from the Olympics. For example, South Africa was expelled from the IOC from 1970-1988 due to the apartheid.

This Olympics has been unlike any olympics I can remember and for once, the off field stories have been just as big of a spectacle as the events on the field.

Last weekend, I watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in the Rose House dining room. In the past, I’ve experienced the olympics rather peripherally—I’d usually hear about them from others as they were happening, and catch the highlights for the events I was interested on YouTube later on. I never really made an active effort to follow them as they were happening, so this was my first time really experiencing them, especially the opening ceremonies. I genuinely enjoyed it a lot.

Since coming to college, I’ve become increasingly fascinated in other cultures. One of the first university courses I took freshman year was called “Major Works of Eastern Literature,” and it really opened my eyes to just how diverse the world is. Watching the opening ceremonies really reaffirmed that for me. I thought it was fascinating the way each country chose to enter—be it stoic, or full of energy. Beyond that, the more Korea-focused sections of the ceremonies were really intriguing. I really loved the choice to follow children as they grew up, which in a sense allowed them to grow with our understanding of Peyongchang.

My favorite part by far was the aerial shots of the different scenery. As someone who is in love with backpacking and camping, it really made me want to visit (which I suppose is, in part at least, the point of hosting the Olympics). I’m decidedly uncultured, having only really left the Eastern Standard Time Zone maybe once in my life, so I feel like there are always so many things I need to and see. This has certainly made visiting South Korea an important part of my list, however.

I will say, however, that I wish that the commentators would talk over the ceremonies less. It made it difficult to focus, and I think I would’ve enjoyed it much more being able to watch on my own. All things said though, I’m glad I had this experience.

This week I watched the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games in South Korea. Perhaps the biggest event of the night was the parade of nations, with a united Korean team composed of both South and North athletes drawing the most attention. It is difficult to determine if the show of friendship and camaraderie is meaningful, or just a ploy by the North to reduce the sanctions which have been leveled against them. A cynic would say that the latter is the reality, and I tend to agree with that sentiment. However, regardless of the true intentions of the North Korean delegation it is a definite step in the right direction. I was unaware of this, but during the Cold War East and West Germany would occasionally send unified teams to the Olympics. And it was through American and Western athletes interacting with the people of the Soviet Union which arguably initiated the end of Cold War tensions. The North Koreans have been dedicated to building nuclear weapons so that they will be “safe” from outside aggression, and similarly this fear of invasion is what fueled the arms race between the USSR and US. What is key to remember is that the Cold War ended only when the people of the USSR learned about America, and decided for themselves that the outside world wasn’t as bad as what propaganda had portrayed. It is difficult to win a war with force, but Coca Cola has never lost. The unified Korean team is probably just a PR stunt put on by the North Korean government. But it may inadvertently lead to real change.

I had the opportunity to watch the opening ceremonies of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics this past week.  Although I found the process of the athletes (obviously from many countries) entering the stage to be somewhat uneventful, there were several parts of the ceremonies that I did find interesting.  Around the end of the ceremonies, several singers came out and sang John Lennon’s “Imagine” together.  Not only do I enjoy this song, but its significance on a world stage is very important because it says that everyone should come together and live more peacefully and harmoniously.  Another part of the ceremonies that was incredible to watch was the display of more than one thousand drones: they grouped together in the sky and formed different images, such as a snowboarder and the interlocked rings of the Olympics.

A popular topic of the Winter Olympics is concerned with the Russian athletes who were suspended for doping.  I completely agree with this decision to suspend these athletes: their actions, while providing them with an unfair advantage, are also completely disrespectful to the other athletes who have dedicated a lot of their lives to training for these events.  Doping and other performance-enhancing drugs seem to be prevalent way too much in sports (not just the Olympics), and they shouldn’t be tolerated at all.  In the opening ceremonies, I thought it was interesting that the Russian athletes who didn’t dope and were allowed to participate came onto the stage with a flag of the Olympics’ symbol (the interlocked rings) instead of a flag of their own country.

This past Friday in the Rose Dining Hall, I watched the Opening Ceremony of the 2018 Olympic Games. My favorite part of the broadcast has always been the introduction of all the different countries’ athletes. It’s especially fun to view the smaller, lesser known countries that are so often overlooked. It is important that we be reminded that the world is not simply composed of the US, China, Russia and other big powerhouses. There is a diverse multitude of peoples spanning the globe, and we need to be more aware of their existence and contributions to our society.

In the ceremony, one of the most conspicuous moments occurred when a group called the “Olympics Athletes from Russia” was introduced. This abnormal title was the result of Russia being found guilty of a long history of state-sponsored doping of many of its athletes. Although many were banned, the Russian athletes present at the Olympics were permitted to compete, unaffiliated with their homeland, as they had no history of doping despite being tested often. Although this decision was controversial, I support the allowance of these athletes to compete.

Because the Olympics is considered a competition between nations rather than between individual athletes, many have argued that Russian athletes, whether guilty or not of doping, should be banned from competition due to violations by their nation. This is often the protocol in college athletics — if rules are broken by a college, the students are not allowed to compete, independent of whether they actually, individually, defied certain restrictions. Many argue that this policy should be applied to Russian athletes in the Olympics.

However, as an athlete myself, it is difficult to agree with this argument. Athletes have to mentally and physically push themselves to unbelievable limits all in pursuit of a specific goal. Therefore, I, and any other athlete, would be absolutely gutted to be prevented from competing on the biggest athletic stage there is just because my country violated a rule that I never once defied. Although the Olympics are certainly a competition between nations, in reality, individuals are competing, gaining notoriety and prestige for themselves. It simply isn’t fair, nor is it just, to have to sit on the sidelines, despite doing nothing wrong. All that hard work would be for nothing.

Therefore, I agree with the decision to allow Russian athletes who have not been found guilty of doping to pursue their dreams at the Olympics.

Despite being called the United States of America, I feel like the US has been dealing with a lot of internal conflict and division recently. With the polarization of the Trump administration, severe partisanship, and just a general lack of communication between the various different parts of America, it seems that we’re mostly just a collection of isolated communities than one large country. After the tensions and enmities that arose during the last Super Bowl, I was excited for the games, hoping that rooting for the same athletes competing in international competitions would bring some sense of camaraderie. The mission of the Olympics is to promote sports worldwide, and while sometimes sports can lead to Us vs Them mentality, it generally results in people coming together to enjoy an event together while showing off their skills.

It’s not the Summer Olympics, where the United States holds the record for the most number of trophies. The athletes competing in the games aren’t completely representative of the full US population, despite being the most diverse team that has come from the United States, according to NPR. Despite this, I hope that the Olympics can accomplish what it sets out to do, which is “find unity in diversity”.

I think millennials develop hypothesis more than we may realize.  With every web search I make, large or small, I usually expect a certain answer based on prior knowledge.  I count each of these predictions as little hypothesis.  For example, today, I googled to find why an how the Winter Olympics were established.  I was inspired to make this search after watching the games in Flora Rose House Dinning Hall last Friday. I will share what I found,  but first, I will share my hypothesis.

I expected a soppy narrative about how wintery countries felt left out of the Olympic games established in 1896.  While more tropical and temperate countries could pride themselves in their summer games, northern European countries found no place for their skiing and ice skating.  They longed to be a part of this new exciting international celebration and competition.  They expressed their concerns to the official Olympic people.  Eventually, the Olympic Winter Games were established!

Now, for what really happened…  The wintery countries made their own games.  The first winter games were called the Nordic Games and were held in Sweeden in 1901.  Only Scandinavian countries participated.  Ron Edgeworth’s article, “THE NORDIC GAMES AND THE ORIGINS OF THE OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES”  gives all of the juicy details but in short they were created for commercialism and nationalism.  Nationalism!  So I WASN’T far from the truth.

While Edgeworth’s article didn’t include a sappy story about belonging and passion for sport.  It briefly sums up the romantic nature of the Olympic games with one word.  People of all walks of life, backgrounds, and aspirations all take pride in representing their country.  This is why I watch the Olympics.  This is what draws me and the many viewers back every four years.

https://www.britannica.com/sports/Origins-of-the-Olympic-Winter-Games

http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/JOH/JOHv2n2/JOHv2n2h.pdf

After watching the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony in PyeongChang, it was interesting to see Russian athletes walk in after an Olympic flag rather than the Russian flag. While there are a variety of opinions on whether this was the best idea, I think that given the circumstances, it was a fair decision. Banning all Russian athletes from competing seems too harsh – the athletes that have been working intensely and honestly in hopes of gaining a medal at the Games should not be punished. However, to those that have been involved, the Olympics are only once every four years and not being able to participate is a huge blow to their athletic careers. In the Opening Ceremony, Thomas Bach of the International Olympic Committee also reiterated this notion of being fair competitors, as he alluded to the doping scandal. I hope that the athletes continue to compete honestly and I am excited to see all their hard work pay off.

The strict regulations by the United States Anti-doping Agency are in place to bring integrity to the Olympics. I believe the Russian suspension for doping was fair because I believe that one should only be rewarded once they are triumphant in accomplishing their goals through honest hard work. The doping suspension placed on the Russian competitors and the consequences they faced shows that the guidelines enforced by the Anti-doping Agency is working. This further helps to bring credibility back to the Olympics because it shows that only honest hard work is valued in the Olympics. I believe that the doping incident is despicable and robs the other competitors of the validation of the hours spent training and mastering their craft.

The rescinding of the awards originally given to those who were doping might not have erased the past but it will help to erase the likelihood of this incident occurring again in the future. The doping incident also robs the fans of enjoying the Olympics. Many people are avid fans of many of the competitors who compete in the Olympics and many will be disappointed with knowing that their favorite competitor could have almost won gold. In all honesty, I agree with the consequences given to the Russian competitors. I am glad the consequences were served and many of the fans can go back to watching the Olympics that they love to watch. I thought the opening ceremony was beautiful and I am glad to know that fairness has been brought back to the Olympics.

This past Friday, I attended a Flora’s Film Friday in which we watched the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics. While it was fun to see the US walk in and the personalities of some of the other countries, the story of the games revolves around the host country, Korea. North and South Korea made the controversial decision to compete under one joint flag, despite being two very different countries for half a decade. South Korea is the true host country and is one of the leaders in technological advances and has a rich culture under a free, democratic government. North Korea is a dictatorship in which its citizens are essentially slaves to their government. This makes the decision of the unification trickier, as the Kim regime in North Korea is one of the deadliest in the world. However, the risk of resisting for the Olympics is the lives of every athlete present.

Despite the unification for the two weeks, the opening ceremonies featured the culture of South Korea in the limelight and it created a great experience. There was a unique combination of cultural dances that are centuries old with technology on the forefront of modern capacities. There are few countries who could produce a performance tying new and old so effectively and the Koreans did a great job with it. If the opening ceremonies are any indication, despite controversies, the Olympics will be a fantastic event and the closing ceremonies will be spectacular.