奥运会仅仅和体育有关吗？
本文为知乎上对一个美国国际新闻教授提问的作答。
问：Are the Olympics only about sports? Or another form of global, cultural communications? Or about something else? What do you think? 奥运会仅仅是关于体育的吗？还是另一种形式的全球文化交流？或者别的什么？你怎么想？
文/ 孟庆伟 Justin
The Olympics, by their very nature, are not and cannot be only about sports.
For any country, to win the bid to host the Olympics is a badge of honor. For emerging countries, it's also a tremendous opportunity to flex their newly gained economic, political, and cultural muscles in the coveted and deserved spotlight (Seoul in 1988, Beijing in 2008, Rio in 2016, to name only a few). For the rich countries who have already hosted the games before, it's the chance to put yet more cities on the map and reassert their ambition (say Atlanta in 1994).
The games have always gone hand in hand with diplomacy. Winning the right to be the host itself requires considerable diplomatic prowess. Throughout history, international politics has made or broken the Olympics. World War I shattered the Germans' Olympic dream in 1916, and it was not until 1936 when Berlin belatedly reclaimed the glory to stage the games. Similarly, the Japanese lost the chance in 1940 thanks to World War II. Also affected were Londoners, who had to postpone the events until four years later, 1948.
The unparalleled symbol of the Olympics can make hosting countries highly vulnerable. Citizens of the hosting countries view the Olympics as a perfect occasion to air their grievances, as were the case in Seoul and Beijing. In Rio, protesters were better organized to make their voice heard, and indeed the world listened. The darkest Olympic moment probably came in 1972, when during the high-profile Munich games, eleven Israeli Olympians were taken hostage and eventually killed by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September. Gruesome images still haunt many baby boomers to this day.
The most enduring quality of the Olympics, however, is perhaps their marvelous ability to mend fences, heal wounds, and paradoxically, transcend myopic national interests. Peace is relative. Conflicts are the norm. Because of the ever perfected technology and the sophistication of media the Olympics, especially the symbolic opening and closing ceremonies, are better presented to a wider audience worldwide. When the North and South Korean Olympic team members marched into the stadium together under a united flag in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics opening ceremony a couple of days ago, it offered hope. Such a scene is not rare and is not special to this year's.
In sum, the Olympics are deeply national, international, political, and unmistakably human. And they are understandably so.
孟庆伟 Justin
中英双语写作者
《经济学人》10 年研究者
雅思写作 8 分，口语 8 分
Banner：The unified Korean team marching in the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics at Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium. Credit James Hill, The New York Times.
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