Olympics remind us of paths to peace

The first Olympics were a respite from war whereby Greek city-states could demonstrate their hegemony through athletic competitions and affirm one aspect of the humanist ideal- that men could achieve feats comparable to the gods. Women were excluded from the ancient Games.

And like the ancient Greeks who used the Olympics as war by other means, some modern competitions have initiated the peace: “Ping-pong” diplomacy and the eventual “normalization” of U.S.-Sino relations, the Fischer-Spassky chess match as a prelude to U.S.-Soviet detente, and the tentative collaboration of North and South Korea in the present Games as an overture to possibly more harmonious relations.

Nationalism often subverts peaceful rapprochement with other nations. The athlete ascends the modern equivalent of Mount Olympus and in that test she edifies us by defeating her lesser self. Her triumph possesses a poignancy and eloquence beyond weapons and words. Consider Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The will to power transcended by the power of the will.

The Olympics are not a surrogate for war or a substitute for diplomacy. Yet for one shining moment every four years, we should be reminded that there can be other heroic paths to peacemaking.

John Hagney

Spokane