Silver and Gold

The Friday newsletter gets in the Olympic spirit

I can’t help it; I love the Olympics.

I know the quadrennial (or occasionally-quintennial) games are bad in many ways. The IOC is rife with corruption. For generations, cities and countries have bent over backwards to win the games, incurring decades of debt to finance resource-hogging construction of venues that often end up crumbling, disused white elephants. On top of all of that, this year’s games are occurring in the shadow of a still-lingering pandemic in a country whose vaccination rates lag far behind ours.

Frankly, there’s a lot not to like about the Olympic games.

They’re still wonderful, despite it all, though.

They show us something new and beautiful and special each night, fresh stories and new heroes that we can fall in love with despite never having heard their name before. Save for a handful, these aren’t the distant demi-gods of organized pro sports; in many cases they’re mere kids, cheered on by hometown gymnasiums full of friends and family who are proud of them no mat…