The opening ceremony of the Olympics wasn’t as interesting as I thought it’d be. It was mostly watching athletes I didn’t recognize walk in a circle happily. I’ve never focused on the winter olympics as much as the summer olympics, so it was interesting to see the contrast between the two as the winter olympics ceremony seemed more toned-down. When South Korean olympic figure skater Yuna Kim took the olympic torch and spotlight, I thought about the most recent issue with the U.S Figure Skating team.

Historically, the U.S Figure Skating singles position are given to the medalists of that year’s U.S Championships. Though the selection committee takes more than this one competition, its the most deciding factor. For the 2016 Winter Olympics, the top three finalists weren’t taken. Instead, Mirai Nagasu, who claimed bronze, was set aside in favor of Ashley Wagner, who placed 4th and the Championships but had a good record otherwise. I agreed with this decision because Wagner had won the previous U.S Championships and had an overall better record. However, when it came to the 2018 Winter Olympics, once again Wagner placed fourth. This time, the committee went with the top three medalists and Wagner was not chosen. Wagner thought they made the wrong decision and reacted furiously in public and through her statements. The very nature of choosing the Olympians involves subjectivity, and the scoring of them does as well.

Huzuru Hanyu, the first two consecutive Olympics gold medalist in 66 years, win not only the figure skating competition, but the heart of all the audience.

He is beyond a champion. In addition to the technical skills: doing perfect triple Axel triple Toe, etc, he performed like a piece of art. Blending in the music, and facial, physical expressions, his moves match perfectly with the melody and what he tries to convey as a Japanese ancient magician in the free skate program. In the interview afterwards, he explained his training stories, and his pride in brining Japanese culture to the world. Additionally, he talked about winning a second time. He said the key to win is to be leading with excellence. Striving to be much, much better than the second place is his goal. Pursue excellence, success would follow.

During last Monday’s discussion on the Russian doping scandal, we talked about the gray area of Russian athletes who are suspected of cheating but there is not enough concrete evidence to determine whether or not they actually cheated. Most of us agreed that these people should still be able to participate, but may have to undergo stricter drug testing to ensure that they are competing honestly. I think it’s important to keep in mind that generally, an Olympian’s career is not that long and that banning these athletes from playing the sport for one Olympics or two might be the equivalent of ending their Olympic dreams. In this case, while the Russian doping scandal has had some people questioning all of the Russian athletes, I still believe that we should give athletes who have not been confirmed to have cheated the benefit of the doubt. While it is possible that this allows athletes that may have potentially been involved in some form of doping or another to play in the Games, at least those who are innocent will not be punished.

During last Monday’s Table Talk, we discussed the Winter Olympic Games and issues of cheating. We talked about how at the previous Winter Games, Russia was found to have used drugs to enhance their performances. It was easy for them because since the Games were hosted in Russia, it wasn’t difficult to get a helper on the inside. For this reason, the Olympic Committee let them participate this year with the condition that they would not be able to represent their flag and they would have to wear a bland uniform. The individual sports pick if they wanted Russia to participate or not. Most of us believed that this situation could have been treated differently because although they deserve a punishment, some contestants from Russia that had nothing to do with the scandal, were affected as well and we didn’t believe that was fair to them. We discovered that there are a lot of ethical dilemmas when it comes to the world of sports. We learned of something called “sports courts” that only deal with those types of issues. Personally, I gained more respect for the Olympics general because a lot of work goes into choosing participants and organizing the event to have it be fair for everyone. I hope the Olympics will continue to flourish and join millions of people around the world.

Despite the controversy about the Russian Olympians being accused of doping, I personally find it just as unified for the non-accused athletes to compete under a blank flag. With the Olympic symbol shown and the athletes in white, it is almost as if a reminder that they are citizens of the world and not just one country. Although the court has overturned the life-time decision against 28 of the athletes (and 15 who did try to compete after the overturning did not get to), I hope that they are able to still feel the pride that the others competing experienced for their country. I am very excited for the games and know they will do well as individual athletes and citizens of the world, regardless of the name on the flag.

On Monday’s table talk, we had the interesting topic of how Russia cheated in the last Olympics and the consequences that followed. This year, you could see in the opening ceremony that Russia’s team wore plain, grey tracksuits, and instead of presenting their flag like other countries, they waved the flag with the Olympics logo. But why?

This was a consequence of their country cheating in the last Olympics. Information was released on how their “doping” was covered up by the Russain government themselves by switching their contaminated urine samples with clean ones that were made long beforehand. Even the person who was responsible to find any possibility of contamination for Russia was part of the scheme. But was this enough? Since this information was found right before the start of Sochi’s Olympics, the board decided to let each sport to decide whether or not to allow Russia to participate in the games. All but two sporting events allowed Russia to participate regardless.

However, many people think that this punishment wasn’t enough. Some believe they should have a “probation” from Olympic events, but we must also keep in mind that for Olympic participants, this is something they train for most of their life and that they only have a short window of peak performance before their performances start declining. What if that specific (or this years) Olympics was that window for them? It is always important to put yourself in the shoes of an Olympian, as one’s perspective can drastically change regarding this issue.

I love watching the Olympics with my family. We all love Figure Skating and we call and text about every single win of the US. It was fantastic to talk to my peers about it as well this house dinner! While we all ate, we discussed the cheating scandals of Russia. It was incredible to see the depths they took to manipulate the urine sample and the mysterious death of someone who was investigating the whole thing!

I had no idea that was why the winners from Russia had to hold the Olympian flag, as they were forbidden to represent Russia. They also were not allowed to wear bright colors instead of dull colors as a form of punishment. As a group, we agreed that it was a fair punishment. I do not think individual athletes who worked all their life to commit should suffer because of what their government and other athletes chose to do.

I hope to see more of the games!

At the opening of the 23th Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, nearly 3,000 athletes from more than 90 countries marched at the Parade of Nations with their delegations. One of the most inspirational messages from the Olympic athletes is their hard work and persistence to follow their dreams and pursue their passion. The US with 242 athletes had the largest delegation from any country and any prior winter Olympic games. The US flag bearer was Erin Hamlin, who will compete for her fourth Olympics in Luge and won Bronze in Sochi; she is from Remsen, Up State NY, about 2 hours from lake Placid. As the athletes from around the world compete over the next three weeks, they bring a global message of peace, of what the world could be if we could “imagine all the people living life in peace”. Appropriately, John Lennon’s song Imagine was interpreted during the inauguration ceremony, including a human representation of the White Dove a symbol of peace. Moreover, it was remarkable to see the North and South Korean athletes marching together under one flag. The delegations from North Korea (22 athletes) and South Korea (121 athletes) parade together under one Unification flag marching to an old folk tune instead of their national anthems, and will compete with one team in the women’s hockey. A powerful message to the world of what we could really achieve if we could contribute to construct true peace for future generations! The Korean war between North and South Korea from 1950 to 1953, started with North Korea’s invasion of South Korea. Earlier in the day Kim Jong-un’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, arrived in South Korea, she is the first member of the North Korean ruling family to do so since the 1950s, when Kim’s grandfather destroyed Seoul. Yet, the Olympic spirit makes us wonder if it may be possible to imagine the two countries having bilateral talks that could eventually lead to peace and a better future for their people as both countries have a lot at stake.

Although I had been following the olympics, I  didn’t watch anything beyond the figure skating and some of the blunders associated. This was a great table talk where we not only were able to discuss the very interesting articles but, see what other events others were interested in. Interestingly, we have a bunch of figure skating fans. I actually had no clue that Russia had been found cheating in the Olympics and to read the article was a shocking revelation. The plot line was almost as if straight from a spy movie. You could almost imagine a team of three people in a dimly lit room, retrieving little bottles of urine and trying to break through the tight packaging. The entire situation was almost as if someone intended to make the situation as dramatic as possible.

Nevertheless, we approached the matter of whether or not the Russian athletes should have been allowed to participate. Most of us agreed how despite the Russian athletes being barred of carrying their flag and representing themselves as a country, they still represented Russia via the gray ensemble. Although we agreed that this may be the one logical solution to keep athletes who have trained their entire lives to fulfill their dreams, we still know that they represent Russia. To a degree, I think that the question comes to making cheating regulations much harder and blurring the lines between state and individual aspirations. Do we punish a nation of athletes or do we punish just individual athletes? In the case of Russia, there’s an entire corrupted system hungry for success. The idea of having a system designed for cheating and going to different lengths for the recognition as an athlete of a nation is terrifying. In addition, this news actually makes the idea of Russia even scarier as they’re manipulating their own people who just “disappear”.