Winning in Order to Win

More characteristic of the Olympics than winning on Western terms has been the aggrandizement of winning itself.It ismore important than cultural exchange and refinementof the human spirit，contrary to Olympics propaganda claims.To illustrate the point thatwinning and losing have become the two key Olympicswords，let us return to the 1992 Barcelona Games.

Asked why his colleagues on the U.S.basketball team（the“Dream Team”）were not staying in the same Olympic village as other athletes to make friends，one of the players reportedly said，“We are here to win gold，not to make friends”.The same theme was evident in several advertisements during the Atlanta Games，as recorded by Roy MacGregor of The Ottawa Citizen.Here are a few：“You don't win silver，you lose gold”；“If you're not here to win，you're a tourist”；“Second place is the first loser”；and“No one train for second place”.

These sentiments run counter to the views of the founder of the modern Olympics，Pierre de Coubertin，who said that“the important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part”.By promoting the importance of winning，Olympics sponsors are propagating the message that winners are superior，that winners are from the West，and that the non-Westare losers and are therefore inferior to the West.Each culture has its own sports.Some are individualistic，some competitive，some based on ancientmyths.By giving official credence only to the sports of one culture，our sports biodiversity is lost.

4-11　Be Here to Win