There are still six days of Olympic games to be contested in beautiful Paris, but our delegation of athletes and officials has long been back, inevitably empty-handed. But why empty-handed? After the success of St Lucia athlete Julien Alfred in the women’s 100m, beating reigning champion Sha’Carri Richardson of the US, one is entitled to ask the question.

What is it that an island with less than half the population of Malta, albeit with more than double in territorial size, can actually get to win an Olympic gold medal when we never go past the heats stages?

This may sound as rather abrasive, so I hastily make it clear the downbeat tone has nothing to do with the Malta team’s dedication and professionalism, nor with the relevant sporting bodies’ commitment and aptitude. But something is seriously wrong with us as a sporting nation. We keep sighing and insisting how small we sadly are and how limited our budgets can be, but then you get smaller nations from across the globe winning medals and, when they don’t, competing admirably enough. There are hundreds of examples in just the current games in the French Capital, thousands if we go back in Olympic history.

It is of course the same in the case of non-Olympic competitions. For our football champions to lose against the champions of a much smaller rock, Gibraltar, says it all. Clubs and club presidents are spending literally millions to bring in overseas players which fill Maltese squad places and the results continue to be the same. It is almost comical to watch Maltese Premier League football games being played in front of a miserable crowd of no more than 200 supporters. It is not even worth the effort and the expense. And in this case, we are talking about the most popular sport on the island.

But what is it? Is it genetical? Are we born with weaker hearts, thriftier lungs, and feebler muscles? These are questions that, again, may sound rather coarse, but I am sure they do navigate inside many people’s minds on such occasions when all the flags of the world – except ours – untwirl for a few days of sunshine and glory.

Back in St Lucia, no one can begrudge their pride at what Julien Alfred managed to accomplish in Paris. It was a singular moment in that country’s history that will be remembered for the rest of people’s lives. It is why they were delirious watching on a big screen back home, erupting in screams and cheers, jumping up and down with joy, as their local sprinter victoriously crossed the finishing line. Wouldn’t we love to do that one day?

Rather than that incredible joy, we will now merely have to assist to a river of consoling tributes, meetings with politicians congratulating athletes, coaches, and officials on their performances, and then, the most important official adage of all (at least in our case) clarioned across to us that the real purpose is participation, not winning. Yes, you can say that again. And again.

Beware the uninitiated

Most people are rightly disturbed with all that is going on in the world, from Gaza to Ukraine, from Sudan to Venezuela, and from Trumpian America to the United Kingdom. Hot spots everywhere while a fragile Pope Francis haplessly appeals for peace.

The European Union, home to a vast majority of staunch Catholics, still can’t find it within itself to take the peace option rather than the war-mongering business it has got itself into. This lack of both political and spiritual conscience is reflected in the appointment of Kaja Kallas, the EU’s new chief “diplomat”, who does not seem to understand the very concept of diplomacy.

Kallas’ recent public volley “Why talk to Putin, why? He’s a war criminal” reveals the utter inadequacy of her appointment. As a diplomat, her job is exactly trying to talk to warring parties in the hope of bringing an end to a war that’s actually wreaking havoc with some European economies. There has to be a distinction between one side that’s ready to negotiate an end to a war and a side that insists it needs to keep going, at the expense of taxpayers all over the Western world, without an end in sight, no matter how many lives are lost in the process.

Of course Kallas and her fellow EU senoritas find no problem talking to Benjamin Netanyahu while his “conscientious” army of God-chosen soldiers carry out an irrefutable genocide in Gaza.

The very thought Kallas can be callous in her gobbledygook diplomacy does not offer any future solace to peace-loving populations across the European Union.

Have Maltese soldiers been called back from Lebanon?

While diplomats, their staffs and foreign workers in Lebanon have been asked to flee the country as Middle East tension grows around this unfortunate country (its capital Beirut was once known as the Paris of the Middle East) and missile attacks are exchanged between Hezbollah and Israel, it is only fair to ask about the Maltese soldiers serving with the United Nations peacekeeping force there.

Are they safe, have they been asked to return before a fully-fledged Middle East war quickly unfolds? Only in October last year, days from the horrific Hamas raid on Israel, the UN mission in Lebanon, UNIFIL, was hit by a rocket in yet another blood-thirsty exchange across the border.

Our soldiers are “peacekeepers” assigned to the Irish Defence Forces and their safety is, undoubtedly, a priority for the authorities here. At this moment in time, bringing them back is braver than assisting a helpless UN mission in what could possibly be a regional war.

Main photo: Karolina Kaboompics