President Obama on the Olympic ideal
Obama’s interview with NBC Golf’s David Feherty
David Feherty’s interview to President Barack Obama is his third with a President — he also interviewed Bill Clinton and George W. Bush — and it follows his sit down last month with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Obama talks about the Olympic ideal and how, for many, it can be an introduction to the world.
I think the Olympic ideal, of every country sending its best to compete in a spirit of goodwill — it’s not going to end war; it’s not going to eliminate poverty or some of the tragedies that we see every day; but it builds a sense of common humanity, a sense of empathy.
Obama told Feherty how the buzz around the Olympics and the intense media coverage is not only a way to celebrate sportsmanship, but also to do backstories of the athletes.
So now suddenly, you see some young woman in South Africa and what she’s had to go through in order to train and compete at this level… and it transports you into another place.
Those stories transport people in places around the world thorn by wars and civil unrest — this year ten athletes are competing as part of the first ever Olympic refugee team.
That kind of empathy and that sense of healthy competition can, in fact, carry over beyond the Olympics.
