Opinion | The incomparable magic of the Olympics

By Philip Yeung, university teacher

PKY480@gmail.com

Once every four years, the world comes together to witness "the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat". Only the Olympics can engulf a nation in a wave of euphoria—sweeping everybody off their feet--the rich and famous, unlettered peasants or day laborers who live from hand to mouth. No one is immune to its magic. The games filter down to the tiniest village, to the humblest abode, displacing traditional festivals as tribal celebrations. The Olympics have totally conquered the Chinese people.

We are halfway through the spectacle. The last ten days have meant sleepless nights for countless millions, all glued to the TV for the heart-stopping competitions. Make no mistake. Sport is now the new religion. It converts a country to the joy and madness of competition.

Seventy years ago, the Japanese slapped an ugly label on the Chinese as "the Sick Man of East Asia". Fast forward to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when China topped the table with 51 gold medals. Beijing forever wiped the smirk from the face of the mocking Japanese.

Sports charts are a time-tested measure of national unity and progress. India, whose population now exceeds China's, pales in comparison. So far, its gold medal cupboard is  bare, while its neighbor to the north has chalked up 16 and counting. The medal count is a mathematical verdict on a country's national progress and unity. In the remotest Chinese village, one and all turn up to cheer on their native sons and daughters, giving medalists  their most rousing hero's homecoming.

We all have our favorite memories. I have two. In table tennis, Fan Zhandong had a disastrous opening, when his Japanese opponent stormed to a two-set lead. Fan was teetering on a knife's edge. The entire nation held its breath, as he battled back to contention. When he  turned the tables on Harimoto, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, outlasting him 4-3, tears flowed freely. It was Olympic contest at its best. Then late on Saturday night, Zheng Qingwen claimed another scalp to seal her victory, a first Olympic tennis championship for China. The win is the most euphoric because it is the least expected. In her native city, more than 5000 cheering supporters jammed into the local sports stadium, staying up to witness history in the making. She became China's newest darling, delivering a thrilling performance that was unequalled and unalloyed in its joy. Tears flowed and the crowd burst into singing the national anthem soulfully. The Olympics has once again worked its magic.

The Chairman of the International Olympic Committee opined that the Olympics is a competition between individual athletes, not between nations. He is wrong. Otherwise, how come world championships between Olympics always lack the buzz? And if the Olympics is about individual competition, why are nations treated differently for infringing its norms? Israel, guilty of the Gaza genocide, is allowed to send its national team, while athletes from Russia and Belarus can only compete as neutrals, not under their national flag.

In China, in pockets of poverty, the Olympics can be a great equalizer. A gold medal plucks unknown athletes from obscurity, becoming household names overnight, leaving them flush with cash from a grateful nation. Sporting glory snatches them from the jaws of poverty.

Hong Kong needs a rethink. Forget force-feeding school children the skull-numbing Basic Law. Tap into the power of international sports competition instead. The shamefully traitorous words of a Hong Kong university student leader are like a knife that stabs us in the heart. She spat out her contempt that whenever she heard the Chinese national anthem, she wanted to puke. She is the disgraceful product of an education system devoid of lessons about the history of our country. Didn't she know that the Chinese national anthem is otherwise known as the March of the Volunteers? Its lyrics is a cry from the heart, calling on China to rise up against the Japanese invaders at its moment of maximum danger. She speaks and stinks like a traitor.

The brain-dead idea of forcing the Basic Law down the throats of bored students is the height of stupidity. Instead of being uplifting, patriotism is packaged as deadly dull propaganda. Whoever promotes this idea knows nothing about education.

In global sports competition, we lose ourselves in the love of our country. The athletes are  national heroes who carry the hopes of a nation on their shoulders. "Faster, higher, stronger, together" are not just ideals for individual athletes, they are the goals of national progress. In the Olympics, nations compete in peace and fairness. No bombs, no bullets, and no bullies.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.

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