Bigger Than Gold
I love the Olympics. Mostly because some of the greatest sports moments in history are made there. One story I've been following, and apparently a lot of other people too, is the Michael Phelps story. Eight Gold medals in one Olympics, simply awesome! While I've enjoyed watching this history unfold I've been extremely irritated with the press coverage I've seen of this story.
I understand that NBC needs that big story to get people to tune in and earn their money but they should still respect the efforts of all Olympians. Note to NBC, OTHER ATHLETES TRAINED JUST AS HARD AS PHELPS. My frustration reached it's peak after the last team relay. The four gold medalist were being interviewed about their big win. The only thing the interviewer wanted to know from the other three was "how did it feel to help Michael Phelps achieve the impossible?" Excuss me NBC, THESE PEOPLE JUST EARNED OLYMPIC GOLD METALS TOO.
It's a valid question to be sure, but that was really the only question they had been asked for the entire Olympics thus far. If they were asked about their efforts it was hurried so the real question could be asked, "What about Phelps?" They knew it too. You could see it on their faces. They wanted their moment but knew if they didn't talk about Phelps they wouldn't be allowed to talk at all.
I don't blame Phelps. He did everything he could to throw the spotlight his teammates way, it just wouldn't stick. I think NBC missed the big picture here. The Olympics is more than the gold. It's about the journey, the determination, the obstacles that are over come. Some athletes journey just to get to the Olympics was harder to achieve than all the gold metals Phelps won.
To me the Olympics is about having the courage to dream, taking the chance to follow that dream and the determination to make that dream a reality. If you win a medal doing it, well, that's just icing on the cake. So I will do what NBC has failed to do properly. I salute ALL Olympic athletes. I admire your achievements. Forever and always, with or without a metal, you will be known as an Olympian. That single word defines the type person you are... a dream chaser. The world needs to know about people like you and as many as we can.
6 comments:
I was going to rant about this. Same topic different athletes.
I stayed up to watch the women's marathon on Saturday night.
Paula Radcliffe failed to do what was excpected - but Mara Yamauchi, whose sixth place represented the equal best finish in the event by a British woman, matching Wales' Priscilla Welch at Los Angeles in 1984.
Ok she didn't win but rushing through her interview to ask about Paula was just rude. As you say you could see it in her face, she wanted some of the glory.
They interviewed her straight afterwards anyway.
Good post RT!
Although I hate the Olympics I've been ruthlessly subjected to it at work for days! And Michael Phelps was not only eating up all the gold metals but also the spotlight. Poor teammates!
:-|
Whales shouldn't be allowed to compete in the hman olympics anyway. >:|
That would be HUMAN not 'hman'.
I think Eric the eel embodies the spirit of the Olympics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Moussambani
I just heard a rumor that baseball will no longer be an Olympic sport.
However, BMX Supercross gets to stay.
Our American Track and Field team - some of the most outstanding athletes in the world - iis failing MISERABLY this year because their leadership failed to lead. The team trained in different places across the nation, they have no cohesiveness, and they were thrown together in teams (for the relays, for example) that had NEVER trained together.
I want to watch wrestling, steeplechase, Biathelon, shooting, rowing, and weightlifting. I'm inundated instead with beach volleyball - which, by the way, I can watch any day of the week at the beach a few miles from my home. I have Michael Phelps shoved down my throat (incedible athlete? Absolutely. More incredible that others? No, not at all).
Pro players on Olympic teams? OMG, I could go on and on about this one (and have for about four years now).
In my opinion, the Olympics - like just about everything else that is noteworthy and special AS IS - has been raped into a weird sort of submissive symbiosis by media coverage and the unrealistic expectations of the "masses."
When I was a kid, the Olympics were magical, stupefying, inspiring, and beyond the scope of any dream. Now, the spectacle just make me sad.
I like this comment so much that I'm going to copy it for my MySpace blog. LOL.
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