Confessions of an addict: From a Canadian MD who should know better

I have a problem. I am coming clean to all the readers of this blog.I am an Olympicaholic.Every two years, the Olympic cycle rolls around and I fall off the wagon. Hard. Binge-watching anything and everything that has anything to do with the events and athletes. I know the Olympics are no longer amateur events. I see the overt political interference, the increasing influence of marketing, and the blatant commercialism. I appreciate that the Olympics have become increasingly irrelevant, bloated money pits that put cities and countries into debt for generations. I can check all the boxes to justify why these events should be eliminated from the face of the planet.And yet, when the time comes, my Pavlovian reflexes kick in and I am powerless against the pomp and circumstance.I LOVE the Olympics.Elite athletes and physicians are similar in so many ways. We honour many of the same things; the only difference is that we work in clinics and hospitals, and they train in gyms and compete in stadiums.Medicine wires us to admire grit and sheer hard work. We honour single-minded dedication and passion. We respect endurance, sacrifice, delayed gratification, and people who give everything for an outcome they can’t fully control. We see ourselves in that. The absurd hours. The training nobody sees. The single moment where it either works—or it doesn’t.Athletes live in a world that is not foreign to physicians: relentless training, unforgiving criticism and feedback, “life-or-death” outcomes, and careers defined by the narrowest of margins. These athletes are not about effort; they are about execution under the highest pressure. Sound familiar?Olympians are just physicians with amazing speed, strength, cardio—and very short shelf lives.Now, I have to admit that I don’t get into every single sporting event at any of the Olympics. I can be selective. I can control this aspect.With the upcoming Winter Olympics, do I need to watch every run of bobsled, luge or skeleton? No. All the snowboarding events: Parallel Giant Slalom, Halfpipe, Snowboard Cross, Big Air and Slopestyle? NO! Biathlon; individual, sprint, pursuit, mass start and relay events? A hard NO!! Skiing with a rifle has never made any sense to me, but I will still watch the highlights of the highlights. I will savour every minute of these.For the more “popular” indoor events—world-class figure skating, speed skating, and curling—I will watch a lot more. Yes, even curling can be incredibly exciting at this level. Any MD who is an avid curler or fan would enthusiastically agree.I have seen all of these events live, and each has its own unique fascination. Living in Calgary, and having access to the (now aging badly) Olympic Oval, I have been able to see top international speed skating up close. It is unbelievable to witness the speed, power, and endurance of these athletes. They literally FLY on ice.And of course—hockey. I have watched a lot of hockey in my life, and some of the absolute best has been at the Olympics. Both women’s and men’s games sit in the upper echelons of the sport, where playing for your country seems to take everything up a notch or two. The game is fast and intense, with much less emphasis on hitting and the clutch-and-grab style of NHL playoffs. A penalty can mean a goal for the opposition, a loss of a game, a loss of a medal.The stakes are high, and the players know it. They generally play tough, but much cleaner, which translates into incredibly great hockey to witness. The best players in the world, many being Canadian, will be playing and playing hard! Narrative medicine is the practice of medicine that recognizes, absorbs, interprets and is moved by the stories of patients and their illnesses. For those who honour and apply this style of practice, stories are the foundation of understanding—and ultimately healing—our patients.At their core, the Olympics are really all about the stories. Much more than medal counts.Who is this athlete, and where did they come from? How did they get to this point in their life? The journeys are sometimes truly epic: tales filled with pain and heartbreak, injuries and setbacks, and—most often—sacrifice beyond what mere mortals would accept or tolerate. So often, the backstories confirm that reality is stranger than fiction.These are modern-day heroes—sometimes living just above the poverty line—competing in obscure sports that few people know or care about.I have had the pleasure of caring for patients who have been Olympians. They are remarkable individuals who have often toiled in obscurity, even if they have medalled. Generally, they are unassuming, pragmatic, and stoic. I would see these patients without hesitation, any day. “Salt of the earth” describes most Olympic athletes I have met.Some might quip that the Olympics are “dirty” and should not be supported in any way—that the Pollyanna picture I am offering is the Hollywood, G-rated version, hardly real.Well . . . yes. There is always politics, corruption and the Olympic spirit being tainted by every imaginable and sensationalized headline. You have to look past all of that and simply enjoy the competition: humans operating at the absolute limits of human capacity and performance.Glass half full or glass half empty—it is ours to choose. Either way, that glass should be frozen solid if you are truly experiencing the Winter Olympics in all their frigid glory.Citius, Altius, Fortius—Communiter.(Faster, Higher, Stronger—Together.)I’ve already heard the 2026 slogan: “IT’s Your Vibe.”I reply: GO CANADA GO!! How can it be any other way, I am an addict! Dr. Ted Jablonski is a performing artist and writer who has retired his family practice to focus on sexual medicine and transgender health in Southern Alberta, all while keeping his feet firmly planted in the front-line trenches of acute primary care.

Confessions of an addict: From a Canadian MD who should know better

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