Winter Olympics stagger to a close – The Boston Globe

My 18-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter are both black diamond skiers, having relished the sport almost since they learned how to walk, first at Blue Hills Ski Area, then in the White Mountains and the Rockies. He is also a co-captain of his high school track team, competing nationally. She is a volleyball player and participates in several track events.

In a previous world, they would have been devouring everything Olympics. But they have zero interest. They simply cannot relate to the professionalism of the Games, and, frankly, they cannot relate to the serial flouting by the Russians of basic sportsmanship and the rules.

The Olympics have been dying a slow death for decades since professionals were allowed into the arena. This years production, with its snowboard jump located next to the dismally grey site of a former steel mill in Beijing, and with its blatant rules-bending to accommodate Russians who, it would seem, publicly torture child athletes, has assured that my children and many others will never again watch, nor care about, the Olympics. (Me too.)

Our gratitude to the brave souls who stepped up to the plate in a lonely battle to prevent the Olympics from being held in Boston (A courageous No, Kevin Cullen, Metro, Feb. 18).

Clint Smith

Lexington

Wouldnt one photo of sobbing Valieva have been enough?

I was appalled to see the picture of Kamila Valieva in tears on the ice on the front page of Friday mornings Globe (Down and out: Russian skaters collapse keeps doping issue off the podium) and again on the front of the Sports page. Experience and research teach us that trauma victims are retraumatized by the repetition of the event or its aftermath, and in my opinion, this is a case of a traumatized girl, suspected to have been given illicit drugs by her so-called handlers, and then left alone on the ice to deal with all the stress it has caused.

Why are you so invested in showing her abject grief? This is the Olympics, and its about competition and good sportsmanship. How about showing a picture of the podium with the three medalists who skated beautifully?

Jessica Schendel

Wayland

Bitter irony in doping scandal over Russian skater

Astonishingly talented Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva tested positive for a banned heart medication. One irony is that, by all appearances, the medication has helped break her heart. The other irony is that the people suspected of having doled out the medication to a 15-year-old athlete, and who then treated her with astonishing cruelty, are the ones who lack a functioning heart.

Jape Shattuck

Newport, R.I.

Gender equality probably will remain just out of reach

I applaud the efforts of womens groups supporting gender equality in the Olympics (Gender equity gaining in Olympics, but hasnt caught up yet, Tara Sullivan, Sports, Feb. 1). The inequity is evident in other sports, notably tennis, and there is a simple solution. Start by asking: Why is it always the womens final on Saturday and the mens final on Sunday?

Greg Hamill

Sudbury

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Winter Olympics stagger to a close - The Boston Globe