When I was eleven years old I read Mike Resnick's The Olympians in Isaac Asimovs Wonderful Worlds of Science Fiction #2. I may actually be remembering the wrong story, but it was a far future in which humans had contact with many alien races around the galaxy. Human athletes — the Olympians — traveled around the galaxy challenging each alien species to compete in its “native” game. Humans had great pride in, with gargantuan effort, consistently winning every event.
I realize it's an inevitable evolution as the US crumbles as a leading nation, but I really had hoped for them to clean up across the board, taking the majority of the gold medals. One of America's greatest gifts — and one they lose more and more every day — is the ability to inspire people around the world. It's not really an “us and them” sort of thing that I want to see — even if it's total hogwash, seeing good looking American athletes winning is like watching Superman… Like I said, even if it's all lies, somehow there's a little taste of “truth, justice, and the American way” winning over evil buried in there.
But in any case, the Olympics are a symbol of excellence just like America is a symbol of excellence (even if they're falling short right now). We all just need to figure out how to convert these symbols back from advertising slogans into reality. Of course, if we had half a brain we'd stop squawking this patriotic garbage and start worrying about the Shenzhou threat. And Shenzhou is a real threat.
Do you even know what it is?
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