There’s something about the Olympic Games that arouses passions inside people from around the world. Perhaps it’s the stirring music that beckons athletes to compete at the highest level as they compete for fame, notoriety, and a gold medal. Perhaps it’s the amazing stories of the athletes themselves, some who have overcome immense obstacles just for the privilege of representing their country. Perhaps it’s the moments where a star is created or an image is etched into the collective consciousness of billions. Perhaps it’s simply the torch lighting. Whatever the reason, it makes for compelling television viewing (and is even better attended in person).
As we near the start of the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, China, we’ve become used to certain facets of the modern Olympic movement. The product placements by competing athletes. The wall-to-wall coverage of every event (especially on the Internet). The blurring of what constitutes an Olympian (amateur versus professional). And (sadly) the phrase ‘positive drug test.’ It’s hard to imagine that at one time, none of these issues and situations existed at the Olympics.
That is, until the Rome Olympics of 1960.
Something was different about this particular gathering of the world’s athletes. The world, after two World Wars, had qualitatively changed. Germany was united and the Berlin Wall wasn’t constructed. China was divided. Athletes unlike any seen before graced the stage—like Rafer Johnson and Cassius Clay, who 36 years later (and one name change to Muhammad Ali) lit the torch in Atlanta.
Pulitzer-Prize winning author David Maraniss has taken a look at these games and has penned a work that will prove to be an enlightening read. The title: Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed The World.
Often, these events serve to challenge and inspire the world to be the best it can be. And so does the Bible—although it doesn’t mention the Olympics explicitly, it does offer numerous opportunities to encourage and inspire us to levels of greatness unattainable on our own.