From the story IOC president Jacques Rogge hits out at Usain Bolt over his celebrations:
After the 200m, Bolt made little effort to congratulate the other runners as he wrapped himself in a Jamaican flag and set off on a solo victory lap. He swayed to the reggae music that erupted around the stadium, peered into the lenses of television cameras and yelled: “I am number one.”
Rogge said: “That’s not the way we perceive being a champion. I have no problem with him doing a show. I think he should show more respect for his competitors and shake hands, give a tap on the shoulder to the other ones immediately after the finish and not make gestures like the one he made in the 100m.
“I understand the joy. He might have interpreted it in another way but the way it was perceived was ‘catch me if you can’. You don’t do that. But he’ll learn. He’s still a young man.”
Right. Critisize the single best story of these Olympics while you pretty much ignore the fact that the host country is pissing on previously agreed press freedoms (1, 2), cheating to win gymnastics events, censoring athletes’s political views according to it’s own foreign policy, shamefully buried a story about a girl paralysed during an opening ceremony rehersal, forced ushers to strip naked as part of the routine interview process, and quite likely allowed a sponsor to pull an athlete from a competition because he was unlikely to win.
Classy Jacques. Just like you.
13 responses so far ↓
1 Christopher Amano-Langtree // Aug 22, 2008 at 9:09 am
I don’t necessarily think that Rogge was out of line with this. It is nice and sportsmanlike to sympathize with the people you beat
2 John Brooks // Aug 22, 2008 at 9:25 am
It is nice and sportsmanlike to sympathize with the people you beat
The thing is though that not even Bolt’s competitiors share Rogge’s bullshit that he spews out of the mouth all the time.
Quoting Shawn Crawford, the runner up:
“I guess there’s mixed feelings among athletes. To me, I don’t feel like he’s being disrespectful. If this guy has worked his tail off every day, on his knees throwing up like I was in practice, he deserves to dance.”
Like Aaron said this proves that Rogge is so out of touch. Out of all the stories, Rogge is going to dwell on this. Not this broken press freedoms that China promised, not the underage athletes, the censorship/silencing of those who disagree with Red China’s leadership, but this.
Yeah, Rogge this is the story we needed to blow out of proportion. He’s a disgrace to the Olympics and all that it should stand for.
3 EW // Aug 22, 2008 at 3:04 pm
I kind of agree with Rogge a little bit on this one. How different is Bolt’s behavior from that of the much-derided Shawn Kemp/Larry Johnson Dream Team? Or have sports changed that much where no one would bat an eye at this kind of behavior anymore?
4 hansioux // Aug 22, 2008 at 3:17 pm
shame on you Jacques Rogge… your Olympic spirit is as big and clean as my zit.
5 Shinsano // Aug 22, 2008 at 4:14 pm
I think athletes celebrate in different ways, probably according to their culture. I don’t think what Bolt did was any worse than the athletes I see wrapping themselves in their flags and blowing kisses. Bolt’s slowing down and thumping his chest adds to his mystique and underlines the fact that he is running like a person from another planet. It’s the single most memorable image (in my mind) for these Olympics. Why would the head of the IOC come out and complain about that publicly? Send him a letter during the next four years and tell him to tone it down if it’s so offensive and such a danger to the “pristine” image of the Olympics.
6 EW // Aug 22, 2008 at 6:12 pm
You know, the chest thumping and slowing down didn’t bug me. I thought it was kind of cool the first time. It’s the need to top that the second time out by announcing your greatness to the world via the gathered TV cameras. I mean, we already know you’re number one because you just set the world record. No need to tell us, dude.
Maybe it’s my modest Midwestern upbringing and my reluctance to toot my own horn, but it just came across as a bit much.
7 jackson // Aug 22, 2008 at 6:57 pm
I’ve got Aaron’s back on this one. What the f–k? The dude just shattered a world record and made it look easy. He’s a young dude enjoying his life and celebrating one of the great moments in olympic history. So he went a little overboard and did one too many chest thumps or mugged for the camera a lot. So what?
Aaron actually beat me to a post on this one (surprise). I couldn’t believe Rogge said what he said about this. Get a life dude. If you want to admonish someone, how about admonishing the Chinese government for displacing residents without compensation or killing Tibetans en masse for protesting.
Let a young brother enjoy his life and celebrate his accomplishments, even it is a bit garish its not like it hurt anyone. Oh, and having watched the sprint and afterwards, Bolt was doing nothing except palling around and taking photos and giving props ot his competitors.
8 EW // Aug 22, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Well, yeah. I agree with you guys AND Rogge. I think Bolt should have toned down the revelry a bit after the second race, but if Rogge was so peeved by it, he could have just sent him a letter or something. No need to try to show him up the same way he showed up his competitors.
9 Shinsano // Aug 22, 2008 at 11:32 pm
I noticed during the intros of the 400m relay that they were all kind of showboating for the camera. I didn’t realize that was so common.
Again, Bolt was incredible. I thought he may have toned it down a little tonight.
10 Simon Currie // Aug 23, 2008 at 2:33 am
Japan snagged its first track medal in 80 years thanks to the US and UK dropping their batons in the semis, literally, in the 4×100m relay. Yeah, the showboating even by the Japanese team was surprising, but sprint events are pure testostrone on the track or in the pool.
11 hansioux // Aug 23, 2008 at 4:07 am
my thought is these kind of showboating is just what the Olympics needed. The media needs this stuff, because this Olympics is killing them.
Just like if the media demanded the athletes to showboat for their rating benefit it would be fake and appalling, so would equally fake and insincere to request athletes not to showboat for the sake of acting like what they expect of Olympians.
In any case, it would be best if the Athletes do what they do because of the person they really are. Athletes shouldn’t have to behave the same way, and perhaps wanting them to do so is why the IOC is having so much fun working with the Chinese government.
12 Shinsano // Aug 23, 2008 at 12:04 pm
You might be right Hansioux. Wait a minute…are you part Chinese and part Sioux? That would be a pretty cool combination.
I think Bolt has probably helped the Olympics a lot more than what the IOC deserves. I don’t think there’s a danger of it turning into the NFL or NBA.
13 hansioux // Aug 23, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Shinsano, I am Taiwanese, and my last name is Su which is pronounced the same as Sioux. I intended this screen name to play on the fact that I, as most Taiwanese are a mixture of Aboriginals and Han, especially culture-wise. Also, at the time I came up with this screen name, I was living in El Paso Texas, which had a Tigua Native-american reservation.
A couple of my friends from the ball games, including a family with a 5 year old boy, went to Beijing for this Olympics to support Team Taiwan.
At the Taiwan-USA game, they at a point yelled “Let’s go Taiwan let’s go”. Frankly, these aren’t political people, but immediately secret service begin to stalk them from front and back. They stalked my friends even after the game was over.
The next time, they were there to prevent them to entering the gaming grounds and stopped them from purchasing tickets.
That’s just the reality of this Olympics, but to Jacques Rogge, Bolt is what bothered him.
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