The Olympics are incredible to watch and also a system that takes four-year-olds, puts them through extreme physical training they can't consent to, wraps it in flags and inspirational music, and then acts shocked when they're broken by 25. the rates of depression, eating disorders, and PTSD among elite athletes are brutal. and "but some of them love their sport" is not a defense of the system. some people survive all kinds of harmful systems. that's survivorship bias in a leotard. we can admire athletic achievement AND acknowledge that the pipeline producing it is deeply, structurally fucked up. both things. same time.