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North American IOC members run in torch relay; did London 2012 run out of deserving Brits?

Neate Sager

It makes perfect sense that Saku Koivu, Charmaine Crookes, Beckie Scott and Angela Ruggiero would run in the Olympic torch relay during the final 72 hours before the official start to London 2012.

After all, a former Montreal Canadiens captain from Finland, a retired Canadian runner, a cross-country skier and a women's hockey player who represented the United States are probably household names in Great Britain. You know how the Brits are bonkers for ice hockey and cross-country skiing. Perhaps this is only chattering-class concern — is it that big deal who gets to run 300, 400 metres tops during a ceremony that is commercialized and branded past the point of farcical, even though people inevitably line the streets for it? — but it should raise an eyebrow.

Why? You guessed it. Koivu, Crooks, Scott and Ruggiero are all International Olympic Committee members. This reeks a little of cronyism, rewarding insiders for their loyal service instead of finding four deserving people from all walks of like on an island with a population of 60 million people. The three aforementioned sportswomen probably give their work a honest effort, although Koivu, as an active NHLer, only attends meetings about once a year. It still comes off as rewarding those who toe the party line. In a macro way, this reflects how the torch relay has been perverted a bit. Part of it's our fascination with celebrity culture. A big part is the IOC's show-must-go-on mentality that puts ceremony and corporatism above all else, including sparing one minute of out the Opening Ceremony to honour the Israeli athletes slain during the Munich Games 40 years ago.

There's no set criteria for who can take part in the torch relay. It takes all kinds; where else does Beckie Scott cross paths with British pop singer Beverly Knight? Figuring out who's worthy is rather nebulous. If the organizers want recognizable faces such as Patrick Stewart, Cpt. Jean-Luc Picard himself, so be it. It makes for a better photo opportunity.

Besides, it's not even certain if people lining the torch route can even tell who's running (loose usage) that strenuous 300- to 400-metre leg. Chris Janzen, a Canadian expat and former Vanier Cup-winning Laurier Golden Hawks football player who's running a leg on Thursday, noted it's "somewhat ignorant" not to expect the IOC to pack in as much corporate sponsorship as possible along the torch route. Otherwise, taxpayers could be paying even more of the cost of putting on what Afsun Qureshi calls a"circus with no real long-term economic benefit."

That does not mean the whole scene ends up feeling a little less than authentic. I always remember my mother describing how the day the torch relay for Vancouver 2010 passed through the Eastern Ontario village where she teaches high school felt like a rip-off. On a cold December day, the entire school dutifully lined Main Street. A flotilla of vehicles advertising Coke, McDonalds, et al., passed by, then at the very end, you could almost make out the runner wedged in between the police escort. It seems like a fitting metaphor for our times; it obviously hasn't changed in the lead-up to London, as English writer Chris Boothroyd described recently:

Weird vehicles pass by, advertising global brands — a canned drink, an electronics company, a state-rescued bank. Music blares. They drive around a bit. One offers blue, plastic, sausage-like objects displaying the company name (their tattered remnants later litter the town). The drinks-vehicle proclaims its "environmentally-friendly engine." Its products do nothing for the health of its drinkers. In India, for example, its manufacturing processes rob aquifers of precious water needed for farming — still, its marketing engine is "environmentally-friendly."

An acrobat corkscrews up Broad Street. Some inexplicable characters in shiny grey uniforms trot around randomly, like extras lost from a tacky 70s sci-fi movie. Expensive saloon cars bearing the Olympic logo drive up and down, disappear, reappear. More waiting. Police cars come and go. Much more waiting. Then, logo-emblazoned, a couple of mini-buses, a coach — windows blanked out.

Suddenly, blue flashing lights. A white police vehicle, two white police motorcycles and more grey aliens, looking cross. Amidst them, a woman in white, grasping the familiar elongated gold cheese-grater and waving.

The flickering flame falters in the elements, but keeps alight. And they're gone. Down towards the Cobb. People ask: "Is it going by boat?", "Is it coming back?". Delay. Watch out! More flashing lights and assorted hurrying vehicles returning in convoy. "Is it somewhere in that lot?", "Was that it?", "Do we go home now?"

That's the IOC for you, he typed, punctuating it with a pencil throw that would put Dave Hodge to shame.

Please do not begrudge non-British IOC members such as Crooks, Koivu, Ruggiero and Scott for taking their entitlement. They're just part of something that got out of hand a long time ago.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.