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, there's not much talk of it here, but a lot in LondonAnd yet we're convinced that the whole world is talking about them, watching them, waiting for them, aware of every detail of the preparations and impressed by so much prowess and organisation. It's crazy, this tendency we have to always be convinced that the whole world is looking over our shoulder at what we're doing and is passionate about it.
So in a few days' time we'll be discovering our first medallists, or so we hope.. We will be treated to our daily announcement of the day's closely watched medal count. "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 fill us with collective pride, which is also necessary, so much the better. Pride in showing the world (the one looking over our shoulder) our talent, our heroes, our exceptional destinies. And while we're showing off our champions to the world, convinced of the global admiration they will arouse... every other country will be keeping its own counter, talking about its champions, raving about its bronze medal without mentioning the Olympic champion, convinced that we will be dumbstruck with admiration for their athletes just as we are convinced that these other countries will be dumbstruck with admiration for ours. But everyone is only looking at their counter.
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 champions, as exceptional as they are ephemeral in the media, treated in the froth of the news, like the rest, champions that they are. We will be reminded of our best Olympic performance, like a threshold to be beaten, a record to be broken. We'll chase it like we chase 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 take part, of course, but to win, to dominate, to prove your supremacy. Sports competitions have always been political, economic and diplomatic competitions. Of course, we all remember the great days 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 quarter-finals of the euro, just for the pleasure of the headline "Greece lifts Germany out of the euro".