A major theme that comes around Olympic
time is the massive amount of national pride; and with that national pride
comes a lot of pressure, pressure for both country and athletes. With that
pressure comes this sense of possession and utter disappointment when an
athlete doesn’t perform well; which is almost all the time what makes
headlines.
An example that rocked my little world
yesterday was when our triathlete Simon Whitfield crashed, causing him to
withdraw from the Olympic triathlon on Tuesday. Immediately Canadians adopted
the nickname Simon “Wipeout” Whitfield, and began to criticize his decision to
pull out of the triathlon. It wasn’t until Wednesday that he announced he
actually was suffering from a broken collarbone as well as the stitches that
were needed from his lacerations.
Another
example(I realize I’m only using Canadian examples, but they are the media that
I have access to, if you have any other examples from different countries
please send them over,) is Eric Lamaze, the Olympic show-jumper, who famously placed
gold in Beijing aboard Hickstead. Lamaze was eliminated before the final round,
leaving only Ian Miller, Canadian jumping legend (owner of Big Ben and In
Style), who placed 9th in a three-way tie. You have yet to see any
media on this coverage other than Lamaze being eliminated.
Having
those athletes wearing our flag I think we almost always forget that they are
competing on a world-class level. The
fact that these athletes qualified on a world level is amazing, the fact that
they didn’t medal is almost trivial. You’re up against the very best from every
corner of the world, with an entire nation’s pressure on your back stepping in
your competition. That amount of pressure alone is enough to send most of us
crawling back into bed and never coming out until dark.
I think
we forget just how much hard work goes into preparing these athletes for the
Olympics. They’re up against world records, the world’s best athletes, their nation’s
scrutiny and their own personal goals. They don’t place well; they’re still
with all the top athletes in the world. It makes me really upset to see news
outlets and people openly criticizing athletes for not medalling. As much as
there is so much glory in getting up on that podium and hearing your national
anthem, the Olympics are not solely around “winners and losers.”
Honestly,
I think we need to have a mad amount of respect for these athletes regardless
of placings, ranks or medals. Each and every one of them uproots their life to
represent their country and try to be the best they can be against a massive amount
of athletes trying to do the exact same thing. I know for a fact that many of
these people complaining and insulting these athletes would not be able to
advance half as far as they have or compete on a global-scale.
Congratulations
to all athletes, you’re making your countries proud and you deserve all the
praise in the world for your abilities.
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