The Best of Sport: Citius, Altius, Fortius

This is the final installment of the series on the Best and Worst of Sports, chronicling the 2012 Olympics and the Scandal at Penn State University.

The 4 X 400m men’s Olympic final was one of the coolest things that I’ve ever seen. No record was set and the country I rooted for didn’t win, but for 3 minutes, such a tremendous display of humanity was put forth on the track at Olympic Stadium in London, nearly leaving me breathless as I watched.

The Bahamas took home the Gold in the relay, a race that is typically the pinnacle event of every track meet. The Bahamas? Really? If it weren’t for the Beach Boys and postcards, I don’t even know if I would know the Bahamas existed! And yet, out of obscurity comes the fastest team on earth at that distance. How beautiful is that—that a country the size of Connecticut, with the population that rivals Bakersfield, California, could defeat the largest, and most talent-filled countries on the planet. And isn’t that a wonderful lesson: Grandeur pales in comparison with hard work, dedication, and commitment to excellence.

The second lesson I learned watching the race was learned seeing something that in my lifetime, I hadn’t seen before: the United States not winning the Gold medal in the event. Only five times in the history of the modern Games has this been the case. And yet there was not bitterness or disappointment from the Americans. They were beat in the world’s most objective sport, and they lost. They still WON a silver medal, even after two of their best athletes had been taken out with injury. But they were grateful for the opportunity to compete. How awesome and oft-forgotten is that? Sport is enjoyable, and it’s a joy simply to compete. You could see that, too in the last-place finishers in the race: the South African Team. The much publicized Oscar Pistorius, running on two prosthetic legs, running in his first Olympics, anchored the historic run for the South Africans. The team had only been allowed to run after they had protested their disappointing finish in the semi-final due to a nasty fall. And yet there was such gratitude in their athletes! How often do we pout after we lose a game or we have a call go against us? The 4 X 400 reminded me of yet another important lesson: The joy of competition is not in winning, but in competing.

Most people that compete in the Olympics lose. In fact, almost ALL athletes lose. Many athletes train their whole lives to come to the Olympics and lose in the first heat of a 10 second race. Why do they fly across the world and why do we watch? It’s because the Olympics has more to do with being better than the best. If your focus is self-improvement, it is entirely up to you if you can succeed. In competing, we cannot predict the valor of an opponent, but we can control our pursuit of excellence. We participate because it’s fun, and we continue because there is something in us that pushes us to do the “more.”

After all, the motto of the Olympics is not “Fastest, Highest, Strongest,” because only one person can be that, but we can ALL be Faster, Higher, and Stronger. 

The Best of Sports: Women on the US Team

It always baffles me how the Olympic Games seem to be the venue for all things “new.” Despite its history and tradition, the Games always seem to be the place for new superstars to emerge, new technology to be unveiled, and new records to be made. Even when the feats of humanity seem like they cannot be surpassed, the Olympics always brings out what was once thought impossible.

This year is no different.

Old records have fallen, the swimsuits are in a new fashion, and there are new athletes stealing our hearts. But something perhaps more subtle, but certainly no less significant has happened this year: the US, for the first time, has more females than males representing our country (269 women, 261 men). To a young audience, this news might seem of little significance, but consider that the last time London held the Olympics in 1948, women made up 9% of all participants, and as recent as 1996, 26 countries were not sending women to the Games.

Just like breaking a record on the track or in the pool, there is no better stage to break this record than on the grandest of them all: the Olympics. Sending a balanced contingent of men and women to the premiere sporting event in the world says that as a country, we have committed ourselves over decades to the advancement of gender equality in sports, and we are proud to show the world of that achievement. Although it might seem as simple as just picking a fair number, it is a reflection of a commitment to a core value that our country is built on: equal opportunity. It’s a value that we have long stood for, but not always exemplified. This year we celebrate 40 years of the Title IX, and we have taken to heart the many heroes and accomplishments that have emerge in these decades, all while recognizing that there is still ground to be covered in our quest for equal opportunity. And this achievement is yet another important milestone on that journey.

As gradual as the change that Title IX has inspired has been, we can lose sight of the magnitude of this year’s gender balance. Especially in recent Olympics, female athletes have always been on the eyes and in the hearts of Americans, whether they are on the balance beam or flying down the ski slopes (in fact it seems the only time of year that female athletes do get equal attention!).  But it is truly amazing to think that young girls around the country and around the globe watching the parade of Americans during the opening ceremony could see something that their mothers and grandmothers would not have been able to see when they were young: themselves.

The Best of Sports: The Olympiad

Why are the Summer Olympic Games so special? Why is it that every 4 years we turn our eyes to a far off city to watch sometimes little known athletes participate in somewhat obscure sports? We wait with hopeful anticipation that our nation will win medals, and we watch in awe at the spectacle of flags that parade through the Olympic Stadium. We become experts on rhythmic gymnastics and our happiness suddenly depends on the performance of a young fencer.

I don’t think there is one answer to that question. Certainly the spectacle of the games has become quite fantastic. The display of raw athleticism is highlighted in sports that we might not otherwise ever see. We learn of tremendous stories of overcoming obstacles just to qualify for the games and of athletes who are on a quest to shatter records.

But I think above all, what we celebrate at the Olympics, and why we are so drawn to them is that they call us to recognize our own humanity in different ways.  Not only are we drawn by the highs and lows we see in the athletes’ struggles, but we see ourselves as a part of a larger world. When Adnan Ta’yes of Iraq steps to the line in the 800m run, he will stand alongside Nick Symmonds, of Boise, ID running of the US. And for two minutes, it won’t matter that Ta’yes’s youth was probably marked with scars of war and occupation, or that Symmonds grew up with the privileges and safeties of being an American citizen. The track will provide a (literal) level playing field for the competitors, and will be equally as gratifying or unforgiving to all who choose to run upon it.

We will be intrigued by the wonder of all the stories that have brought the thousands of athletes of extremely different backgrounds together to compete in the same gym, field, or pool. We will be inspired by their accomplishments and we will take pride in how our support can inspire countrymen. We will desperately support our own nation, but inevitably be swept away by the prowess of another.  We will be forget our judgments and opinions for two weeks and let sport be the ultimate arbiter.  We will see how sport, something that competition has more to do with bringing us together than separating us. We will watch, and we will be amazed.


This is the first installment in a series of blog posts chronicling the Best in sports, exemplified in the Olympics, complemented by the Worst in sports, displayed in the Jerry Sandusky scandal.