Why do minorities shun the Winter Olympics?
OPIYO OLOYA<br><i>PERSPECTIVE OF A UGANDAN IN CANADA</i><br><br>The Winter Olympics held in Vancouver, on Canada’s west coast ended Sunday with a bang. Canada outplayed the US in the gold-medal hockey final, a thriller that left many veterans biting their finger nails.
OPIYO OLOYA
PERSPECTIVE OF A UGANDAN IN CANADA
The Winter Olympics held in Vancouver, on Canada’s west coast ended Sunday with a bang. Canada outplayed the US in the gold-medal hockey final, a thriller that left many veterans biting their finger nails.
The US hockey team was unbeaten until then, romping over Canada in the preliminary rounds. But on the day that it most counted, Canada led the US 2-1 through most of the third period. And then, with only 24 seconds. left on the clock, the US scored the equaliser, forcing an extra time. In the end, Canada prevailed in the game of hockey which is considered a religion of sorts in the country.
Although I did not go to Vancouver, I caught most of the live actions on television with my sons, Ogaba, 7 and Oceng, 11. My wife thought we were too noisy and stayed away. Meanwhile, we took in hockey, downhill snowboarding, skiing, curling, ice-skating and speed skating.
Generally, we cheered for all the Canadian athletes. We cheered louder when Joannie Rochette, the figure skater whose mother died of a heart attack a couple of days before she was to compete, pulled herself together and won a bronze medal. We also cheered for the Canadian women’s hockey team which beat the Americans to earn gold.
Quickly, as happens when watching these games, you begin to check out who to identify with, who to cheer for. Our cheers seemed a bit louder whenever we saw Jarome Iginla. Iginla Adenkule, who plays in the North American professional hockey league, is a black man whose father hailed from Nigeria and mother originally came from Oregon. He was one of the hockey stars at this Winter Olympics. He was a big scorer who seemed to know what to do to put his team ahead.
We also cheered when American speed skater, Shani Davis, also black, won gold in the 1,000m race. Davis, a two-time gold medalist, also won a silver medal later in the 1500m speed skating. In all, there may have been one or two other competitors in this Winter Olympics who were black. There was Shelley-Ann Brown, the first Canadian black female to win a medal in the Winter Games. She and her team-mate Helen Upperton won silver in the two-man bobsled race (it is called a two-man even though all the competitors are women).
However, the Olympics winter games do not attract many visible minorities. When the Jamaican bobsled team first competed in 1988 Olympics Winter Games in Calgary, they were considered oddities. It seemed the winter games were not for the black person and the popularity of the Jamaican team was more out of sympathy than for excellence. And, over the years, this has proven to be generally true.
I suspect that part of the problem is not the fear of cold that many believe scares off those with hot African blood. I see two major issues that keep visible minorities from these winter games. One is the lack of role models, competitors like Iginla and Shani Davis, who stand out in a way as to attract young visible minorities to try out the sport. There are not many black figure skaters and, consequently, there are not many young black kids who think of the sport as a viable option when considering different sporting events.
Compare that with the many young blacks who aspire to become basketballers, and who excel in the game. Michael Jordan is black. Shaquille O’Neal is black. The list goes on. Then there is American and Canadian footballs (not soccer) which also attract a fair number of young visible minority athletes. But, of course, the perennial attraction is track and field, especially in the short races, where young men and women of African heritage do very well.
But I also suspect that there is something to be said about winter sports — they generally demand more monetary investments in the initial phases. While more African Canadians and African Americans continue to move into middle and middle upper classes, the majority must still work hard to make ends meet. Whereas it takes next to nothing to buy a basket ball and get a game going, it takes a lot more investment to get into competitive level in skating, skiing and speed skating.
In other words, it will be a while before we see more black faces at these Olympics winter games. That is why the loudest cheers in my household went up when Iginla had the puck, and especially when he scored. Though we loved to see Americans beaten, we were all aglow when Shani Davis took that gold. He is American, but it was such a wonderful sight to behold the African American man glide into gold so graciously, seemingly without breaking a sweat. But, of course, when we googled his story, we found that the man started skating at the tender age of three. No wonder.
Anyhow, we still enjoyed the Winter Olympics. Hopefully, in the next one in Moscow in 2014, there will be many more Shani Davis and Iginlas competing.
Opiyo.oloya@sympatico.ca
PERSPECTIVE OF A UGANDAN IN CANADA
The Winter Olympics held in Vancouver, on Canada’s west coast ended Sunday with a bang. Canada outplayed the US in the gold-medal hockey final, a thriller that left many veterans biting their finger nails.
The US hockey team was unbeaten until then, romping over Canada in the preliminary rounds. But on the day that it most counted, Canada led the US 2-1 through most of the third period. And then, with only 24 seconds. left on the clock, the US scored the equaliser, forcing an extra time. In the end, Canada prevailed in the game of hockey which is considered a religion of sorts in the country.
Although I did not go to Vancouver, I caught most of the live actions on television with my sons, Ogaba, 7 and Oceng, 11. My wife thought we were too noisy and stayed away. Meanwhile, we took in hockey, downhill snowboarding, skiing, curling, ice-skating and speed skating.
Generally, we cheered for all the Canadian athletes. We cheered louder when Joannie Rochette, the figure skater whose mother died of a heart attack a couple of days before she was to compete, pulled herself together and won a bronze medal. We also cheered for the Canadian women’s hockey team which beat the Americans to earn gold.
Quickly, as happens when watching these games, you begin to check out who to identify with, who to cheer for. Our cheers seemed a bit louder whenever we saw Jarome Iginla. Iginla Adenkule, who plays in the North American professional hockey league, is a black man whose father hailed from Nigeria and mother originally came from Oregon. He was one of the hockey stars at this Winter Olympics. He was a big scorer who seemed to know what to do to put his team ahead.
We also cheered when American speed skater, Shani Davis, also black, won gold in the 1,000m race. Davis, a two-time gold medalist, also won a silver medal later in the 1500m speed skating. In all, there may have been one or two other competitors in this Winter Olympics who were black. There was Shelley-Ann Brown, the first Canadian black female to win a medal in the Winter Games. She and her team-mate Helen Upperton won silver in the two-man bobsled race (it is called a two-man even though all the competitors are women).
However, the Olympics winter games do not attract many visible minorities. When the Jamaican bobsled team first competed in 1988 Olympics Winter Games in Calgary, they were considered oddities. It seemed the winter games were not for the black person and the popularity of the Jamaican team was more out of sympathy than for excellence. And, over the years, this has proven to be generally true.
I suspect that part of the problem is not the fear of cold that many believe scares off those with hot African blood. I see two major issues that keep visible minorities from these winter games. One is the lack of role models, competitors like Iginla and Shani Davis, who stand out in a way as to attract young visible minorities to try out the sport. There are not many black figure skaters and, consequently, there are not many young black kids who think of the sport as a viable option when considering different sporting events.
Compare that with the many young blacks who aspire to become basketballers, and who excel in the game. Michael Jordan is black. Shaquille O’Neal is black. The list goes on. Then there is American and Canadian footballs (not soccer) which also attract a fair number of young visible minority athletes. But, of course, the perennial attraction is track and field, especially in the short races, where young men and women of African heritage do very well.
But I also suspect that there is something to be said about winter sports — they generally demand more monetary investments in the initial phases. While more African Canadians and African Americans continue to move into middle and middle upper classes, the majority must still work hard to make ends meet. Whereas it takes next to nothing to buy a basket ball and get a game going, it takes a lot more investment to get into competitive level in skating, skiing and speed skating.
In other words, it will be a while before we see more black faces at these Olympics winter games. That is why the loudest cheers in my household went up when Iginla had the puck, and especially when he scored. Though we loved to see Americans beaten, we were all aglow when Shani Davis took that gold. He is American, but it was such a wonderful sight to behold the African American man glide into gold so graciously, seemingly without breaking a sweat. But, of course, when we googled his story, we found that the man started skating at the tender age of three. No wonder.
Anyhow, we still enjoyed the Winter Olympics. Hopefully, in the next one in Moscow in 2014, there will be many more Shani Davis and Iginlas competing.
Opiyo.oloya@sympatico.ca