Olympic Inspiration Part 2

The Olympics have come to an end and I have regained a portion of my life. I reclaimed my afternoons and I'm back to getting to bed before midnight, but it was fun while it lasted.

Who inspired me this year? An Olympics or two ago, (1996 actually) there was a tiny little thing that bounced off a Vault in gymnastics and landed on 2 legs and immediately, And I Mean IMMEDIATELY pulled her left leg up, because it was hurt. Keri Strug didn't hurt her leg on that landing. She hurt it in the preceding vault. But she went for it anyway. Common sense would have said, being able to walk for the rest of your life is more important than getting a great score right now. But athletes don't always recognize Common Sense rules. Their goals are so integrated into their being they can push through situations that would flatten most of us.

This year, I watched Figure Skater Jeremy Abbott hit the ice. Literally. Jeremy launched into some kind of spin/jump, but when he landed it wasn't on his feet. He hit the ice, and fell hard on his hip and then slid HARD into a wall. He lay prone for several seconds. (Just seconds? Felt like forever!) Finally he stood, rubbed his hip, winced in pain and headed for the judges station to withdraw from the competition. Then the fans started applauding and cheering.

I've been to enough sporting events to know when the fans applaud you standing up, they aren't saying GO ON!~ YOU CAN DO IT!!!!! YEA!!!!!!!!. They are just glad you aren't permanently injured. But that's not how Jeremy saw it.

Unable to let the fans down he went on to a truly inspirational program. He hit every jump. As far as I was concerned, he nailed EVERY move and was inspirational! I have a little bit of professional support here. The announcers were as amazed as I was.

That same night Evgeni Plushenko was also inspirational to me, but in a totally different way. Knowing when to walk takes just as much courage as getting back on the horse. Here was a national hero. He knew what was expected of him. We want our heroes to succeed. They EXPECT them to succeed. Evgeni knew he couldn't perform and would either embarrass his country or hurt himself. Either way, he knew it was time to walk, not skate. It was a sad moment, especially for all of his Russian fans. But I was proud of him. It was a really difficult decision.

Then there was skiing. Lots of skiing. I'm not familiar enough with the different events to keep them all straight, but there was one that was memorable. In one event 5 men skiied downhill. Only the first 3 would qualify for the finals. A skier at the back of the pack fell.  No way would he qualify,-- but he didn't give up. He got up and continued on to sure failure. Then the skier in 3rd place lost his balance and fell into the one in 2nd place. AHA! Suddenly, what looked like sure failure for one skier was sudden success. Not Giving Up. That's a trait among competitors.

That's how I saw the race. Apparently, Kelly Ripa saw it the same way I did. Micheal Strahan however, saw it differently. He barely noticed the one that fell and got up. Instead, he focused on the two that fell. He said if he had worked that hard to get to the Olympics and someone took him out of a race, he'd be pretty mad. I bet most guys were thinking the same thing. I wonder if that's a male vs. female attitude? Or is there something else that makes us look at the same thing differently?

In the end, for me, the Olympics are a series of stories of people; successes, failures, miracle wins and unexpected loss. I rarely remember who won which Gold, or which country has the most medals. But while the games are going on, I'm hooked. And when they are over, it is the stories that stay with me.

Olympic Inspiration

I watched the Olympics opening ceremonies on Friday night. I can't say they were the most beautiful, or extravagant I've ever seen, but I don't think they needed to be. (True confession...I was multi-tasking so my mind or my eyes weren't focused just on them.) I enjoyed them just the same. I loved the music most of all. Russia has such a rich history there, and it was beautiful.

Every time the Olympics come around I like seeing how the host country chooses to showcase it's heritage. Sometimes I really like the music, other times, not as much. Sometimes it seems long, and drawn out. Other times it's stunning. But always it is interesting. I learn a little more about the culture and I find out about a place I will most likely never see. And I am inspired and hopeful that the host country will have a good show, and a successful Olympics.

I can be easily inspired. Some would say I tend to be a little sappy about this stuff. I stand guilty. I like it when things work out. When the work of thousands come off without a major hitch. What is sad is when we focus on all the wrong things. One snowflake that didn't open when it should, hotel glitches....

There may be three things that affects the focus of these Olympics. 1) It's Russia. Even with the cold war gone, we are still in competition to show we are better, and we look for any chance to prove it. 2) The unfortunate threat of terrorism--but truthfully, hasn't that been true for the last 30 years? 3) Social Media. A twitter page has been set up just to highlight all the little things that are wrong....door knobs, bad water, rooms not ready....  I wonder if twitter had been available at any previous Olympics what problems would have been revealed? Plenty, I'm sure. Nothing of that magnitude comes off without a hitch.

We live in an age where mocking anyone or anything seems to have become an Olympic sport and most of us could qualify for the team.

I hope in the weeks to come we hear less about the glitches, and more about the real focus...the athletes. I'm looking for the stories about them. Where they come from. What they overcame. The villages around the world that has a hero in Sochi. That has always been the best part of the Olympics for me. Hearing their stories, seeing the competition.

Politics will always be a part of it. It can't help it. We are intertwined, and in competition with one another, worldwide. But it needs to be a small part of the story. Not the focus. I'm looking forward to being inspired.