Thursday, August 21, 2008

Jacques Rogge: The Worst Person in the World

BOULDER, Colorado -- This may or may not be my final post about the Beijing Olympics. I make no promises. Or rather, unlike the Beijing organizers and their stooges at the International Olympic Committee, I will not make promises and then blatantly break them with no foreseeable consequences.

The president of the IOC, Belgian apologist and sailing enthusiast Jacques Rogge, has criticized Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt for his display of exuberance after (and during) his stunning 100-meter victory.

"That's not the way we perceive being a champion," Rogge told Associated Press, the BBC reported, adding that Bolt should "not make gestures like the one he made in the 100 meters."

"He might have interpreted that in another way, but the way it was perceived was 'catch me if you can.' You don't do that. But he'll learn. He's still a young man."

I hope to God that Mr. Bolt does not learn anything from Rogge and the bastards of his ilk. His 100- and 200-meter victories were the truly transcendent events of these Olympics, eclipsing even the astounding accomplishments of Michael Phelps, in my opinion.

Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post skewers this nitwit for his paternalistic comments and his long record of hypocrisy and deceit. Jim Caple over at ESPN.com summed up my own excitement about this phenom quite well.

I hope the transgressions of the Chinese authorities put the final nail in the coffin of the moribund Olympic "movement," but I know that is not going to happen. But should this be the final chapter, then there is no better image to close the Games than Usain Bolt's exuberant swagger into the history books.

1 comment:

Ben said...

The BBC article quotes Bolt's family friend and member of the local municipal council,

"Some persons have placed desks in the road and placed a vast amount of liquor on them for everyone to drink and be merry. It is just like carnival down here."