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Give it away now North America has seen enough of the OlympicsPosted: Thursday February 28, 2002 11:00 AMUpdated: Thursday February 28, 2002 11:21 AM
Here's a final word on the Olympics: Let the rest of the world have them for a while. Let somebody else flip the burgers and gouge the tourists at these international barbecues. We've worn the big mitts and the apron too much. Since 1980, there have been 13 Olympic Games, winter and summer. North America has been the host for five of them. Four in the U.S. One in Canada. That's enough. More than enough. Let the luge run through the streets of London. Let the downhillers tackle the Eiffel Tower. Let Africa and South America -- which never have held the Games -- have a chance. Economic muscle has been our strong point. We have the money. We have the fat television contract. We apparently have been able to put the most bucks in the most shoeboxes before the IOC votes on Olympic sites. Let's forget all that. Let's not even bid on the Games, winter or summer, for at least the next 20 years. An Olympics in North America gives us a huge home-field advantage to go along with the big-money advantage, the high-technology advantage, the long list of advantages our affluent society provides. The gold medals we win are devalued when they're won on our soil. Let's go to Greece, let's go to China, let's go to Torino, Italy, and Timbuktu and sell ourselves on the road. Sarah Hughes, Jim Shea Jr., Jill Bakken and Vonetta Flowers ... the things they did were all wonderful. They would have been more wonderful if they'd been done in some place where English is a second language. Sports Illustrated senior writer Leigh Montville appears regularly on CNN/Sports Illustrated. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
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