The 2021 Olympics in Tokyo are thankfully coming to an end. It was a big bust in every way shape and form. Viewership dipped down almost 42% from the 2016 games. On Thursday of last week, 19 million viewers tuned in to the games while 96.4 million watched the Super Bowl this year. Put that into perspective. You might blame the virus but there’s no doubt that the intense ferocity of the “woke” athletes, with their daring displays of unvarnished hatred for all this country stands for, has had its effect on our citizenry, now fed up with the boiling over of anti-American sentiments by these spoiled athletes. Could you ever consider what would happen to a Chinese, Cuban or North Korean medal winner who decided to protest at their country’s flag or turning their backs while their national anthem was being played?
Back in 1936, during the Olympics held in the capital of Nazism, Berlin, under the domination of Adolph Hitler, Jesse Owens, an Black American won four gold medals and proudly stood tall as our National Anthem was played. He didn’t kneel, turn his back nor did he complain about the rampant racism back home. He was an American representing all of America and he was proud to do so. That true Olympian spirit is no longer there.
Each and every time an American medal winner stepped up to award platform, our hearts nearly stopped, wondering whether he or she would embarrass our nation with an act of stupidity. Just think back to America’s defeat of the Soviet’s hockey team in the 1980 Olympics. This was during the Cold War when these two nations were daring one another with weaponries of destruction. It was an ideological war. But we won the battle on the ice rink and it was so glorious that our bunch of college kids beat Russia and eventually went o to win the gold. America won, not the individuals.
The Games are our opportunity to show off what our nation stands for. Every four years we should toss off our internal disputes and cheer for our national teams and contestants. We should all shout out, “USA! USA!” to our TV sets, and root for these kids who represent all of us. But we’re now faced with some athletes who despise what our flag and country stand for. These athletes can protest all they want when they are competing on our soil. That’s the beauty of our country’s freedoms. What millions have died for to protect over the years. We all should accept that there’s a time and place for everything.
But at the Olympics, there are no individual winners. Nations compete for total medals won. For just the few days of international competition, usually in foreign lands, competitors representing all of America, should have the decency to keep their resentments and displeasures with our country on hold and think of themselves not as individuals, but as representatives of our nation. Don’t our soldiers on the battlefields, no matter what grievances they may have with our nation, offer up their lives to protect it? For all of our athletes, amateur and professional, who share the glory of stardom and great wealth from their skills, we say, “Kiss the American ground you walk on. There’s no nation like our own! Show respect for it!”
