In my book, the real winners were those who came, who performed to the best of their ability, and then cheered on their fellow competitors. The losers? Those were the folks who bitched and moaned and griped about how their non-medaling performances were someone else's fault.
You know who they were. We should hand out awards to the whiners...the 'my suit slowed me down', and 'the judges cheated', and, and the 'it was only a tenth of a second'! Every Olympics is riddled with less than heroic athletes who can't face their own short-comings.
I want to give hugs to the gold medalist who waited at the finish line until the very last skier finished the race so he could offer them a hug and handshake. Or the coach who provided a ski to the competitor on another team who lost his so he could finish the race. They are the winners.
Gold medals are a fleeting moment in time. Grace and generosity whether you win or lose--those are the things that count.
The Olympics should go back to the beginning...give the winner a laurel wreath...but he has to be nekkid to receive it. I'd pay to see that in - 4 degree weather...
ReplyDeleteSome of the competitors were wonderful to their fellow competitors. And even some coaches helped skiers from other countries in the cross county skiing events.
ReplyDeleteThese Olympics were a little boring but mostly engaging.