I don't mean to take anything away from the athletes. But they have become the unwitting meat in a gruesome winner-take-all capitalist sandwich.
If this is your first Olympiad you should google some of the old-school champs.
Jim Thorpe for example.
Hounded out of the Olympics and stripped of his medals because he'd once been paid to play ball.
In the corporately owned modern Olympics that would never be a factor.
The biggest names in this Olympiad are multi-millionaires even before they get there. The big newcomers will be multi-millionaires soon.
It's all about the money.
Countries all over the world out-do one another to win the "privilege" of hosting the games.
There follows a massive expenditure of public money in order to get the facilities in shape for the games.
Inevitably the host country loses money on the games, but at least so long as the broadcasters and the sponsors come out ahead it's considered a happy story.
And let's not lose sight of all those wonderful rags-to-gold stories that make it all worthwhile...
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