For an annual Olympic Games

I know, I’m going against the current. And the current is strong. But after watching athletes surpass themselves for 15 days, I feel ready to give you my opinion.

Since the end of July, we have been passionately following events in swimming, rowing, cycling, gymnastics, athletics, weightlifting, judo, beach volleyball, canoeing, surfing, BMX, horse riding, trampoline, handball, climbing, fencing, volleyball, taekwondo, table tennis, wrestling, water polo, rugby 7s, skateboarding, etc.

Sports we never watch, and we really enjoy them!

Summer apple prodigy Summer McIntosh and sovereign king Leon Marchand wowed us with their performances in the pool. They were both fish, walleyes to be precise. Weightlifter Maude Charron completely lifted us off our chairs with her silver medal. Pole vaulter Alysha Newman propelled us into the sky with her by achieving what no Canadian pole vaulter has ever managed to do: win an Olympic medal.

Hammer thrower Ethan Katzberg and hammer thrower Camryn Rogers gave us the deep satisfaction of throwing a hammer with all your might, far, far, far.

Judoka Christa Deguchi blew us away by becoming Canada’s first Olympic champion in judo. Sophiane Méthot had us jumping off our sofas by winning bronze in trampoline.

I could cite dozens and dozens of other breathtaking feats, especially for those in front of their screens.

And despite all the joyful emotions felt, do you know how long it will be before we are interested again in swimming, hammer throwing, weightlifting, pole vaulting, judo, trampolining, beach volleyball, table tennis, rowing? In four years. Four years!

Do you know how long it will be until we see our summer heroes again, Summer, Leon, Maude, Alysha, Ethan, Camryn and the others? In four years. If they’re still here.

Do you like theatre? You’re going to see it next time in four years. Do you like music? You’re going to listen to it next time in four years. Do you like sushi? You’re going to eat it next time in four years. Do you like STAT ? Next episode in four years.

Four years, that doesn’t make sense! A passion that is lived every 1460 days, it’s not a passion, it’s an amnesiac flirtation.

I know, if we were real, we could follow the world championships of each of these disciplines. We could, but we don’t. The events are not publicized enough, back home. And then, we don’t have enough time to devote to dozens of isolated competitions. What we like is to binge-watch Olympic sports like we do for a Netflix series.

We are real, but real in a nutshell.

We need annual Olympic Games. So that the flame for these sports and these athletes, within us, does not go out for four long years.

The four-year gap between the Games is due to the fact that the organizers of the modern Olympic Games have adopted the schedule of the ancient Olympic Games. We have given ourselves some leeway, so to speak.

It’s understandable that it took four years to organize the Olympic Games 3,000 years ago, but that three millennia later, with computers and artificial intelligence, it still takes four years, is because we’re lazy.

You might say that it’s the rarity that makes us so captivated by the Olympics. I don’t think so. If we are able to follow the hockey, football, soccer, baseball, basketball, tennis, golf and Formula 1 seasons every year, we are able to follow the bouquet of Olympic sports for two weeks a year. Rather than holding dozens of scattered world championships, we hold them all at the same time in the same place. Same thing for winter sports. We would have two Olympics per year. Jean Drapeau, get out of my body!

Each host city would be chosen several years in advance and would have plenty of time to prepare. Cities that have already hosted them could be returned to more often. No need to wait 100 years, as we just did with Paris.

And above all, no need to do them with the current pomp. What we want is to see Summer swimming, to see Ethan throwing his hammer. Philippe Katerine all naked, that could be every four years.

These athletes are too good, too beautiful, too inspiring to be forgotten until the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

Life is too short to wait that long.

Bravo to these humans from all over the world for showing us what we can do when we do our best!

And bravo to Paris for always being so pretty!