Olympic moments

By Salama A Salama

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A fortnight of Olympic games is over. Nations cheered as their athletes claimed their rightful medals. Stadiums filled up with joyous spectators. Every contestant, every team had the chance to compete against the best, and to find out where they stand among other world athletes. World records were broken, others survived the challenge, and no one could say that the judges were biased or the fans misbehaved. For a change, Egypt won its first gold medal in 56 years.

The crowds brought joy and anticipation to the stadiums, their zeal tinged with the euphoria of victory. But where were our own? Where are the young Arab fans? How come they weren't celebrating among other nations, joyful in the moments of athletic accomplishments and the brilliance of international talent? Our youth was elsewhere, drowned in their endless sorrow, in the news of massacres and humiliation that define today's Iraq, of city fighting taking placed under occupation, of television-relayed horror, of innocent Arab blood being shed in vain, of the multiple traumas of Israeli occupation, of corruption in high Palestinian places.

From Afghanistan to Iraq, to Palestine, to Darfur, the tragedy is still unfolding. And yet we are still debating the fine points of good governance, egalitarian education, power sharing, and all the good things we intend to do.

What shocked me most was when Egyptian newspapers began discussing the reasons our weight lifting champion, Nahlah Ramadan, failed to get a medal, although we had no good reason to think she would. Instead of looking for the real causes for her loss, newspapers pointed out that Nahlah was a young woman of modest means who worked out in front of her father's shop and that the Olympic committee threw upon her the burden of cheering up 70 million Egyptians. What is this nonsense that the Egyptian press comes up with each time we fail to win, or even qualify for, an international sports event?

There are moments of truth, of genius, of belief in oneself and of one's ability to win, and we don't have them. There is a youthful urge to attain success, and we don't have it. Why else do other small and medium-sized countries rake a substantial share of medals and we don't? And why do they succeed where we fail, even in minor sports? Simply put, they have a system that works.

They have an eye for the talents and abilities around them. And they have national Olympic committees that are not knee-deep in corruption. Their Olympic committees don't wait for fluke occurrences -- like the gold medal winner we've had -- to save their faces. This is the tragedy of our Arab youth. This is the tragedy of a nation that has lost its self-confide nce. Good luck with the next Olympics!