Every time the Olympics come around, I always say that I don’t have any interest in watching them. Not because I hate it, just because I’m so involved in other things, it’s secondary, and I shrug it off.
Then I catch an event that features one of our new medalist, and I’m blown away. I’m awed. I’m hooked. And I find myself drawn to a TV whenever an pivotal event is coming on. The sheer physicality and strength that these people have, to be able to compete with their equals from around the world, and truly be recognized for being the best of the best, who wouldn’t be drawn to it?
Take for example Michael Phelps going for his record gold medal. Many people find him polarizing… he’s either a hero and a god, or he’s jut an overexposed celeb that is overshadowing others who deserve to be recognized. I’m on the fence in this regard, only because while I agree that the press has made these games the Michael Phelps show, it was the 4 x 100m Men’s Free race that the US team won (and he was part of) that got me hooked on watching. The sheer amazment the group I was with had as Jason Lezak, who was almost a full length behind the French in that final lap, came up and won not only in a world record time, but by a mere 10th of a second and a finger!
But back to Phelps. I was at a party on Saturday night, and suddenly someone suggested we go down and watch Phelps final race. 10 people descended around a fuzzy TV screen to watch a historical moment. I didn’t know half of these people before the party, nor will I probably see them again except for another similar gathering, but for one moment we were all together, all completely different people, but gathered in awe at this man’s achievement.
I happened to catch Jonathan Horton in his gold medal winning High Bar gymnastic performance just two nights ago, and again I was amazed. I bitch about the pain in my arm from doing a few push ups, and then I look at this kid- yeah he’s in his early 20’s, but he’s a kid compared to me- and I feel a little inferior. Who can’t for a moment? But that’s also the beauty of these games… theses people train their entire lives to do this, not to make the rest of us feel fat or unhealthy, but to awe, to inspire, to do for us what we cannot.
The girls are just as amazing. Props to the Williams sister for taking gold in doubles tennis. Congrats to Misti- May Treanor and Kerri Walsh for not only 108 consecutive beach volleyball victories, but for that gold they sealed with win 108. As I write this, our women’s soccer team won their third gold in 4 games, defeating Brazil.
And then we have that duo we call Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin. Between the two of them, they (with the rest of the women’s gymnastics team) flipped, jumped, swung and for the most part defied gravity to win 8 medals, including top two for balance beam and the all around individual exercises. Regardless if those Chinese girls were way to young to compete (whether or not they were, they still looked like 12 year olds tramped out with too much makeup), our girls overcame and each took a gold home for the team. The sheer excitement in Shawn’s face when she just knew she sealed the gold on the balance beam, while detractors could say it was youthful hubris, was really pride knowing she worked her ass off and she was the best. It was incredible.
And so now these names are now added to the growing lexicon of US Olympians, to join Mary Lou Retton, Kerri Strung, Mark Spitz, Bruce Jenner, Brandy Chastain and so many others, who went for the gold and brought it back, to inspire us when frankly there is so little to inspire us with, and now be featured in Nike and Wheaties adds for the next few months.
But the cool thing is that we’re not the only ones to be inspired in such a way. Take India, who for the first time in history, have two medalist… Abhinav Bindra, a gold medalist in shooting, and a bronze in wrestling from Sushil Kumar. 1 billion people, and their first medals in the history of the games. Or how about Rohullah Nikpai from Afghanistan, who won a bronze in taekwando. This is Afghanistan’s first medal ever. And this guy is going to get a house for it! I read people in Kabul were conserving their electricity just so they could listen to the match. That’s insane.
But that’s just what the Olympics can do. It’s inspiring. It’s heroic. It’s everything the Greeks designed it to be. I need to remember that everytime it comes on. Sometimes we all need a little inspiration.
Rants of The Misanthrope and other musings 