Steele Wasik ‘14
The Olympic games started as an event in Ancient Greece where individuals from different cities would come together and compete in a series of athletic challenges. Today, some people choose to view them as a few weeks where the world pretends to care about a bunch of arbitrary sports that air at inconvenient times.  But the Olympics are more than that, they are a representation of national pride, of world peace, and of how far the human body can go.  These athletes don’t make LeBron James’s salary, most of them have real jobs and balance work, family, and training, and that is just another thing that makes these athletes so determined.  Hosting the Olympics is a whole different story.  Since the L.A. Olympics in 1984 there has not been a single country to profit off of hosting the Olympics.
Most countries go way over budget and end up spending billions of dollars extra to finish construction in time for the games.  There seems to be no logical reason to bid on hosting the games but countries like Brazil and Japan, who will host the next two summer Olympics, understand that it is about national pride, not the price tag.  During these opening ceremonies in Sochi, they performed the history of Russia before the world and were able to enlighten many who may know nothing of their past.  More than anything, the Olympics are about World Unity through competition, and that is why ever two years the world pauses to watch together.