Winter Olympics

Sailorsaint said

There may be something to be said about that, but, without the Olympics you just have the world competitions, and we do that anyway. I don't mind the nationalistic pride, what I do mind is the obvious incompetence of the IOC and the erratic implementation of rules and punishment.

If not for the Olympics, there are many countries that wouldn't be seen on this stage of competition. I, of course, root for Team USA, but it's also nice seeing small countries win and the pride their athletes have in representing them.

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SR/EE isn't the place for me to go too deep into why I feel the way I do about the Olympics so I'll just say there are much bigger issues we need to resolve as a species before we're capable of having these kinds of competitions without them being pissing contests for nations.

Your point about athletes from poorer nations is well received though. On the other hand, the world wouldn't be fundamentally different if say Usain Bolt had become a school teacher.

I don't hate the games themselves. I hate what countries like the US/Russia/China have turned them into.