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The final days of the Olympics always leave me with a mix of admiration and unease.
The athletes themselves are extraordinary — years of discipline, sacrifice, and devotion distilled into a few moments on the world stage. Their pursuit of excellence is one of the clearest expressions of human possibility we have.
The motto of the modern Games: Citius, Altius, Fortius, Communiter (Faster, Higher, Stronger, Together), and the Olympic Creed, “The most important thing is not to win but to take part… not the triumph but the struggle,” were meant to call us toward a shared human aspiration. They remind us that the heart of sport is effort, courage, and the dignity of striving.
But the institutions surrounding the athletes don’t always rise to that vision. The International Olympic Committee and national Olympic committees operate under the influence of corporations and media networks that profit from rivalry, spectacle, and nationalistic storylines. What should be a celebration of our common humanity can become a stage for branding, ratings, and geopolitical theatre.
Even the language begins to shift. Athletes speak of upcoming contests as “bloodbaths,” echoing the rhetoric of conflict rather than the spirit of togetherness. It’s a reminder of how easily the values of professional sport — where rivalry is monetized, and bitterness is marketable — can seep into a space that was meant to rise above all of that.
And still, the Olympics offer moments that show us what they were meant to be: athletes comforting competitors after a fall, sharing equipment, celebrating one another’s achievements, and recognizing excellence whenever it sppears. These gestures reveal a truth deeper than flags or anthems — that we are citizens of the world who simply happen to live in particular places on the earth.
I wrote the piece below because young athletes are watching. They are listening to the language we use, absorbing the values we elevate, and learning from the scripts we hand them. If we want them to see the beauty of their sport, we must first remember it ourselves.
