From that same link: "After the games had finished, the Olympic team and Owens were all invited to compete in Sweden. He decided to capitalize on his success by returning to the United States to take up some of the more lucrative commercial offers. ... The olympics is a dirty business.
What's your point? He would not have been in position to capitalise on his success had there has not been the OG in the first place. Don't forget he went there with the primary ambition to be on the top podium, not with mercantile objectives. He was badly advised to mix genres afterwards, I imagine. Olympics were a dirty business? Why? Because they didn't want (the players and organisers) have nothing to do with business? What's the logic? In any case, nothing prevented amateurs Olympians to make successful professional careers after they got their medals. OG was considered as the best launchpad for a career in sports.
Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2010 6:27 am Posts: 1323 Location: Ford Lake, Michigan
alexrider wrote:
He would not have been in position to capitalise on his success had there has not been the OG in the first place. Don't forget he went there with the primary ambition to be on the top podium, not with mercantile objectives. He was badly advised to mix genres afterwards, I imagine.
What success? He wanted money just like everyone else. So he went to the games, won and then promptly went broke because the olympic committee banned him. Badly advised to mix genres? Was he supposed to eat air? Jesse Owens would have been better off to TURN DOWN the olympics, be happy with setting several world records at the Big Ten meet, and then use his biology degree to get a job.
Things are lot better now than they used to be. What I'm saying is that there is no imaginary golden era of olympic sports, what you see today, the bickering, the politics, the sideshow, that is as good as it gets.
I love the olympics by the way, I just am realistic about what it means. I love the swimming, the weight lifting, relay events, the wrestling, even the basketball, the athletes and sports are great.
The actual olympics itself though, the organization is rotten.
Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2008 1:52 am Posts: 1065 Location: Thailand
edt wrote:
...pierre de coubertin was a dick. He deliberately created a version of the games where amateurs were allowed to compete (read aristocrats) while professionals (read poor people) were deliberately excluded. Yeah that's brilliant create olympics where if a poor guy like Jim Thorpe plays some baseball so he can have money to eat you take away his gold medals. F*** Pierre De Coubertin and his vision of the games between gentle barely perspiring aristocrats who win without grunting because all the lower class athletes are grinding out a living playing professional sports. To Pierre De Coubertin it would be so unfair if those smelly lower class people were allowed in the olympics, why they dig ditches and such, of course they would have unfairly fabulous muscles. don't treat the olympics like it is some kind of awesome even 100 years ago, it's been full of dirty politics and class warfare from the very start.
WIkipedia quotes: "Coubertin's advocacy for the Games centered on a number of ideals about sport. He believed that the early ancient Olympics encouraged competition among amateur rather than professional athletes, and saw value in that. The ancient practice of a sacred truce in association with the Games might have modern implications, giving the Olympics a role in promoting peace. This role was reinforced in Coubertin's mind by the tendency of athletic competition to promote understanding across cultures, thereby lessening the dangers of war."
"As Coubertin prepared for his Congress, he continued to develop a philosophy of the Olympic Games. While he certainly intended the Games to be a forum for competition between amateur athletes, his conception of amateurism was complex. By 1894, the year the Congress was held, he publicly criticized the type of amateur competition embodied in English rowing contests, arguing that its specific exclusion of working-class athletes was wrong."
"All sports for all people." "All sports must be treated on the basis of equality." "In no way can sport be considered a luxury object." “Sport must be the heritage of all men and of all social classes.” Who said that? Pierre de Coubertin But prejudiced edt wants to f*** PdC's vison of the games.
There's lots more to prove edt wrong on all points. Just do a bit of reading to find out.
Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2008 1:52 am Posts: 1065 Location: Thailand
edt wrote:
alexrider wrote:
He would not have been in position to capitalise on his success had there has not been the OG in the first place. Don't forget he went there with the primary ambition to be on the top podium, not with mercantile objectives. He was badly advised to mix genres afterwards, I imagine.
What success? He wanted money just like everyone else....
You are only partially right. You must have meant "He wanted money just like everyone else in the modern day Western materialistic world." Read "Small is Beautiful" as a starter for another view.
edt wrote:
... I love the swimming, the weight lifting, relay events, the wrestling, even the basketball, the athletes and sports are great.
edt wrote:
The actual olympics itself though, the organization is rotten.
In my opinion since 1972. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Games#Commercialization Quote: "Brundage believed the lobby of corporate interests would unduly impact the IOC's decision-making." Wasn't he so right. I am not the least impressed by the fact millions poured in the committee after Brundage's retirement.
Last edited by alexrider on Fri May 18, 2012 11:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Kiteracing could be fun to watch if they add all the tech on the riders....but yeah I can see there are more fun sports to watch...that said, there is a whole friggin channel dedicated to golf in this country so go figure.
Sad but true. That also goes for showing poker on the sports channel .... WTF ...
OK --plummet-- says he can jump 50 -80ft Long or across the water, ((Not Up)) .
So we make these gates : ** Worth a second for a 50 footer ; maybe 2 seconds for an 80 footer.
** And add a camera & electric trip sensors to ensure the contestant left the water Before & landed After the gates. If the guy doesn't make the distance for the jump then he gets those seconds added to his total time.
OR --- do something else, so people won't Think it's so "Boring" to watch !
Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2005 6:25 pm Posts: 758 Location: Vancouver
Collectively, the Olympics represent an abundance of amazing achievements. Athletic achievements, business achievements, medical and nutritional achievements, marketing achievements, and so on.
To all of those who think they could do a better job of organizing and managing the Olympics, or that the Olympics shouldn't exist, how about posting your most amazing achievements in order to inspire us all...?
I agree with some of what you say, but you can certainly make great achievements without them. If they did not exist I wouldn't care, if fact I would go as far as saying it would be a good thing, as many kiteboarders in the world would not be dealing with a whole heap of political bull5hit right now and they could get back to concentrating on the actual things they love about kiteboarding. I didn't want to see kiteboard racing in the olympics as it opens such a huge can of worms mainly surrounding one sport (sailing) having to deal with another sport (kiteboardind racing) of which it knows very little with huge consequences, but it seems it is, so I accept it, mind you in november there is a possibility it is out of the Olympics...
Collectively, the Olympics represent an abundance of amazing achievements. Athletic achievements, business achievements, medical and nutritional achievements, marketing achievements, and so on.
Hey JS, you forgot to mention the most important class of achievements, the one that allows the whole party to happen: DEBT achievements. It's a wonderful kind of achievement, actually it's almost like magic: create $$ out of thin air now and leave the back payment to your sons (hint: Athens 1992) Don't be misled by Games which reported "profit" (LA , Seoul): one thing is the Committees balance sheet; another is the taxpayers load which is likely to increase; another is the local residents purchase power after all inflationary forces have settled in; and another is the consumer's pocket, after spending $ on some useless or even unhealthy stuff he's been brainwashed to buy by some of the olympic "marketing achievements" in order to allow the overall numbers to end up green.
JS wrote:
To all of those who think they could do a better job of organizing and managing the Olympics, or that the Olympics shouldn't exist, how about posting your most amazing achievements in order to inspire us all...?
I'm a great sinner, but a couple of days ago I gave 20 bucks for a homeless guy to buy some lunch.
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