I love watching hockey, both games between Team USA and Team Canada were frickin' awesome... but to me, the men's ice hockey is just 13 days of Stanley Cup finals, highly paid NHL professionals playing each other. I'd like the Olympic committee get together and say no professional or semi-professional players in the future, I'm sure they can com eup with something...e.g. college students
That will, unfortunately, never happen. There is too much money involved and too many countries are way too pressed to win at almost any cost.
Canada had dumped $110 million into the "Own the Podium" program. It resulted in Canada winning the most gold medals, and more medals than any other host country ever in the winter Olympics. Canadian engineers, scientists and athletes worked for years developing all sorts of supposedly winning technology, which in some cases worked. Is this "amateur" sports in any way? Not at all!
This creation of pseudo-amateur athletes started with the Russians and East Germans and has spread to most other countries. The Olympics are essentially a rich-man's sport that no longer embodies the true Olympic spirit.
There is no way to prevent that activity, the pressure to win is too great. True amateurs will never mount the podium in any significant numbers. Nor will the smaller or poorer countries, they don't have a chance.
Fair? - no!
Reality? - yes!
