Asian View: The Olympics could become meaningless

THE Sydney Olympics are in their final phase and it is very likely that the overwhelming majority of the world's population, represented by the various national teams, will have bagged only a handful of medals.

The majority of the medals will be won by America, Russia, China, Australia, Germany, Japan, France, Italy, Great Britain and other European countries, with a few going to the likes of Korea and Cuba.

The only country which does not fit a pattern to some extent is Romania, who are on course to have more gold medals than Great Britain, but mostly in gymnastics.

This is indicative of the fact that the Olympic Games are big business indeed and it is not possible for the poor countries to have organised sports and a systematic way of finding talent and then nurturing it for the world stage.

The richer nations not only have proper training schedules, but a scientific approach to diet and nutrition for their athletes. The rich athletes also have access to 'frontier science' to enhance physical prowess and performance.

The other thing which has amazed me is that, although the Olympics are supposed to be amateur games, most of the players taking part are anything but full time trainers. Moreover, professional players in tennis, football and basketball are allowed to compete.

If this was not enough, some of the games are peculiar to European and rich countries, while many games played in the third world such as Kabadi in India and Pakistan are not even part of the Olympics.

The world sporting bodies, such as the International Olympic Committee, have to put some of their millions into developing the games and the sportsmanship in the third world, before the Olympics become utterly meaningless and simply a contest among the industrialised nations.

The Sydney Olympics are also evocative, because the first Olympics I know about were the Mexico Olympics of 1968, when the games were watched on a black-and-white grainy set. As I recall it, there was only BBC1 and ITV, while BBC2 mainly showed the test card.

Contrast this with the current situation with hundreds of channels, in colour, available 24 hours a day. Most of the Asian households have taken advantage of the digital revolution in television and now enjoy more than half a dozen television channels in the Asian languages.

Most of the Prime TV programmes are bought from Pakistan television and I find that, although some of the programmes are esoteric and perhaps not on a par with the BBC, they are of interest because they are in Urdu and Punjabi.

The Khabarnama or the news bulletins can cover areas which the British media generally ignores and, as a result, you are better informed about the world.

Asian View: The Olympics could become meaningless

THE Sydney Olympics are in their final phase and it is very likely that the overwhelming majority of the world's population, represented by the various national teams, will have bagged only a handful of medals.

The majority of the medals will be won by America, Russia, China, Australia, Germany, Japan, France, Italy, Great Britain and other European countries, with a few going to the likes of Korea and Cuba.

The only country which does not fit a pattern to some extent is Romania, who are on course to have more gold medals than Great Britain, but mostly in gymnastics.

This is indicative of the fact that the Olympic Games are big business indeed and it is not possible for the poor countries to have organised sports and a systematic way of finding talent and then nurturing it for the world stage.

The richer nations not only have proper training schedules, but a scientific approach to diet and nutrition for their athletes. The rich athletes also have access to 'frontier science' to enhance physical prowess and performance.

The other thing which has amazed me is that, although the Olympics are supposed to be amateur games, most of the players taking part are anything but full time trainers. Moreover, professional players in tennis, football and basketball are allowed to compete.

If this was not enough, some of the games are peculiar to European and rich countries, while many games played in the third world such as Kabadi in India and Pakistan are not even part of the Olympics.

The world sporting bodies, such as the International Olympic Committee, have to put some of their millions into developing the games and the sportsmanship in the third world, before the Olympics become utterly meaningless and simply a contest among the industrialised nations.

The Sydney Olympics are also evocative, because the first Olympics I know about were the Mexico Olympics of 1968, when the games were watched on a black-and-white grainy set. As I recall it, there was only BBC1 and ITV, while BBC2 mainly showed the test card.

Contrast this with the current situation with hundreds of channels, in colour, available 24 hours a day. Most of the Asian households have taken advantage of the digital revolution in television and now enjoy more than half a dozen television channels in the Asian languages.

Most of the Prime TV programmes are bought from Pakistan television and I find that, although some of the programmes are esoteric and perhaps not on a par with the BBC, they are of interest because they are in Urdu and Punjabi.

The Khabarnama or the news bulletins can cover areas which the British media generally ignores and, as a result, you are better informed about the world.