The dust has settled. The Olympic Games are over. Television ratings in Canada and the United States were down and the figure skating events took place in half-empty arenas  As we tallied up medals by country and ranked nations by their medal haul, it seems to me that we may have lost the original point. The Olympic Games were not intended to be contests between nations, but expressions of mastery among human spirits.

In "ONE: The Art and Practice of Conscious Leadership”, I quote the original ideals of  Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games (they are “games,” not “competitions”), which were to create an international showcase for the spirits, minds, and bodies of athletes endeavoring to excel and achieve higher standards than those presently existing, thus fulfilling the Olympic motto of “faster, higher, stronger”. The Olympic Charter in part tells us that sport is “…a way of life based on the joy found in effort”. Tell that to the executives at NBC or CBC (friends of mine who were in the International Broadcasting Center in Turin told me that network executives were fearing for their jobs!).
In fact, when Bode Miller practices “…a way of life based on the joy found in effort” and skis off the course in the act of trying to do so, the media issues catcalls his way, criticizing him for damaging the medal count.

Perhaps the appeal of the Games will grow in the years ahead when they are viewed once again as an example of Oneness, not separation; when we see the Games as an instrument of peace and communitiy that serves all people, not as another materialistic benchmark like six sigma or return on investment.

To quote John Lennon:

You may say Im a dreamer,

but Im not the only one,

I hope some day you’ll join us,

And the world will live as one