Olympics and words of Pope

On the very day when the Olympics closed, words of Pope Paul II came to my mind without my knowing. Of the numerous blessings of the Pope, words that occurred to my mind were about sports. Though theoretical and instructive, the Pope¡¯s remarks about soccer and marathon are as follows.

First, he spoke of soccer. The Pope who was a goal keeper in his younger days said in his preaching in May at the European Football Federation meeting that soccer stars should not forget the fact that they become the models of the world youth for themselves.

He stressed that they have to play roles positive to the lives of the people by respecting the values of human and soul.

And then, he talked about marathon. He told some 4,500 marathoners at the start line in front of the St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral in Rome in January that life is just the same as the lonely marathon. It is the life that each runs according to his style and at his own speed.

The reason why the Pope¡¯s remarks about soccer and marathon came to my mind is that I felt something wanting about (Korean) soccer and marathon in the Sydney Olympics. In fact, there is no need to talks about the ideal of the Olympics, the global festival, its commercialism, political pollution or alleged harmfulness of the Olympics.

The Olympics is the place of competition of sports skills and talents based on the healthy body and sound spirit in actually. Since it is the stage of human dramas, we are looking to seeing the beautiful looks of Olympians and their good performances.

The Korean athletes fought well in the Olympics. They ranked 12th in the gold medal standing, failing to achieve the earlier goal, but I think few would retain a lingering desire for the target.

The good performances of many athletes still flit before my eyes -- not only the archers, wrestlers, fencer and taekwondoists who garnered gold medals, but the men¡¯s hockey players who won the silver medal under such difficult circumstances.

Nonetheless, the poor performances of soccer players and marathoners still make me feel sorry. The soccer team finished the preliminary round with two wins against one loss, but their elimination was almost confirmed after the first two matches. Of course, they might be eliminated if they are inferior to their counterparts in ability. But our soccer players¡¯ performance in the first match against Spain did never play a positive role for the lives of the people who watched the game on TV. In the match against Chile, a player was ousted for an unworthy act.

The people¡¯s missing something about the soccer was rather serious in that Japan who will co-host the 2002 World Cup with Korea advanced to the quarterfinals proudly. Although Japan lost to the United States in a penalty shootout in the quarterfinals, it showed excellent performances in its four games, including the three preliminary matches.

It seems that Korean marathoners failed to keep their own styles and speed, even if there was a misfortune that Lee Bong-Ju fell down during the race.

The results of the soccer and marathon teams in the Olympics were disappointing apparently because the people¡¯s expectation and love of soccer with the World Cup ahead and marathon was comparatively great. I urge the players and related officials to make another exertion.