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05/17/2004: "Un-American"

The US Olympic Team athletes are being told not to wave the flag while celebrating during medal presentations this year in an effort to not appear jingoistic and “for fear of provoking crowd hostility and harming the country's already-battered public image” according to the Washington Times. This advice is coming from Mike Moran, a consultant to the USOC.

Here’s my advice to the US Olympic Team athletes. You have trained long and hard to get to these games. When you have won a medal, you celebrate any damn way you please and be damned with what the rest of the world thinks. Mr. Moran’s advice and the position of the US Olympic Committee are flat out wrong and insulting to all Americans.

The Committee must be suffering from some form of hate America dementia. For those in the world who hate us, your success with a medal win will have the same effect of provoking hostility no matter how humble you try to appear. By their way of thinking we shouldn’t even participate for fear of “the bullies” looking like gloating winners. Don’t expect them to go that far as that would mean unemployment lines for them.

This is a form of appeasement that will do nothing but make the US look weak. I have news for the Olympic Committee; the US has nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to apologize for. These athletes shouldn’t be caught up in politics but if you are going to insist they do, at least be on the side of your own country.

The US Olympic Committee is wrong taking this position and I hope you all will make us all proud. Be strong and be safe and you have nothing to be ashamed of representing the United Staes of America.

Replies: 2 Comments

Oh let's see... if the United States just minded it's own business would the official language of the Olympics in Athens this year be German or Russian?

Eliza said @ 05/17/2004 07:40 AM MST

So we Americans are expected to support the olympics, why?
The world has literally gone crazy.
Send hundreds of athletes to the olympics, do not support our athletes, do not wave American flags, do not cheer Americans.
What is the point of sending our olympians at all? I thought the point of the whole damn shooting match was to see who the best competitors are, and where they are from. Kiss my rear, USOC.

joe citizen said @ 05/18/2004 06:33 PM MST