Why I won't be watching Olympic Soccer

Call me old-fashioned and a purist if you will, but I will not be watching the 2012 London Olympics soccer matches or any other sport that allows professional athletes to compete. The International Olympic Committee sold out their principles years ago when they allowed professionals in many sports to compete against amateur athletes. This was the keystone principle of the Olympic games. Now we see professional soccer players, hockey players and the like who make millions against whom amateur athletes have no chance of fair competition.

I remember how the IOC complained perfusely about the "semi-professional" army athletes of many countries who, in truth, had no other military function than training in their selected sport. There is no such thing as a level playing field in Olympic sport anymore which is extremely sad.

Nowadays it is all about MONEY and not sportsmanship. Once there was a time when any young athlete could aspire to greatness and to gaining a spot on his or her country's olympic team... those days are long gone.

Maybe it's just that I was born and raised in a country (Canada) where soccer is really not all that popular a sport, but I also have the sincere belief that the Olympic games are no place for professionals. Well, maybe if they were in a competition for bad hairdos professional soccer players should be allowed... but then again.

I was never a fan of soccer in the first place, which kind of makes me out of place here in Brazil, but I wouldn't watch it in Olympic competition if you paid me. What next, NFL, NHL, NBA and WBO athletes too????

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog