Two Koreas Were Written All Over the Winter Olympics, But Especially South Korea

Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the International Olympic Committee, wrote that “The Olympic Spirit is neither the property of one race nor of one age or nation.” It’s obvious, however, that the two Koreas were written all over this year’s Winter Olympics. Not only did they reveal the true nature of the history of the Olympics-despite the angst of the United States, but if the medal count is any indication of just how well a country does, it’s clear South and North Korean athletes had an additional motivation: national unity.

Peace In Our Times
Like the original Olympics, which were supposed to bring an end to warring Greek city-states, Korean athletes marching under one flag and the joint fielding of a women’s hockey team became the center of political life. To be sure, the symbolic importance of their unity looked forward to a new vision of reality. It also restrained the power of a global Greek/Roman-like aristocracy, offering an alternative sporting ground to Washington’s Acropolis and the Pentagon’s Forum as a place to come together.(1)

But then the history of Olympic sporting events has always been more about the athletes and spectators than a state’s destructive ideology: with athletes as much a part of the performance as it is possible for them to be, and with people drawn together by sport in ways they might otherwise not be.(2) The North Korean pairs skating team may not have won a medal, for example, but hearts and minds were another thing entirely. The skaters moreover contradicted U.S. press reports that they’d either be sent to gulags or executed.

A Fair Start Olympics Style
Another aspect of this year’s Winter Olympics was the figurative value of a fair start, something the two Korea’s never had. Consequently, the U.S. and Soviet Union had more than a fair start at the end of World War Two. They in fact had a monopoly on power - illegitimate ones at that - to dictate the terms of an unequal peace. They also used their authoritative regimes and imperial militaries to push competing ideologies while, at the same time, exploiting the people - even igniting a brutal war that killed millions.

But with South and North Korean athletes marching together and a united hockey team, one of the most deadly of all forces unleashed by the twentieth and twenty-first centuries was turned back: U.S. Manifest Destiny in the guise of a distorted nationalism. Nor did this year’s Olympics become another surrogate venue to validate a social system through success on the playing field - let alone the superiority of a particular nation which occurred at the 1936 Berlin Olympics or with the so-called 1980 Miracle on Ice.

Honor To the “Peaceful” Competitor
Since honor went to the victor with the agreement of the spectators who believed they had deservedly won, sports also developed as a dialogue between athletes who took charge of an event and the people who came to watch. Political leaders may try to harness sports to their own purpose, but even great power has to concede ground to athletes and fans. Japan’s gold medalist Nao Kodaira, for instance, who consoled South Korea’s two-time defending Olympic champion Lee Sang-wha will be an Olympic moment of no small thing.

Neither is it a small thing that athletes from around the world competed peacefully, without shedding blood. Indeed, only combatants in ancient Rome who lost control of themselves killed each other. What’s more, gladiators ideally showed skill and courage, as well as respect for an adversary, knowing the responsibility for life and death lay with them instead of their leaders.(3) If only certain nuclearized nations would behave in the same manner, recognizing that the greatest danger they face is internal too.

Athletes and Fans Ultimate Winners
Given that athletes never represent just themselves but their fans, and that the crucial feature of the Olympics is not simply the Olympics but the way it enables those outside the arena to feel linked with those within, South and North Korean athletes and fans were the ultimate winners. Indeed, President Moon Jae-in has already talked up the diplomatic thaw which resulted from the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, noting that tensions with neighboring North Korea have dropped substantially since the start of the games.

In the meantime, North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un was quoted in his nation’s state media as having ordered new moves to be made to facilitate further diplomatic progress. Not only was the level of progress made at the Olympics beyond anyone’s expectation, but there’s a new spirit of serious diplomatic momentum and an invitation for President Moon to visit North Korea. Whether or not the U.S. will try to sabotage these peaceful gains or snub future overtures - as Vice President Mike Pence did - remains to be seen.

National Unity an Extra Motivation
Meanwhile, if the medal count is any indication of how well a nation performs, South Korea did exceptionally well. In fact, they more than tripled their medal count from the last Winter Olympics. In addition to an added motivation, national unity, their athletes, fans, and political leaders also enveloped the true spirit of the Olympics by taking the initiative to promote peace with North Korea while refusing to obey the dictates of U.S. hegemony. In the end, they may have won a more important prize: the Nobel Peace Prize.

Pierre de Coubertin also believed the most important thing in the Olympic Games was not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. He added: “The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.” For South and North Korea, fighting well didn’t consist of a war of words or of more nuclear threats and preemptive military strikes. Instead, it was a struggle towards peace, a lesson that the rest of the world - especially the U.S. - could stand to learn.

The “Real” Miracle on Ice
Consequently, the two Koreas were written all over this year’s Winter Olympics, but especially South Korea. For now, and despite President Donald Trump’s ratcheting up sanctions and declaring that it could be “very, very unfortunate for the world” if North Korea doesn’t stop its nuclear missile tests - not to mention all options are on the table - the world should take this moment and breathe a sigh of relief that escalating tensions over the Korean Peninsula has for now subsided. To be sure, this was the real Miracle on Ice.

Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John’s Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.WN.com. You can read more of Dallas’ writings at www.beverlydarling.com and www.WN.com//dallasdarling.

(1) Potter, David. The Victor’s Crown: How the Birth of the Olympics and the Rise of the Roman Games Changed Sport Forever. London, Great Britain: Quercus Publishers, 2012., p. xii.
(2) Ibid., p. xviii.
(3) Ibid., pp 265-266.