>>>>Next time, the Olympics should be carried out on the Moon. No reports of serious human rights violations from there, so far!
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>>>Maybe the world should just agree on some neutral ground - an island somewhere that enjoys all four seasons and has both rivers, lakes, and mountains for winter sports. They can be held there forever... :o)
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>>>Now, which country gets the travel rights, phone, food, lodging, security? Hmmm, time to privatize the UN? :o) Or we just give it to the Swiss...
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>>Its should be permanently in Greece. And it should be just the classic track and field events in a stadium plus a marathon. And no national flags and medal tables. Plus they should be genuine amateurs.
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>Greece would be fine with me, and the classic track and field events too. I would love to see the olympics lose the flags and medal tables. I've never really understood the whole concept of "they're competing for their country" - especially here in Canada where the country does so very little to help them. They are competing for themselves. The whole pride thing is a bit foreign to me too. If somebody who happens to have grown up in the same country as I did wins a medal, I've never been able to figure out just exactly what it has to do with me. I might root for him/her, just as I root for the Toronto Raptors basketball team, but if they win, I have great doubts that I had anything substantial to do with it.
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>As far as being amateurs, well, I don't have strong feelings one way or the other about that. The original marathoner, remember was a professional soldier, not an amateur. Some even believe he was a professional runner (whatever that was back then).

The story may be apocryphal but it is one of my favorites and absolutely my favorite brand name backstory. His name was Pheidippides and he ran from Marathon to Athens, a distance of 26 miles, to announce a Greek victory in battle. He fell dead at the ruler's feet but not before shouting out the Greek word for victory: nike.