Olympics and Sport

I have mixed feelings about the Olympics. On the one hand I have enjoyed playing in and watching competitive sport all my life. On the other, nothing has done more to “politicize” sport than the Olympics. From boycotts of the Moscow and Los Angeles Olympics to the slaughter of participants in Munich. From the state sponsored drug taking in Russia and China to the endemic “cheating” amongst the judges in boxing – the latest example being the outrageous decision against Daina Moorehouse yesterday.

And then there is the national virility contest which is the medal table by country. Governments fund those sports and athletes they reckon will move them up the table. Aristocratic sports are over represented, some bizarre sports are included, while major sports are excluded. Some sports offer a huge range of medals while others offer very few. It comes down to what countries can offer their athletes the support and facilities required to be competitive at the top level.

And the whole project suffers from giantism. Only the biggest and richest countries and cities need apply. The bidding process is murky at best and the politics at the top level would put FIFA and Formula 1 to shame.

But at the end of the day, most of the competitors are clean and the competition genuine. The sports are well organized and the adjudication fair. It’s great for kids to see a wide variety of sports they might not ordinarily see, and perhaps some may be inspired to take up a sport for which they have the most aptitude. I can not imagine anything more satisfying than to achieve your potential in a sport that you love.

My own sport of choice was table tennis where I managed to reach class 2 standard by dint of having a greater variety of serves than anyone else. I had well over 100 different serves based on variations of spin (top, back and side) pace (fast, slow), distance (long, short), direction (down the line, cross court, down the middle where the receiver had a difficult choice as to whether to return back hand or forehand), and disguise – where I shaped to do one serve but actually did another. The most effective were the heavy spin serves which looked like putting one spin on the ball, but actually put another, or looked like they put a lot of spin on the ball but actually didn’t.

My most satisfying wins were against players far better than I who didn’t have time to figure out my serves. I could normally win 4 points out of 5 on my serve which enabled me to play a division or two above my standard in other parts of my game. But every now and then you came across a youngster who didn’t much care what you did, their timing and strokeplay was so perfect they seemed to anticipate your every move. Being wiped off the table by a 14 year old can teach you humility! And then you heard they had found a girlfriend and had given the game up…

Colm Slevin played for Ireland at 13 and reached European no. 40 and World 90 in a long career in which he beat many of the top players. But otherwise Ireland or Irish players have rarely featured at top international level. The game is not telegenic and so has little funding. Losing the sight of my dominant eye (through shingles) meant I could no longer play competitively or even decently at a social level, so I have had to revert to tennis instead where you have more time to judge the pace and direction of the ball but where spin and disguise are less effective.

But where would I have been without sport? In trouble and mischief, no doubt!

Frank Schnittger is the author of Sovereignty 2040, a future history of how Irish re-unification might work out. He has worked in business in Dublin and London and, on a voluntary basis, for charities in community development, education, restorative justice and addiction services.