SPORTS: The Sydney Olympics

Again today the Mexican news program was devoted entirely to the Olympic Games walking competition. Mexicans found consolation in the fact that bouncing the Mexican gold winner raised Mexican Noé Hernández from bronze to silver. He comes from an even simpler background than Bernardo Segura, His home in Chimalhuacan, a poor village east of Mexico City, does not even have a telephone. Mexican TV arranged for Noé to speak with his parents. They all spoke poorly, but their enthusiasm was evident. Sports have the benefit of allowing poor people to rise in the world.

Meanwhile the soccer games were taking place in Melbourne. To a dispassionate person like me it is evident that soccer is the most intelligent of games and the one which most encourages the team work which society needs. The rise of soccer from a lower-class English game to THE world sport is an amazing phenomenon. I am asking Miles Seeley to consider organizing a special session on it. It might result in soccer being promoted from a minor to a major sport at Stanford. About time! In this Miles must keep the cooperation of the Stanford soccer coach and of Carlos Lopez, who was recently honored at a banquet for his promotion of soccer at Menlo College.

Sports and politics? China took its past failure to lure the Olympic Games to Beijing as a national insult. Now it hopes to attract the next games there, and is engaged in a major urbanization project. Since Beijing is a smoggy city, Chinese TV has proudly shown its new fleet of non-polluting hydrogen buses, ever more numerous. If the next games go to Beijing it might change the political picture of the world. Olympic Games always result in important urban renewal, their most lasting benefit.

Ronald Hilton - 9/24/00