On the biggest stage, games become a target and tool for ideological schemers.
Everyone knows the Olympic Games have their roots in ancient Greece. They existed for almost a thousand years before Greece was overtaken by the Roman Empire and the Christian rulers did away with all pagan festivals - to include the Olympics.
The modern games were revived in the 1800s. A Greek poet and newspaper editor is credited with rekindling the desire to hold the games. Panagiotis Soutsos' poem "Dialogue of the Dead" published in 1833, embodied those sentiments.
A couple of decades later the games were brought back in various forms.
The current model came with the turn of the century in 1900.
If those who dreamed of the games' rebirth could have seen the state they are in now, something tells me the desire to rekindle the flame would have be quenched.
In the middle of the 20th Century, politicians, activists and terrorists realized the Olympics made a good vehicle for sending a message.
Countries began to boycott the games. Fringe groups took aim at athletes and spectators. The Olympic rings began to tarnish.
The International Olympic Committee's decision to overlook human rights, pollution and other concerns and award the games to China this year has resulted in a further gilding of the games.
Everyone wants to involve the most populous nation in the celebration of amateur athletics. But a quick look at the headlines reveals this year's games have little to do with athletics and more to do with the darker side of the event.
They include: China Locks Down City After Attack; Journalists Detained; China 'Guarantees' safe Games; 300,000 surveillance cameras; Smog worries athletes; and American cyclists arrive in black masks.
The wonder of the games has been eroded by the worries.
Clouds will be seeded, urine will be tested and metal detectors will be more prevalent than medal stands.
This incarnation of the Olympics is in need of a hero.
One of the competitors needs to remind the world of the Olympic creed: "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."
So far, the early scenes depict an Orwellian drama. Hopefully, for the future of the event, someone can write a happy ending.