Why do the Olympics make us feel good?

It’s been a little over a week now that I’ve been following the great mass of the Paris Olympics attentively. I find myself discovering and appreciating all sorts of disciplines, classics like tennis, swimming or running, but also others that are completely foreign to me like rugby, hammer throwing or three-a-side basketball.

One evening, I happened to watch a replay of the “best moments” of two-person sailing. No sound, just the image of small boats moving at high speed between buoys, without commentary. Just the sound of waves and wind. Boring, you say? Quite the opposite! The experience delighted me, contrasting with the frenzied clamour surrounding the performances of the Frenchman Léon Marchand, the American Simone Biles or the Canadian Summer McIntosh.

That’s what the Olympics are all about: patriotic feelings that we didn’t suspect we had, disappointments and a lot of admiration and compassion.

All credit where credit is due: the opening ceremony. I was quite disconcerted at first, faced with the bold tableaux and stars that ignite the younger generations. But I was won over by the history of France and the breathtaking views of Paris seen in a grandiose and demanding staging.

It is impossible to ignore the dazzling performance offered by our national Céline, concentrated in three minutes of emotion, splendor and inspiration. Céline who came from far away, as we could see in her documentary that touched millions of people by the intensity of her pain in her fight against the disease. Before us, the returnee from a long ordeal gave us everything: her golden voice, her gold medal of courage and resilience, and communion with billions of viewers. She sang one of the most beautiful French-language songs, theOde to love by Edith Piaf. Even the most indifferent were moved. My son called me in tears from Europe, and my partner, not a fan of Celine, described this performance as extraordinary. That says it all!

Why do we love the Olympic Games? I have been asking myself this question since the beginning of the event. I watch just about everything, I listen to cultural, gastronomic, political reports. We visit France and share our enthusiasm with the spectators. The Olympic Games are a concentration of our individual and collective emotions. They showcase many countries and participants, from the largest to the most modest, including during the Paralympic Games.

This also takes place in a geopolitical context that reminds us that life is not a game, and that the well-organized and regulated battles in the multiple sporting disciplines are not exactly the same as in the real life of nations.

While we applaud exceptional performances, epic battles between opponents in boxing, basketball, tennis or fencing, other battles, these ones inhuman and bloody, rage outside the marked and secured perimeter of the Olympic Games.

It is perhaps because of this contrast that the Olympics do us good. They camouflage, while they last, the open wounds of our planet that is in pain, civilians killed in wars, children orphaned, soldiers killed for their country, authoritarian dictatorships, and so on. The Games allow us to escape the worrying air of the times and the overheated climate of the planet. Jean-René Dufort reminded us of this in a report on the Ukrainian athletes who are not taking part in the Games because they died in combat or were killed in bombings. The shock of the best and worst of humanity concentrated in a few minutes of this report.

And then, current social issues are invited into the competitions. Is the female boxer too masculine, does she have too much testosterone? Trump seizes this debate, the Prime Minister of Italy too! When we say that the Olympics are a mirror of our lives, this is indeed proof beyond any reasonable doubt.

The Olympic Games remind us that passion, courage and determination are ingredients that can be sown in everyone, especially in the youngest.

Our societies must give importance to this, stimulate all children, from the most gifted to the least successful. Give all these young people the means to achieve their ambitions, whatever their parents’ wallets.

Let’s think of Luguentz Dort, a professional basketball player who grew up and learned to play in Montreal North, who comes back to see the children in his neighbourhood, sign autographs, throw a few balls and who is currently representing his country. Let’s also applaud the courage of athletes who speak out about their mental health issues, such as gymnast Simone Biles, a multiple Olympic medalist, who agreed to document her trying years following the Tokyo Games in 2021. She came back, like Céline, and triumphed too, at the Paris Olympics!

Let’s be realistic. The Olympics don’t solve everything, far from it, but they allow us, for two weeks, to remember that we can succeed, together, in keeping a flame of humanity alight. All is not lost, even when current events lead us to despair. And solidarity must always be there, visible or hidden deep within ourselves.

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