I am a self-professed Olympics junkie, but I have been having a really hard time getting into the Games this year.  I always forget about this part, and it seems so much worse this time around.  It’s the last few weeks, days, moments before an Olympic Games officially begin, when the world is watching and, for the most part, reporting only on the bad.

I am not trying to trivialize the global reactions to a myriad of issues, including human rights violations, corruption, safety and security concerns, environmental issues, or animal cruelty. I feel the same unease and anger, and these issues have been on my mind for months. Several times, I have considered boycotting the Games. In the end, it is my appreciation for the hard work and dedication of the athletes, elite athletes who have worked hard their entire lives to get to the ultimate completion that convinced me that I should watch and support the athletes from afar.

With this decision made, I started to seek out the coverage from Sochi this week.  Overall, I was saddened to read that most of the “filler” content that I have been reading has been so very negative, and has become the go-to joke in many ways. I understand that it is frustrating when things go wrong, or aren’t ready when they should be, but I also know that there have to be more positive stories that can be told, stories that tell us about the athletes that we will be watching and the Olympic spirit. Instead I found articles that showed me which of the current photos coming out of Sochi were actually old or fakes, or that mocked a journalist for trying to look past the logistical problems and have a great experience in Sochi; mocked her not because she tried to look beyond these issues, but because there was a typo in her headline.  A headline that she likely did not write!

Today, I forced myself to look past that.  I spent most of the day in the lil’s school, seeing all the excitement that they had for the Olympics; little ones dressed in Canadian gear, some fortunate enough to have teachers who allowed them to watch some of the opening ceremonies, others making copious trips to the washroom so that they could catch a glimpse on the TVs that stream the Games in the hallway, the littlest children making giant Olympic rings to decorate the school, and plans being made for a mock Olympics next week.  It gave me hope.  Then we got home, and the little spent hours drawing Olympic themed pictures, and planned the events that they want to watch tomorrow. Then they told me that we need to throw an Olympics party, complete with “events”. All of a sudden, I can’t wait for the competition to begin!