Olympic "glory"

Ah, the Olympics.
They were first run for the glory of the gods.
They were revived to be run for the glory of the athletes.
Today, they are run for the glory of the countries.

Look up any news page concerning the Olympics. Now try to find the names of the winners.
If the page is devoted to the Olympics, you shouldn't have a problem. But if you have picked a general sports page, then what you get is a list of countries, with how many gold, silver, and bronze they've won.
They've won. The countries. Not the athletes.
Next year this time, you won't even know their names. The athletes aren't important anymore. The ones who manage to win several medals may end up on a Wheaties box for a month, but then it's back to Michael Jordan.

We dishonor the ideals of the Olympics every time we run them. We change the definition of "amateur" so that Canada can fill its hockey squad with the NHL All Stars, and The US can field the NBA's finest as their Dream Team. Across the pond, the Eastern Europeans were famous for pumping so many steroids into their athletes that the women needed sex tests, and the men looked like the Incredible Hulk. The legacy of those days go on, as competitors are required to take so many tests you'd think they were headed for Mars. I wouldn't be surprised if Interpol has a special Olympic squad of its own, dedicated to running down all the frauds pertaining to this "pure" competition.

And yet, the ideals are still there. For every pumped up warrior dreaming of a Nike contract, there are 10 kids who have spent the last four years doing nothing but train day and night. So long as these kids remain in the majority, the Games are worth saving.