Olympic Games, world championship of chauvinism

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In a few days the London Olympic Games will start. The French are not very interested in them who obviously bought fewer tickets than expected (admittedly at exorbitant prices). Well, it's not much talked about here, but a lot in LondonIt's crazy how we tend to think that the whole world is talking about it, watching it, waiting for it, being aware of every detail of the preparations and being impressed by such prowess and organisation. It's crazy how we tend to always be convinced that the whole world is looking over our shoulder at what we are doing, and getting excited about it.

In a few days we will discover our first medallists, at least we hope so. We will have our daily announcement of the day's closely watched medal counter. "Two silver medals today, still no gold"; "and no, no podium today, but a fantastic fourth place for ...".

This litany of medals will keep us on our toes, of course, and will fill us with collective pride, which is also necessary, so much the better. Pride in showing the world (the one looking over our shoulders) our talent, our heroes, our exceptional destinies. And while we showcase our champions to the world, convinced of the global admiration they will arouse ... every other country will keep its own counter, talk about its champions, enthuse about its bronze medal without mentioning the Olympic champion, convinced that we will be blissfully admiring their athletes as we are convinced that these other countries will be for ours. But everyone is only looking at their own meter.

In this shopping mall of chauvinism and boasting, each nation looks only at its own window. And this showcase will change every day, like an update of our exceptional and media-sparse champions, treated in the scum of the news, like the rest, champions though they are. We will be reminded of our best Olympic performance, like a threshold to beat, a record to break. We will run after it like we run after the telethon counter, with the difference that while not everyone can be an Olympic champion, everyone can make a donation.

The main thing is no longer to participate, of course, but to win, to dominate, to prove one's supremacy. Sports competitions have always been political, economic and diplomatic competitions. Of course, one remembers the great era of the Olympic cold war between the USA and the USSR. And, on a lighter note, a few days ago we had fun predicting that Greece would beat Germany in the Euro quarter-finals, just for the pleasure of the good headline "Greece takes Germany out of the Euro".

The quest for the Olympic Grail is certainly a sporting competition, but it is also a world exhibition, a formidable race for a global audienceThis is a great opportunity for the athletes, the sponsors of course, the organising country, and each of the nations behind the flag of their champions.
Everyone is looking for the light, the world is navel-gazing, both at the level of nations and individuals. And probably more navel-gazing than individualism, we often confuse the two. We are probably more inclined to think of ourselves as the centre of the world, to want to be interested in the world rather than being interested in the world. Never before have we had so many ways of listening to the world, but also of expressing ourselves, or rather exposing ourselves. We are hyper-connected and we believe we are interconnected. Interconnected to expose ourselves more than to listen and look. So we are interested in the other of course... as an audience, as a friend, as a follower, as a comment, as a source of comment.
Everyone sees noon to his own door, there must be many doors, because the sun, the world, there is only one, but it is variable geometry, and the reflection of what we want, like Plato's shadows. A recent discussion with a friend had us discussing the importance of our region in Roman times. We came to the weight of France, estimated demographically (as far as possible) at about 10 million souls at the time of Christ, the beginning of the Roman Empire. The world population of the time was estimated, approximately and to have a mnemonic means, at the current French population, 65 million. One in seven of the world's inhabitants was therefore 'French' in Roman times, 1 in 100 today. The world's population has multiplied by 100, that of France by seven. We are right to be proud of our demographic vitality, but as Einstein surely said, "everything is relative".
It's crazy how we tend to think we are the centre of the world ... especially when we bring the world down to ourselves! Numb-nuts, definitely.

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