Wiston Papers
The Olympic Games 2012 as Metaphor for America
The
Olympic Games for decades were a showcase of American athletic talent
and dominance. It was a fitting metaphor for America’s preeminence in
other areas such as politics, economics and technology.
Perhaps
then it is not surprising that the uneven performance of Team U.S.A. so
far in the London games of 2012 matches the undeniable decline of
America on the world stage that stretches far beyond the Olympics this
year.
The
four legs of the U.S. men’s 4 X 100 Freestyle Relay represents all too accurately the history of America from World War II to the present.
FIRST LEG
Swimmer
Nathan Adrian explodes into first place as the gun barks the start of
the race. Much as the United States emerged from the Second World War
as the leader of the free world. Washington in the next 20 years flexed
her muscle fighting for the Marshall Plan to rebuild Western Europe,
stopping the spread of Communism beyond Eastern Europe, and helping to
create the United Nations as a forum for international debate and
decision.
SECOND LEG
Adrian
retains the lead for the U.S. team as Michael Phelps enters the water.
The joy of Phelps’s earlier swimming victories reminded us of the the
optimism that marked the start of the 1960s in America with the the
Camelot presidency of John F. Kennedy, his charismatic family, and his
pledge to place a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s. Although the
Vietnam War would hang over American society, social protests challenge our conventional wisdom, and the U.S. would be buffeted by
economic turmoil as we entered the 1980s, we hung on to our image as
the leader of the free world much as Phelps held America’s swimming lead
for Cullen Jones.
THIRD LEG
Just
as President Reagan made the nation feel good again and paved the way
for the heady economic days of the 90s and helped lead the free world's celebration of the collapse of Communism and the former Soviet Union, Jones kept the hope of a U.S.
swimming victory alive as he held America’s lead for Ryan Lochte.
FOURTH LEG
Despite
a strong start, however, Lochte failed to maintain the lead he had
received just as America has failed to protect its legacy as a beacon of
political, social and economic superiority. Just as Lochte saw France
gradually catch up and eclipse him at the end of the race so has America
watched as other world players such as China, India and Brazil have
caught and surpassed us by encroaching on our foreign and domestic
markets, taking U.S. jobs off shore, and displaying Washington’s
weakness to respond to the challenge--much like Lochte’s fade at the
end.
The
Olympics Team U.S.A. metaphor for America’s stature in the world may
not please some fans of our athletes or those who still believe in the socio-politico-hegemony of Washington. But one fact is indisputable--we no longer can
claim superiority or invincibility either as athletes or as a political,
economic and social power.
At
the end of the Olympic Games 2012, however, the U.S. will be able to stand
proudly in London and elsewhere in the world as we compete in other
fields. But we no longer stand alone and that perhaps is how it should
be.
Steve Coon
July 30, 2012
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