Something occurred to me as I was watching the closing ceremony of the summer Olympic games.

Somewhere between wondering how on earth the Spice Girls made it to the lineup and reveling in Queen’s “We Will Rock You,” I realized …

The following morning, while rushing between breakfast, coffee and making sure my shirt matched my pants, Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie over there at NBC’s

“Today” would be back from England. They would not be smiling widely in the glare of gold and silver medals hanging around the necks of truly remarkable athletes.

Instead, I realized, they’d be back home and back at it, interviewing politicians.

Soon after, I also realized I would rather watch synchronized swimming — or that weird handball game — than listen to any more politicians.

Then I started thinking … I would be far more apt to vote for a candidate who could snatch 400 pounds or sail through a 200-meter butterfly. And I’d like to see a first lady carry the weight of the free world on broad shoulders that tear through a 100-meter breaststroke.

How improved our world would be, I imagine. A gold medal for whoever gets real, healthy legislation into law in the shortest time. The Senate Vault. A 100-meter Congress hurdle.

Instead of annoying political ads, they put that money into a political arena where they had to compete against each other in various academic, professional and even physical tasks — a throwback to the Roman era where we could all sit in the stands and base our decisions on their proven performance instead of relentless rhetoric.

Maybe we’d have a stronger nation.

The Olympics are over. Fall is just around the corner.

May our candidates learn a thing or two about dedication, strength and grace from our finest athletes.

Let the games begin.