You are the favoured few.
You constitute what is without doubt,
The most powerful athletic force
Ever to leave these shores.
You are to face the world's best.
Brown and yellow, white and black,
Young and ardent as yourselves,
Fleet of foot and strong of limb,
From every civilized nation
On the face of the earth.
I have no doubt
You will acquit yourselves honourably
And with distinction."
This is what the Olympics should be about. The pinnacle of human athletic competition. The Vancouver games were wonderful, but they fall short of this ideal. The Olympic games should be about principles, both those of peace and global unity, and those of athletic achievement. There were flashes of this all throughout the Vancouver games, and that is what made us love them. Let us embrace the ideal in full in the future...
