On What Propaganda is Condemned and Countenanced at Pyeongchang Winter Olympics

The 23rd Winter Olympiad in Pyeongchang, South Korea had a reoccurring theme of Peace, as was evident from the Opening Ceremonies.  It was well known that athletes from North and South Korea would march as a unified team into Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium.  

One of the draws for casual sports fans to watch the Olympics is the Opening Ceremonies. The pageantry of the Opening Ceremonies, as expressed through artistic expression as well as thematic choice sets the mood for the Olympic Games.  Afterwards, there is the Parade of Nations, when all of the competitors gather in a gesture of unity and good will.  During this long march of nations, television viewers often have to endure commentary from NBC announcers to add color and context to the visuals.  Often this dialogue is pap or seems scripted.

However, when the Japanese team made their debut at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, NBC Asia correspondent Joshua Cooper Ramos offered an incredible generalization.  Ramos claimed that Koreans looked with admiration to Japan as an important example of cultural, economic and technological transformation.




Several hours after uttering this insensitive and insulting insinuation, NBC Sports issued a hasty apology.

NBC paid $967 million for broadcast rights for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, and it would seem that they did not want to insult their hosts.

With that in mind, one wonders why NBC keeps pushing North Korean propaganda while covering the Winter Olympics.  No doubt that a unified Korean team marching during the Parade of Nations was a big story.  It epitomizes the international aspiration of brotherhood and exemplifies the Pyeongchang Game's theme of Peace.  

[Front Center] Vice President Mike Pence [Back Center] Kim Yo Jung, sister of DPRK dictator Kim Jun Un

It is understandable that an Olympic broadcaster would want to capitalize on controversy by showing how close Vice President Mike Pence was seated to North Korean Kim Jong Un's sister Kim Yo Jong during the Opening Ceremonies.




The coverage of the North Korea cheerleaders during the womens' hockey game between Korea and Switzerland does raise eyebrows.  It was a cute featurette to have a piece about the some of the 200 woman squad of  the North Korean "Army of Beauty" cheerleaders leading chants during the 0-8 rout of Korea.  Some say that the synchronized chants of the North Korea Beauty Cheerleaders stole the show. But what what telling is what they chanted and how they performed.  These NPDK cheerleaders chanted "Unity" waving "neutral" flags of a unified Korea. After each goal by their opponent, they chanted: "Cheer up!".  Perhaps that exemplifies a cultural trait.  


What has been shown but little explored are instances in which the female Beauty Squad use big heads of a Korean man.  Hmm.  Who could this be?  


It is dubious that it was an everyman Korean.  The Big Head looks rather like an idealized image of North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un. What does it say about the consequences of  "Unity".  Is that something that all Koreans also believe?

UPDATE 02/12/2018  BBC News quotes Korean media that the DPRK Army of Beauties cheerleaders were holding up big heads of Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un (the first of the Hermit Kingdom's Juche post World War II dictators).  Yet the South Korean Unification Ministry insists that the cheerleaders were just holding up cut outs of "a good looking man". 

Being At Peace With Different Measures of Glory

Athletes from Unified North & South Korean Team at Winter Olympics

The 23rd Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea are themed to be the games of peace.  This was accentuated by athletes of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) marching with their Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea) counterparts under a unified flag.

Olympic Athletes from Russia for 2018 Winter Olympics 

Due the doping ban on Russian Federation, the 169 clean Russian athletes marched as neutrals in red and grey uniforms as neutrals.  Any gold medal winning "Olympic Athletes of Russia"  will be feted with the raising of the Olympic flag and anthem. 

While the  2,952 athletes participating in the Pyeongchang games are the best winter sport athletes in the world, but only a few make it up to the medal stand to receive their glory. For most, marching in the Winter Olympics opening ceremony is the highlight of their careers. 



This makes Eric Liddell's admonition about glory all the more poignant. 



What is particularly noteworthy of Eric Liddell is not that he was the the Flying Scotsman was the first  British Gold Medal winner in track from 1924, or that he was the basis of the film Chariots of Fire (1981), or his steadfast Sabbath keeping, but for dying as a missionary in a Japanese internment camp in China in 1945. 

We should all be inspired to run a good race in life and doing our best.

Pope Francis Cheers on Team Refugees at Rio Olympics

Lula da Silva on Rio Olympics

Increased Olympic Coverage?

The International Olympic Committee will be distributing a record 450,000 condoms for the 10,500 athletes and staff staying in the Olympic Village in Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 Summer Olympics. This includes 150,000 female condoms. That adds up to 42 condoms per guest at the Olympic Village.  





The 450,000 condom figure is a marked increase from the 100,000 to 150,000 prophylactics handed out in prior Olympiads since the 2000 games in Sydney, Australia.

The IOC and Rio Olympic organizers deny this increase in condoms is due to the threat of the Zika virus, which can be transmitted sexually as well as by mosquito bites.  The Zika virus can cause  microcephaly, a condition in which babies are born with undersized brains and skulls.

Several prominent athletes are skipping the Summer Games in Rio prompted by the Zika outbreak, such as Fiji's Vijay Singh and Australia's Marc Leishman and Adam Scott.

As the Australians have lost two prominent athletes, they are not taking any chances for those who are not opting out. They are issuing the Aussie team with Ansell's Dual Protection condom lubricated with Starpharma's VivaGel lubricant, which is an antiviral agent touted with protecting against bad vaginal bacterial, some STDs and supposedly Zika.

The Olympics are scheduled to be held in Rio from August 5th to the 21st. Good luck.

Rivaldo Rebukes Rio Olympics Attendance

With less than three months before the XXXI Summer Olympics are set to begin in Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian soccer star Rivaldo warned fans against attending because of unchecked violence on the streets.



This is not the only logistical and public relations challenge Rio has needed to overcome in hosting the Olympics.  Rio was awarded the Summer Olympics in 2009 and had reason to ramp up the infrastructure hosting the Catholic World Youth Day in 2013 and the 2014 World Cup.  Yet in March, only 90-95 percent of the infrastructure was complete.  Rio organizing officials held a press conference to announce that they were ahead of schedule a couple of days after two workers were killed when a coastal bike path associated with green transportation between Olympic venues.

Of course, racing to complete infrastructure is nothing new for Olympic host cities.  What is more rarified is that the state government is broke so it failed to pay public workers like policemen, firefighters, doctors and nurses.  Thus a half million of them went on strike which shut down hospitals across the state.

Pollution still mires the Rio Olympics.  Last year, there was a study which revealed that Guanabara Bay are so polluted with fecal matter and other contaminants that  water Olympic athletes risked becoming ill rowing and sailing around the Copacabana.  It is dubious if the bankrupt state government can achieve what they have promised to fix for years.

Then there is the risk of the Zika virus from mosquito bites, especially to pregnant women and their unborn children. Some public health doctors have advised that the Olympics ought to be moved to protect the 16,000 athletes and expected 600,000 sports fans. Since that is unlikely, people will need to mitigate their feared risks.  The US Olympic committee has advised athletes that if they are concerned for their own health, they ought to skip the Rio games.  US Womens soccer star Hope Solo has publicly proclaimed that she won't go to Rio unless the situation changes. Several prominent pro golfers are also dropping out of competing in the Rio Games, but most cite a hectic summer PGA tour schedule  .

 South Korean athletes will wear tracksuits infused with insect repellent and will wear long pants and blazers for the opening and closing ceremonies to minimize Zika infections.

Ticket sales have been less than robust for the Rio games.  In early April, only 50% of the Olympic tickets have been sold, and just 12% of the Paralympic events.  The government has suggested that it might buy unsold tickets and distribute them to school children to fill the seats. 

Bruce Jenner on Being a Role Model

Mike Krzyzewski on Strategy

Longtime Duke University and Team USA Olympics basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski was awarded the George Marshall Medal by the Association of the United States Army for his selfless work to support troops and their families.  

During his acceptance speech at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Coach K offered some cogent yet incisive criticisms on current events.  Without mentioning any names, Krzyzewski intimated how strategic thought from the parquet courts could assist formulation of policy at Foggy Bottom or even "in the Oval". 

If only President Obama would spend less time on Barack-etology (sic) during March Madness, and more time on executing his primary duties as Commander-in-Chief, we might be able to achieve results, even without actually putting boots on the ground.  But a leader who insists on  transparently telegraphing strategic taboos  about the red line which he won't cross gives advantage to opponents.

Michael Phelps on a Comeback

Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympic athlete ever, winning 22 Olympic medals (18 gold medals including 11 individual golds).  After the 2012 London Summer Olympics, Phelps reasoned: “I would be past 30 by the time the next Olympic. I have achieved what I wanted to achieve. If you can say that about your career, then it’s time to move forward, time to move on to other things. I finished my career how I wanted to.”  

Yet twenty months later, the Flying Fish is back in the US Swimming pool at the US Grand Prix in Mesa, Arizona.  Not only did Phelps win his first comeback race in the 100 meter butterfly, but his 52.84 time was the fastest qualifer for the final. 

The 28 year old Phelps is non-committal about whether he intends to compete in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics, but this sort of result after only six months of training bodes favorably for a fifth Olympic appearance. 

h/t:  The Daily Telegraph

Sarah Hughes on Winning

Kirill I on the Olympics

Peggy Fleming on Figure Skating

Sarah Hughes on the Olympics

Lamenting the Lack of Olympic Truce for Sochi Olympics

Dmytro Mystak is an 18 year old downhill skier for Ukraine.  The day before his first Olympic ski race, there was organized violence against Euromaidan protesters at Independence Square in his native city of Kyiv.   The Euromaidan protests demanding an end to corruption and tyranny were attacked by paramilitary forces.  At least 25 people were killed and 1,000 persons injured.  And Mystak is supposed to compete in this environment.

Mystak's lament about the lack of an Olympic truce is a reasonable reaction for an athlete.  While Mystak's sympathies are clear, the skier does not want to politicize the situation.  Sergey Bubka, the head of the Ukrainian National Olympic Committee also urged his countrymen for an Olympic Truce.  Bubka wrote on his website: “I am once again urging all parties to stop the violence! There is no 'their' Ukraine, or 'your' Ukraine. It is OUR Ukraine.”

The IOC prohibited Ukrainian Olympic athletes from wearing black armbands to commemorate the loss of life at Independence Square presumably to maintain neutrality, which also would not embarrass the Sochi Winter Olympics host, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is closely aligned with Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych.

[L] Russian President Vladimir Putin [R] Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovch

  Some Ukrainian athletes were willing to sacrifice their chance for glory which they trained for years by intentionally missing their events in protest of the bloody crackdown in Kyiv.   Marina Lisogor and Katerina Serdyuk failed to appear for their cross country team sprint semi-final race.   Andre Sannikov, a prominent opposition leader from Belarus, indicated that it was a gesture originating in the prohibition on black armbands.

A  Facebook statement indicated that Bohdana and Oleh more explicitly refused to perform at Sochi in solidarity with the Euromaidan protesters.  Oleg and Bohdana Matsohski also refused to compete in solidarity with the protest movement.

Oleg and Bohdana Matsohski, Ukrainian Olympic Skiers 

Although  generally I am skeptical about athletes opining about public affairs, like the Protect Our Winters Manifesto, as the details of the policy are often beyond their ken.  However, it is easy to understand that Yanukovych blessed paramilitaries attacking peaceful demonstrators and violated the idea of an Olympic truce.  I am chary about politicizing the Olympics but I admire individual athletes following their consciences at great personal cost.

For those who need background information on what sparked the controversy, please see Understanding the Euromaidan Unrest at DCBarroco.com

Dorothy Hamill on Figure Skating

Gretchen Bleiler the Olympics

Nancy Kerrigan on Perseverance

Bode Miller on Winning

 Congratulations to Miller, who is said to be the oldest Alpine downhill medalist in the Olympics.

Victor Ahn on Speed Skating

Bode Miller on the Olympics