Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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MARCH 5-11, 2014 UCW 5 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM When I was a little girl, my elementary school friends and I squirmed ourselves through the school week so that we could go to the downtown Fayetteville ice skating rink every Saturday morning. Our mothers had a carpool schedule. The mama driver stayed with us for several hours, then another mama driver relieved her and, as best I remember, eventually rounded us up and took us home. I have no recollection of how my chums performed on the ice, but I was thrilled to get around the rink without killing myself and learning to skate backwards. On occasion, I remember being able to lift one foot or the other, and still could the last time I tried several years ago. I was so proud of myself, but you have to be wondering. An ice skating rink in downtown Fayetteville? The rink overlooked the Cape Fear River, and offered a full-blown experience of renting skates with the sizes emblazoned on the heels just like bowling shoes, buying snacks and skating all day. There were even lessons and I had more than a few, though I never harbored any illusions about a future in professional ice- skating. Which brings me to the winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, an event that has riveted the world's attention for all sorts of reasons. One of them being the beauty of the gifted, strong and skilled athletes doing what they love and what they have labored for years to do — think Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir, Bode Miller, and hundreds of others from many nations who are less known. There is human drama inherent in any competition. When people so trained and so motivated square off against each other on the world's stage for the biggest prizes in their sports, it is almost impossible to look away. Someone is going to experience the biggest thrill of his or her career, and someone else is going to be devastated by a loss witnessed around the globe. There is also drama that comes from somewhere outside the competitions themselves. Did their new high-tech skin suits keep U.S. speed skaters from racking up any medals at all? What has happened to all those side-by-side toilets? Who are the "hottest" contenders in all of Sochi? Politics is no stranger to Olympic Games. Remember when President Jimmy Carter cancelled U.S. participation in the 1980 summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan? The Soviets and other communist countries paid us back in the next cycle by boycotting the 1984 Games in Los Angles. Sochi has had a substantial helping of political troubles. The Games have spotlighted what looks to many people as the Russians' open season on gays and lesbians, hardly a reality Vladimir Putin and his government wanted to highlight in their nation. Human rights concerns were quickly trumped by the outright rioting and deaths as the Ukrainian capital of Kiev erupted into partisan violence and diplomatic distress. Politics are not the biggest threat to future Olympics. We have worked through those crises for generations. The biggest threat is probably money. In a show of national pride and no small degree of personal hubris, Putin pulled out all the stops in Sochi and racked up the biggest Olympic price tag in world history, a stunning $51 billion and counting. That eye-popping figure, most of which has gone for infrastructure such as roads, buildings, and all that goes with them to enhance the Black Sea resort area, has other cities and nations interested in hosting Olympic Games taking a second look. The next winter games in 2018 are scheduled in Pyeongchang, South Korea, another new venue not unlike Sochi. But not everyone is interested in hosting later Games. So far, locations in Germany and Switzerland have said, "No, thank you," to 2022, and Stockholm recently bowed out as well. Five cities are still in the running, three in the former communist bloc. The others are Oslo and Beijing. Can you even imagine how Fayetteville City Council might deal with such a decision? In addition, a worldwide debate is underway about the kinds of places Olympics should be held. Are relatively undeveloped and more pristine locations like Sochi the best choices, even though they require massive infrastructure spending, or are more established locations with major urban areas more appropriate spots? So what are winter Olympic lovers to do? Since there is no longer an ice skating rink in downtown Fayetteville, we can hope our extended winter will freeze neighborhood lakes and we can all go ice-skating. Or, we can stay warm inside and watch Cool Runnings and Blades of Glory to our hearts' content. Channeling My Inner Skater by MARGARET DICKSON MARGARET DICKSON, Con- tributing Writer, COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly.com. THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET Contest&RequestLine: 910-764-1073 www.christian107.com KeepingtheMainThing...theMainThing. visitusonline FocusontheFamily 20Countdown Magazine Adventures in Odyssey Serving Fayetteville Over 50 Years! 484-0261 1304 Morganton Rd. Mon-Sat: 6am-10pm Sun: 7am-2:30 pm Daily Specials • Breakfast • Lunch • Dinner Fresh Seafood • Hand Cut Steaks • Homemade Desserts • Italian & Greek • Children's Menu Banquet rooms available up to 100 guests