Leap of faith: Olympics are a positive model for us all
Bringing nations together teaches us to value diversity
Back in 2012, going to the Olympic Park as a volunteer chaplain in my Games Maker uniform was a joy. Everyone was chatty and smiley on the underground… it’s never been that harmonius since.
Now, in 2024, it is worth celebrating the Olympic spirt once more. There are 206 countries who have sent delegations to the Olympics and 184 nations will also compete at the Paralympics. At the time of writing, over 70 delegations have won at least one medal.
Competitors from all parts of the world have been meeting each other in the Athletes’ Village and elsewhere. One highlight was seeing medal-winning athletes from North and South Korea take selfies together. This is the Olympic ideal – of excellence, respect, and friendship.
Against that backdrop, Russia has been excluded – rightly in my opinion – and some countries will put their athletes under such pressure to win at all costs that the ideals are actually subverted.
Israeli athletes have been competing under the additional pressure of threats against them because of the ongoing war in Gaza, which makes their six medals (at the time of writing) even more remarkable.
So, are the Olympics a good thing from a Jewish perspective?
Let’s note that the origins of the modern Olympic movement were in Baron Pierre de Coubertin’s fascination with the ancient Greek Olympiad.
These ancient games were imported to Jerusalem in the second century BCE and were one aspect of the Hellenistic culture that was violently opposed by the Maccabees, partly because back then competitors were naked. It is ironic that the Jewish international sports competition is called the Maccabiah Games!
However, we note that Maimonides wrote in his Mishneh Torah that maintaining physical health is part of walking in the ways of God. We also learn that there was a biblical marathon mentioned in 1 Samuel chapter 4, when “a Benjaminite ran from the battlefield and reached Shiloh the same day; his clothes were rent and there was earth on his head.” The distance seems to be slightly longer than the Olympic marathon.
So, at the personal level, sporting activity might be encouraged, to help us live healthier lives. This, coupled with the general Torah principle of loving the stranger, shows that participation in the Olympics, if you’re good enough, is a good thing.
At the macro-level of international relations, bringing together people from different backgrounds and parts of the world for peaceful competition is to be encouraged. It teaches each nation to value diversity in all its forms. It shows us all that excellence can be found in so many different nations.
On their own, the Olympics cannot facilitate peace on earth. However, they can model several very positive messages for us all and remind us that, as with almost every aspect of life, we can choose to do what is right and good instead of opting for that which is riot and bad.
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