Are the Olympics Still Relevant?

This has a lot to do with Rico’s original post on the death of amateurism in the Olympics. Taking the point further, perhaps we can argue that the Olympics themselves are irrelevant.

Many of the popular sports of the Olympics now feature their own, stand-alone international games. Football has of course, the World Cup, and Track & Field has the World Championship.

If the Olympics are partly about determining the best in the world, isn’t this role already fulfilled by the sports’ respective world competitions? Just what do the Olympics have that these events don’t? The torch? International camaraderie? Aren’t dropping TV ratings proving that these concepts are no longer contemporarily relevant?

Feel free to convince a somewhat disillusioned sports fan of her folly in the comments below.