WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2,1988, PAGE 7 PAGE SEVEN E Nb TRE OLYMPIC IDEAL - DEMAD AS A DOORNAIL Another Winter Olympics has passed. Left behind are the dashed hopes of glorious victory. Yes, we got more medals than we ever did before but the hometown advantage didn't work the magie it was *upposed to. For a country as big as Canada with the amount of ice and snow we have, and with long traditions of skating, skiing and hockey, our performance has to be considered dismal. After all the hype that went into these Olympics (counting your medals before they're won?), our athletes were a disappointment. After a superb string of victories in the pre-Olympic international circuit, our much heralded hockey team failed to come through.on the big one. Brian Orser who was supposed to be~shoo-in for a gold medal just wasn't as good as his American counterpart. Laurie Graham, who was supposed to be our best hope on the slopes failed to place. Fortunately for our self-esteem there were some surprises - Karen Percy with two bronze medals, allowed us to forget about Graham and Elizabeth Manley skated magnificently to take the silver in ladies' figure skating. Do the best competitors win? Sometimes. But one of the unfortunate realities of Olympie competition is that four years of training and hopes of so many fine athletes are focused on just a single race or at most a few days of competition. If an athlete is 'off' for just an instant, it's all over. We can make excuses about our hockey team, we can console ourselves that Orser had an unlucky break on one of his early jumps and neverquite recovered, or we can simply forget about the losers and liomze the Percys and the Manleys. Every Olympics is the same. Already the talk has begun of how we're going to do better next time; how we're going to change our hockey program so we can win; how we're going to get the NHL to'give up some of its players for awhile (seems we've been hearing that one for about twenty-five years); how we'fe going to develop better skiers, faster skaters, higher jumpers. All it takes is dedicated athletes, the best coaches and money, money, mnqey, right? Wrong, it takes a hell of a lot of huck too. The focusing of world attention on one location for all sports for two weeks out of four years imposes an excruciating pressure on the world's best athletes - their nation's hopes and international esteem rests on their shoulders. Chainpionship meets are held every year by most of the various international sports federations. Many recognize the element of luck in their sports and hold a series of events over several months with an overall winner selected on a points aggregate at the end of the season. The winner of the World Cup in skiing is truly the world's best skier - the winner of the Olympic gold medal had one good run. Remember Steve Podborski - he won a bronze medal in 1980 (the year that Ken Read was supposed to be our best hope for a medal). Steve went on to win the World Cup and he in turn was our bright hope for 1984 - he lucked out. The pressure of the Olympics is the main reason there are so many upsets at the Olympics. The lesser athletes have nothing to lose - they can afford to'go for it.' The world's best are frequently losers. Like Norway's Geir Karlstad who has held every championship and record in 5,000 metre speed skating since 1983. He finished seventh. So what do the Olympics accomplish? They are a media extravaganza for all those armchair athletes who are exposed to a whole new world of different sports and nationalities. To that extent they achieve part of the Olympic ideal of fostering greater international understanding. For most of the athletes (the ones not in medal contention) the Olympics provide the opportunity to compete with the very best and to mingle with thousands of athletes from around the world-in the totally unique atmosphere of an Olympic village. For those in contention, it is the culmination of years of training - it is either the supreme hype of victory or the end of a cherished dream. It is no coincidence that so many of the best athletes retire after the Olympics - they stay in competition for just one or two more years just for the chance at the prestige and yes, dare we admit it, the monetary and life-style rewards of Olympic victory. The Olympic ideal of athletes competing solely for the glory of participation is long gone. .Olympic competition is based on the investment of millions of dollars and years of full-time train- ing. Winning IS everything. In recent years, the pressure to win has fostered the use of drugs - the dark side of the Olympics. The simple ideal of faster, longer,, higher, stronger is replaced by the intense psychological 'focusing' that a winner must have to achieve his best. When Brian Boitano skated for the gold medal, bis muscles were programmed witl computer precision to provide the exact forces and angles to execute the jumps and spins. Only when it was over did the human emerge. Lt is not necessarily the best athlete that wins, rather the one who coptes the best under pressure. The Olympics as an ideal no longer exist. At best, they duplicate the competitions of the various international sports federations and add nothing but a distracting degree of media' hype. The. Olympic ideal would be better served by smaller venues throughout the world during the Olympic year, perhaps by simpl designating existing competitions as Olympic events. The Ompics as they now exist create a distortion of the 5ulnAy c0L6tC77104' e' - -~ WHITBY TOWN HALL, 1925 The Whitby town hall was built as George Hopkins' Music Hall at the corner of Brock and Coborne Streets in 1877. From 1879 to 1960 the municipal office was on the ground floor and political meetings and entertainments were held in the music hall upstairs. It was demolished at the end of 1960 and replaced five years later by the main fire hall. Whitby Archives Photo 10 YEARS AGO from the Wednesday, March 2, 1978 edition of the WHITBY FREE PRESS • Liane Gross of Henry Street High School is Winter Carnival Queen. • Construction of the LCBO warehouse on Camp X lands has been delayed until early 1979. • Whitby Kiwanis Club is twinning with the Transcona Kiwanis Club of Winnipeg. 25 YEARS AGO from the Thursday, Fébruary 28, 1963 edition of the WHITBY WEEKLY NEWS • Two young people from Downsview were killed in a traffic accident at the Victoria Street CNR crossing. It is the second railway crossing fatality in 10 years. • Whitby Public School Board has cut the tax rate because of a $22,000 surplus in 1962. • Complaints were made at a Chamber of Commerce meeting that downtown merchant park their cars on the streets where there should be customer parking. • Town council has reduced the tax rate-for 1963 but an 11-per cent overall increase due to reassessment in 1962 will wipe out that reduction. 100 YEARS AGO from the Friday, March 2, 1888 edition of the- WHITBY CHRONICLE • Young rowdies have broken nearly 30 panes in the windows of the Salvation Army Barracks with snowballs. • Mayor Jeremiah H. Long is investigating the Atlas Woolen Company because it has not raised the $10,000 in stock required to receive a loan from the municipality. • Whitby residents are quite prepared to shoot at burglars that break into their premises. • The Whitby Chronicle, a weekly paper, sells for one dollar a year in advance or $1.50 otherwise.