Dragon boat issue part of larger Olympic dilemma

“Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.” – Joe Louis

Everybody wants to be part of the Olympic movement, and have their sport played as a medal event in the quadrennial Olympic Games. But to do that, some sports will figuratively have to die, merging with existing Olympic members to have even the hope of becoming a regular Olympic event. The controversy created by the suggestion of the International Olympic Committee that dragon boat fold into canoe-kayak internationally is just the tip of the iceberg.

It is common knowledge that the economies of many countries have taken a huge hit after hosting the Olympic Games. They are left with white elephant venues and infrastructure that is seldom used. In fact, it was only in 1984 when Peter Ueberroth took on leadership of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee (LAOOC) that the modern games saw a profit. The first thing Ueberroth did was sign a television contract, then negotiate with sponsors to build venues for him. This is the precursor of many NBA venues being named after the corporations that funded their construction.

Even so, more and more countries are realizing the enormity of the challenge of hosting. There is also the threat that existing member sports may be eased out by the sheer number of sports seeking entry. This was painfully evident in July of 2005, when the IOC voted to take baseball and softball out of the Olympic Games while retaining its 26 other sports. Of course, this is partly being blamed on the European dominance of the IOC and the lack of development of those two American pastimes in that continent. But it cannot be denied that economics and unburdening future host countries was also a factor. Even a few years prior to that, the IOC executive committee voted down the application of fourteen sports, including bowling, billiards and dancesport, three disciplines that Filipinos are world-class at. Arianne Cerdena won the Olympic gold medal in bowling when it was, a demonstration sport in Seoul in 1988. But since then, bowling not advanced into the medal round. Synchronized swimming, for its part, has either had two or three medal events in past Olympics, depending on many factors.

Although the prospect of hosting the Olympics provides the impetus for the construction of roads, bridges and facilities that may help the host city in the long run, as Beijing is now experiencing. But the challenge it also bears a huge financial burden of providing transportation before and during the games. Besides, not all venues are mere covered multi-purpose spaces. Special equipment is also needed. We see this more and more in the Southeast Asian Games, the lowest level of Olympic competition for our part of the world. More and more host countries exercise their right to exclude sports both for their convenience in hosting and obvious benefit in the medal standings.

In March of 2007, England’s House of Commons announced a budget of £5.3 billion merely to cover the cost of building venues and infrastructure for the 2012 London Olympics, as well as an additional £1.7 billion. Adding other costs, then projected total for all the facelifts to London would be close to £10 billion. Just a few months later, after London had won the bidding, opposition members of parliament were criticizing the government for underestimating the costs of staging the Games. It will cost about another £2 billion for the mere two and a half weeks of the Games themselves, as millions of people, over a hundred thousand athletes, tens of thousands of journalists, and thousands more other attached personnel flood London and its environs.

So what does all this have to do with the issue of the Philippine Dragon Boat Federation joining the umbrella of the Philippine Canoe-Kayak Federation?

Seeing the uphill climb in getting into the Olympic Games, some sports see it as a more viable option to join an exisiting IOC-recognized international federation, where they would have a better chance at being shoehorned into the Olympic Games as a new event of an existing sport. FIBA, for example, is pushing three-on-three basketball internationally. The supposed end in view is to build up this permutation of basketball to the point that it will have enough support to be included as a subset of basketball in the Olympics in the near future. This is not to say that this is the only solution, but if dragon boat was under an existing Olympic sport, it would stand to reason that it would be easier for them to get into the Olympics with an exisiting member sport backing them up.

Given that scenario, it is easier to campaign for inclusion through an existing pipeline. They will already be part of the fraternity, with a big brother backing them up. Besides, any interference would produce immediate negative results, both in terms of turmoil and lowered performance. Existing IOC member would be hard-pressed to create new and acceptable variations of their sports, like three-on-three basketball. It would also benefit them to have an existing sport come under their wing. It’s a new sibling to bring into the club. Given a closer look, that option may appeal to some sectors as a higher percentage shot, with both sides gaining.

On the other hand, one may also look at it as a form of surrender, or of making one’s sport vulnerable to being shunted aside as a lower priority under a larger umbrella. That may be a possibility. In the case of dragon boat vs canoe-kayak, the argument stands that they are different disciplines, with dragon boat paddlers facing one direction and canoe and kayak rowers facing the other. Perhaps they want their autonomy, as well, which is not a bad thing, though it may be harder in the long run.

At the end of the day, the question is what will ultimately work for them in their quest to get onto the narrowing track into the Olympics, where they have a great chance of bringing gold and glory to the Philippines.