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For women hoping to become hostesses at next year's Olympic Games medal ceremonies, here come the criteria: no tattoos, no big bottoms, and cut down on the earrings.

Tattoos and earrings tend to look sleazy, while big bottoms could stick out too much, state media reported Friday, quoting officials selecting candidates for medal ceremonies and other protocol activities.

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The whole Olympic games show that our world hasn't progress much. We need to emphasize general fitness among the population, not spend money on an elite, and leave the rest of us to die early of ill health.

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Originally posted by Banjo:
I couldn't find any mention of men acting in the same capacity in the article. If so, they probably have the same standards for them. If they don't have men, there's your double standard again.

The whole Olympic games show that our world hasn't progress much. We need to emphasize general fitness among the population, not spend money on an elite, and leave the rest of us to die early of ill health.

I'm reminded of the effects of this elitism every time I go to the States which usually does the best of any country in the Olympics. And then when you see the general population whose obesity is overwhelming.

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On a more serious post, I disagree completely.

First of all, it's not a zero sum game. Just because you emphasize the olympic athletes does not mean you ignore the general population. You can in general have both. Brazil has the world's best soccer team and best soccer players. And at a national level, they have millions of registered soccer players. It's zero sum mentality to assume that because we encourage our most talented and most hard working to become olympic athletes, that means we can't encourage average people like you and me to excel. It's not so. I train for the triathlon because I can and by my own standards, not because I want to win the gold. Last summer, when I lived in BC, I got the pleasure of using the Victoria Commonwealth Pool, one of the most beautiful aquatic facilities I've ever seen, in fact maybe even the most beautiful. I benefited from the commonwealth games directly as does anybody whose lived in vancouver island.

The olympics, the world cup and professional leagues are important to get people interested in sports. Little kids look up to these athletes because they do it well and beautifully (often). It helps get their interests going. To really have any specific thing be done, you need to have evry skill level going on between beginner and expert. Millions of people do marathons nowadays, but it all started in the 1896 olympics where most who started didn't even finish. The Ironman triathlon started off as something for elite athletes, now more and more people can do it, all registrations sell out on the first day. I plan to run one within 24 months.

As for the Americans, they don't win the most medals on a per capita basis, they are simply a rich and large country so they win medals like we expect them to. The reason they're fat is due to poor diet and their commutes. That's borne out by the fact obesity varies greatly depending on where you are in the USA. The south and new england are fat, the west coast and the midwest not so much.

[ 09 June 2007: Message edited by: 500_Apples ]

[ 09 June 2007: Message edited by: 500_Apples ]

The tattoo's and earings I have no problems with. Many people would not employ someone with tattoos and large earings, if they wanted them to look good, eg sales staff. The memo about size was unfortunitly made public, they should have said largest size uniforms available are ..... This happens everywhere, why pick on the olympics?

But as for your support of elitism in athletics in general, it's the same as all Olympic committees put out everytime they feel resistance to their money grab. You said that elitist sports are necessary to get average people interested in sports, but for the vast majority of the population, interest does not go beyond being a spectator. A very small percentage of the population takes part in ironman competitions. The Olympic pool presumably was built with domestically controlled funds and the government if it is looking after the health of its citizens should make sure that there are good facilities, and not require a Commonwealth games to motivate it.

Since to my knowledge no society and government has ever tried to stop spending money on elitist sports, and instead devote it to encouraging sensible healthly lifestyles of the average citizen, neither of us can prove by example which system would be the most effective.

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Originally posted by 500_Apples:
It's another jurisdiction with their own values. Their culture and civilization is older than our own.

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Originally posted by remind:
No, it is just the elitist mind set that is present, as elitism is based in the patriarchial ideology.

How many freaking Commonweath/Olympic size pools/tracks/fields could have been built around the provinces for the amount of money spent on the games, is over looked by that type of mind set.

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1) Technical point: Elitism is not in general based in patriarchy. Patriarchy is one form of elitism.

2) In the case of Montreal's world aqauatics championships, they had a meager 4 million dollar deficit, for a city whose annual budget is usually around 2 billion. Considering the economic spinoffs, and what it did for the fans, I think that's worth it.

I wonder, how many people on this board believe in funding for the arts and for the sciences? In those fields, we do fund both champions and benefits for the general population, so why not in sports? I consider athletics an art form anyhow.

[ 09 June 2007: Message edited by: 500_Apples ]

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Originally posted by leftyboy:

You're kidding right????

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