Chauvinism at Atlanta

The centenary Olympic Games, just concluded in Atlanta, kept up the tradition of great moments. Ireland's Michelle Smith's three swimming golds, Michael Johnson's double-gold track performance, Carl Lewis' ninth gold of his career and weightlifter Naim Suleymanoglu's lifts were among the moments of exhilaration.

Unfortunately, however, the Atlanta Games will also be remembered for something quite different: displays of crude chauvinism by some American athletes and the media, and the organizational foul-ups.

Famed computer systems were spewing out nonsense for the media in the first few days, reflecting in the technological sphere the terrible traffic jams and transport chaos that became an impediment to athletic training or competition.

The glaring failures in infrastructural support contrasted sharply with the efficiency with which the 1988 Seoul and 1992 Barcelona Games were conducted.

The breakdown touched on a larger point. Had it occurred in China, for example, not only would the country's inefficiency have been assailed but its political system as well.

What was remarkable in Atlanta was the chauvinism which the game unleashed. Swimmer Michelle Smith's victimization by her American rivals and the media dramatized the habitual incredulity with which many Americans greet the news that foreigners can beat them at sport.

Often, American television's misplaced nationalism took the form of turning foreign athletes into villains; at other times, keeping them off the screen.

Can one hope that Sydney, the stage for the next Olympics in 2000 in preference over Beijing, will meet the world's expectations?

-- Straits Times, Singapore