A little history lesson...

In 1972 the Olympic Games were held for the second time in Munich Germany. With only 6 days of competition remaining what happened on the morning of September 5th would force the world to stop. Five Arab terrorists on a mission draw attention to 234 Arab prisoners in an Israeli jail, jumped a six foot fence, met with two others already inside on false credentials, and shot two members of the Israeli Olympic team, capturing nine others as hostages only to kill them less that 24 hours later in a bloody gun battle that would see 17 total deceased.

The reason for telling this gory recollection of history on the brink of our own amazing Olympic adventure is twofold. First, a Kitsilano customer was a competitor at that event. She is a Jewish Canadian and after the memorial service attended by 80,000 was over, the IOC president Avery Brundage declared "the Games must go on." They did without her as she and others who felt it was in bad taste, poor judgement and lack of respect boycotted the remainder of the games.

Recently it has been brought to attention by the media that Vanoc has decided to use clips from Leni Rienfenstahl's Olympia - a German Olympic propaganda movie. The opening scene includes a series of men in a loin clothes running with an Olympic torch tirelessly passing it on until the scene in question where the final runner is greeted by cheering people at the entrance of the stadium. On the right in the original film there are approximately 15 people with their right hands high in the air in a Hail Hitler pose. It is incredibly offensive. In the Vanoc version, the pillar next to them has been extended out to create a black field to hide these people. You do not see them, but it is clear that something is being blocked out.

The points that I would like to draw from this are twofold, first, how well do we know what sports and athleticism represents to our customers? We have many people in all of our customer bases that have been through enormous trials and tribulations on account of their love of being all that they can be.

Secondly, how is our judgement as a whole? I think we do an incredible job with the day to day, engagement, little things and team. We are doing a great job but let's never forget that we are in the business of people and that demands respect and courtesy.

- Angela Tames