The Olympics

Normally it isn't hard to get excited about the Olympics. The Olympics is the second biggest international sports event after the FIFA World Cup. It brings together thousands of athletes from around the world competing in a heap of sports. There are the various story lines that follow the favourites in these events. Will they be healthy? Will they be able to handle the pressure of competing in front of a home crowd? Can they meet the hyped up expectations? But there is something about these Olympics that feels different.

I just can't get excited about these Olympics. I'll admit to being obsessed about the Basketball competition (Mens). But that's basically because it's one of only two occasions every four years where you see a de facto NBA All-Stars team put together. It stems more from my basketball obsession rather than the Olympics. But when it comes to the Athletics or the Swimming, there is no way I can get excited. This probably has more to do with the state of each competition at the moment. Swimming looks set to be dominated by the Americans, while Athletics coverage seemingly made up of nothing more than speculation about whether Bolt will perform in London.

In reality the Olympics isn't about particular athletes meeting the hype and living up to expectations. It's about finding new athletes to barrack for. New athletes who get you out of bed at 3am to watch the 400 metres mens swimming final. The most thrilling Olympic moment for me was when Cathy Freeman handled the hometown expectations and won the 400 metres. But everyone of my favourite Olympic moments after that involve someone using the Olympics to introduce themselves on the World stage or show us something about them that shouts at the audience: "This is why we compete".

In 2004 an Austrian weightlifter received a call from a German lady. The German lady had been watching the weightlifter compete throughout Germany and had hounded the event commentators for the weightlifters number. Not long after they met, they found themselves married. He moved to the his wife's native country, and kept on training to represent his native Austria. In 2007, as the weightlifter trained for the upcoming Beijing Olympics, he received a call no one should ever receive. The woman who had hounded commentators for his phone number, the woman who had become his wife, had died in a car accident. He dealt with his grief not in quitting but through training. He decided to represent his wife's country, Germany, in the upcoming Olympics. Matthias Steiner failed until his final lift. His final lift of 258kg gave him the Gold medal. As he stood on the podium clutching a photo of his deceased wife, it was clear to all why Steiner had put the effort into winning the event. "This is why we compete".

And that is why I'll probably be up till 3am every night of the Olympics. To see the athletes who come out of no where. To see the athletes who are dealing with something more than expectation or injuries. You have to want athletes to win, and the Olympics never fail in tossing up dozens of such individuals who you are willing to stay up all night to cheer for.