Going for the Gold!: The Actual Goal of the Olympic Games

With the 2012 Summer Olympic games in London right around the corner, I thought it would be appropriate to discuss a certain aspect of the global event. Being that the United States of America is the only country in the Olympic games that does not use government funds to assist their athletes, corporate sponsorship plays a huge role in the competition. This is why we see so many various logos and trademarks when we watch the Olympics on television. These companies sponsor many of the athletes themselves and we see them on commercials and billboards right around the time the games are scheduled to begin. The Olympic games are completely different from when they first began in ancient Greece in a number of ways. This not necessarily a negative but it is critical that those that help produce the event remember that people are only watching because of their love for competition, not their passion for a McDonald's cheeseburger. With the overabundance of commercials and sponsorships, we often have a to sit through an hour and a half of "pre-game shows" to view thirty minutes of actual competition. At the end of the day companies will do whatever they can to promote and advertise their products, let’s just hope that they remember why people are watching in the first place.
A. Tarifi - KIN 577