Simon Mann writes in The Age that there was a missed chance to put humanity before hubris at the Games.
Instead of simplicity there was a cast of thousands, a winged tram descending from the sky with op-shop chic kids running emerging and running everywhere. No cricket at all yet this is the MCG. The Melbourne Cricket Ground. A nice Aboriginal content but not put up first as it should be as a welcome to 'their' land.
Kiri sang 'Happy Birthday' in anticipation of an 80th birthday for the Queen, adding eight bars from the end of HER anthem.
Bizarre koalas leaped and flew about, doped no doubt on eucalyptus leaves! Hardly anything about athletes and the 71 countries represented, most of them third-world and poor. So it wasn't the best choice to spend $50 million on fireworks and fantasies, Simon Mann reckons.
Are we spoil-sports to think in these terms?
3 comments:
At an event shared by the so-called 1st world and so-called third world (I refer to them as Disneyland and the Real World respectively) and some in between, someone needs to come out of fantasy land for a minute and take all the participants into consideration. Just my humble opinion.
Must be nice to be able to spend $50 million without a second thought.
And the way it is panning out on our TV screens is 'ra ra ra' for our Oz team and no interviews with anyone else. It would be good to hear stories of how some of the athletes from very small nations actually train and get to the Games. It has become a real Oz-centric Games and that's pathetic. At least the Islanders got some attention with the rugby.
In the US, I'd get so tired of the way the Olympic games were covered in the same fasion - USA centric. Only if a small nation gets a gold medal do they bother to do a story about them.
I guess that's the way it is going to be because of the TV advertising money involved.
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