Musing on Rio and the lessons for Thailand

As someone who teaches global literacy and intercultural competence, I love the opening ceremony with its parade of national teams. As each delegation is introduced, broadcasters give us information about their nation and what makes it special. This is a great opportunity for viewers to enhance their global literacy.

These Games also saw the first-ever appearance of a Refugee team, reflecting the large and growing refugee communities around the world.

As someone who has now been involved with Thailand for six decades, attending the three Asian Games it has hosted, I was keenly following the performance of this year’s Thai Olympians, who managed their fourth-best overall ranking, coming 35th in the medal table. Thailand was the top performer among Asean countries, with only Malaysia running close, one medal behind. Thailand did better than Argentina, Romania, Norway, Mexico and Chinese Taipei, and was only one medal behind communist sports powerhouse North Korea.

Had current world No 2 woman golfer Ariya Jutanugarn not been injured, Thailand might have done even better.

Prior to the opening ceremony there was considerable scepticism that Brazil, as a “Third World” nation, would be ready to host the Games. 

Critics also insisted priority should go to reducing poverty within the country. 

Yet Brazil did a stellar job, putting on a global showcase of the country’s beauty and the friendliness of its people. Its tourist industry will certainly benefit for years to come.

 

Thai students rejig rankings

The media reporting on the Games focuses exclusively on the absolute number of medals won by each country, not taking into account the size of the country. 

A creative maths teacher at Chumchonbansang School in the Northeast province of Bueng Kan saw an opportunity here. Dr Rosarin Apahung had her 5th- and 6th-grade students recalculate the rankings based on total medals per capita. Her students eagerly took up the challenge of creating “new knowledge”. The teacher’s faith in integrative learning paid off with a novel way to engage and empower her students.

The results changed dramatically, with the following new rankings: 1. Jamaica, 2. New Zealand, 3. Denmark, 4. Croatia, 5. Azerbaijan, 6. Hungary, 7. Australia, 8. Sweden, 9. Netherlands, and 10. Great Britain. With their large populations, the US and China did not even make the top 10.

The exercise saw Rosarin’s students learning English, world geography, information technology, statistics, and applying maths to a real-world situation and displaying the khit-pen (ability to think and analyse) ideal of the late education pioneer Kowit Vorapipatana.

The Rio Olympics can also be viewed as a powerful engine for social mobility. Many of the successful Thai weightlifters came from poor, humble backgrounds but worked really hard with a caring and dedicated mentor.

This Olympics also saw women “steal the show”. Sixty-seven per cent of Thailand’s medals were won by female athletes, while three-quarters of Netherlands’ gold medals were bagged by women. The US team’s 294 female Olympians won 61 medals, compared to 55 for its men. Chinese women also did better than their men, a pattern repeated for 29 countries in all.

However, it is sad to see outstanding athletes who are among the top five in the world in their event not recognised after barely missing out on a medal. 

US college sports has a tradition of giving honourable mentions to athletes who finish just short of the podium. Tokyo’s Games could adopt that practice for those finishing fourth or fifth in their competitions. They have worked hard and their sacrifice should be recognised.

If this system had been in place, Thai golfer Kiradech Aphibarnrat would have brought home some hardware this year for his outstanding performance in Rio.

Cervantes urged us to “dream the impossible dream”. I hope I live to see the day when Thailand hosts an Olympics!

 

Gerald W Fry is a professor in the Dept of Organisational Leadership, Policy and Development at the University of Minnesota. [email protected]