Now that the Olympics have drawn to a close, TV channels across the nation are turning back to their regular programming, and many sets are turning away from NBC and ESPN. But what about here in Rexbug? How have BYU-Idaho students received the Olympics
this year?

Some students were very enthusiastic. “I would quit homework to watch,” said Alexander “Skippy” Elder, a freshman studying nursing. “I’m an American. I support 100 percent.”

There are some students who look forward to the Olympics every time.

 “It’s just tradition,” said Chelsea Ashcraft, a freshman studying art. “I’ve always watched the Olympics with
my family.”

Other students watched for different reasons. “I’ve looked at the medal count more than I’ve watched,” said Brian Allen, a junior studying mechanical engineering. 

This medal-mania isn’t uncommon among the students here. Most students said they feel good when America wins a medal. 

“You cheer for your team because you always want your team to win,”
Ashcraft said.

This patriotism may be a part of American culture now, but the modern Olympics had a rough beginning.

Pierre de Coubertin, a Frenchman who pushed for the Olympics to be revived from their roots in ancient Greece, said in November 1892, “Let us export our oarsmen, our runners, our fencers into other lands. That is the true Free Trade of the future; and the day it is introduced into Europe, the cause of Peace will have received a new and strong ally.”

The Olympics were reinstated just four years later in April 1896 and held in Athens. The Winter Olympics didn’t start until 1924.

Elder said that at the time of the Olympics, differences among us don’t matter as much. “It doesn’t matter if we’re Republican or Democrat, gay
or straight.”

Allen agreed with Elder, even on a global scale. “The Olympics are the one thing that brings the world together,” Allen said. “I don’t know of anything else where every nation in the world
comes together.”

This is exactly what the original Olympic supporters desired. Coubertin and his associates felt that training and supporting athletes would bring nations together, both with each other and
with themselves.

One benefit of the Olympics is the compassion and understanding of other nations that comes from competition. 

“I’m also happy when small countries that we don’t really know about get a medal,” Elder said.

It’s true that in the past, the Olympics have been plagued by protests, propaganda and even terrorism, but the International Olympic Committee has worked hard to instate regulations that ensure athletes will be able to represent their country on a level playing field during Olympic Games. 

According to www.olympic.org, the official Web site for the Olympic Movement, the three Olympic values are “excellence, respect and friendship.” Just as Coubertin dreamed when he fought for the Olympic revival in the 1890s, the Olympics bring friendship and peace between nations.