SPORTS: The Olympics. Requiem and Recessional--Chile

The Olympics ended by a bang from Spain and a whimper from Chile. The bang was the impolite word used by Prime Minister Felipe Aznar when asked his assessment of them. He was presumably referring to the defeat of Spain's soccer team by Cameroon. He is normally a a well-spoken, polite man, so only the Devil could have tempted him to fall thus from linguistic grace.

The whimper came from Chile. Reporting from Santiago began joyfully, with scenes of happy Sidney. It was a complete misrepresentation, since it said nothing about Australia's modern achievements. It featured a crazy parade, including a band of homosexuals (not the pleasant kind) and another of aborigines doing crazy things, giving the impression that many of them were really whites having a lark.

Slowly, Chilean cheers sank to a groan, then a whimper. Not only did Chile fail to win gold or silver medals; it was hit by the scandal of the stolen bicycle and the cyclist who admitted he had taken drugs. The last hope was for a bronze medal in the soccer match with the US. Chile did not win even a consolation prize. TV had shown Chilean families who had emigrated to Australia. They boasted that the games had heightened their patriotism (which seems to have been the main benefit of them),. What they felt at the end of the games was not stated.

But there was a winner, a horse. It was not clear if it won anything, but, having been bought for $64 thousand, I was now the object of a $2 million bid. He had not tarnished his own amateur status, and it was not stated if he had been tested for drugs. Presumably the noble beast was above those things.

Chile had one consolation: It now had its priorities straight. The Economist (10/7-14) said Chile has by far the lowest level of corruption in Latin America. Thanks to the influence of the Catholic Church, the film "The Last Temptation of Christ" was censored and the British band Iron Maidens was blocked as "satanic." (Holding that Britain is on the leaky ship of Western civilization, I applaud such blocking of holes.) The Catholic Church owns one of the country's top soccer teams. Probably God answered the prayers of Chileans, but not in the way they hoped. He has too much sense for that.

Ronald Hilton - 10/10/00