Editor’s Desk: Why the Olympics captivate sports fans and non-fans alike

There’s a special buzz in the atmosphere, a certain frisson in the air that comes around every four years during the Olympics.

I am an avid fan of certain sports, but certainly not all sports. Of course, there’s the usual suspects of favourites like swimming, track and field, basketball, soccer but during the Olympics fortnight I find myself barracking for teams and athletes in sports I rarely, if ever, watch — beach volleyball, handball, pole vaulting, weightlifting, shooting, gymnastics, lawn bowls, BMX riding.

You get it: quite an eclectic mix of athletic endeavours.

There’s just something about seeing the green and gold that gets the blood pumping.

Which is why I am prepared to operate on less sleep than usual over the next two weeks as the Aussies take it up to the rest of the world in Paris.

I think Paris 2024 will be extra special after the Tokyo 2020 Olympics were delayed and then curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Having no crowds cheering the athletes on just didn’t seem right.

I love the goosebump-inducing spectacle, the rivalries, the thrilling edge-of-your-seat finishes, the heartwarming stories, the surprise packages that always emerge during the Olympics.

Even people I know who actively dislike watching sports jump on the green and gold bandwagon and turn into armchair experts. It’s the Olympics effect.

The sayings of “it’s more than sport” or “it’s more than just a game” can be overused. But during the Olympics, it’s never more true that it’s much more than sport.

It’s about the patriotism, it’s about sportsmanship, it’s about the unifying force that sports can weave. Even though they were decades ago now, I can still remember where I was when I watched Kieren Perkins win the 1500m from lane eight in Atlanta in 1996 and in Sydney 2000 when the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay team smashed the Americans like guitars and Cathy Freeman won her epic 400m race.

It says something about the Olympics that athletes who achieved their feats before I was even born — Dawn Fraser, Betty Cuthbert, Herb Elliott, Ron Clarke to name a few — are still household names.

So I will be full to the brim with Olympic spirit over the next two weeks, starting from the opening ceremony in the early hours of Saturday morning.

There are many highlights to an opening ceremony, but I can’t wait to see how the Olympic flame is lit. Sydney was spectacular, but my personal favourite is still the flaming arrow from Barcelona in 1992. Amigos Para Siempre, anyone?

And if rumours are true and Celine Dion actually does perform at the opening ceremony, I will definitely be feeling all the feels before the action officially begins.