Olympic games encourage unity and multiculturalism
By Jerrison Oracion, Senior Columnist
The 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games are happening now, and Canada has won a lot of medals earlier than expected. The Olympic games are something that happens every four years, where the entire world is watching and cheering on their team to get medals for their countries. The Olympics show that when everyone comes and plays together, the world can be united by the power of sport.
The Olympics have a lot of sports to showcase, providing a lot of choices on which events you can watch. When watching them, you might become interested in a sport or learn about a sport that you did not know about. You even could be inspired to compete in that sport and participate in a future Olympic Games.
There are many benefits to having an Olympics. The Olympic games unite people and promote multiculturalism. In the host city of an Olympic Games, everyone shows their colours, supports their country’s team, and go to events and activities together. It boosts tourism in whatever city it’s being hosted in, and essentially puts it on the map. Also, it encourages people to volunteer in the games to get more involved in the world community and make a difference. Since the entire world is watching the games, there are a lot of moments that people will talk about for a long time, and the Olympics also teaches viewers things about sports they may not have known before.
An example of this in the Winter Games this year are the snowboard commentators, including recent Canadian bronze medalist snowboarder Mark McMorris’s brother, Craig McMorris, using snowboarding slang to describe what was happening, which helped people learn snowboarding terms. An example of a moment that people will talk about is the North Korean Cheer Team that is seen in various venues. While some say their cheers might contain propaganda, the combination with pop music makes them interesting.
The Olympics are necessary because it encourages everyone to do sports and unites countries and people. Everyone talks about the Olympics when they are on, which brings people together and helps to diffuse world conflicts. The Winter Games seem to have calmed the situation with North Korea somewhat because the South Korean athletes are getting along with the North Korean athletes, Kim Jong-Un’s sister went to the opening ceremony, and it has facilitated discussions with South Korean President Moon Jae-In. If the Olympics were not happening, countries would be further divided, and things might have been much worse.