PANIOLO’S CORNER: The spirit of competition breeds excellence
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It is a breath of fresh air to watch the world's best athletes come together and compete for the right to call themselves the best in the world at their respective sports. This year's olympic games are a reminder of how messed up the world was the last time the olympic games came around. It's good to see that the world is at least somewhat getting back to normal after covid made the 2020 games take place in 2021.
Watching the opening ceremony with my young son and explaining to him what the Olympics are all about has been a treat in itself. And I have noticed since the games started that there is a resurgence in kids playing games outside and mimicking the athletes they are seeing on the world's biggest stage.
How could they not want to be like those athletes they are seeing compete in the Olympics? For many children right now, this is the first time they are getting to watch the games take place.
"How do I get to the Olympics," my son asked me quizzically the other day while we were watching the swimming competitions.
"It takes a lifetime of devotion and giving everything you have to the sport you love," I told him while he thought it over in his eight-year-old mind.
And that is how the whole cycle starts again, and it's a great thing to see. These kids will see these athletes compete for their country and that will spur them on to try new sports all because they watched it in the summer olympics.
"It's not easy to make it to the Olympics," I say to my son. "You have to dedicate your entire life to a sport in order to make it."
"I think I can do that," he tells me as a smile spreads across my face thinking about the prospect of my son one day becoming an Olympian.
And those moments where you get to see the families of these Olympians celebrate success or failure where the emotion is raw and real is why people are so drawn to the human side of the games.
What gets lost in the games is the state of the world right now and all the conflict and people dying for their country. While the Olympics play out, there are two wars grinding on in Ukraine and Israel. The war machine will not take a pause for the Olympic games, but when the world comes together on one stage there is a peace and calm that takes hold amongst nations. Here's to hoping that the world is getting back on track after the chaos that has taken place since the last Olympic games. And hope is what is at the center of it all.
*Ryan Mitchel Collins is the Managing Editor of The Maui News and can be reached directly at rcollins@mauinews.com.