Paris Olympics

 

I’ve been stuck at home most of this week. Covid struck again.  After almost four years of no Covid for me, I’ve had it twice this year. No idea where it came from but I’m in contact with a lot of people on any given day.

But with self-isolation and Paxlovid, I’m on the mend. The silver lining is that I have been able to watch a lot of the Paris Olympics this week.  And it has been an exciting week.

Watching Gabby Thomas run is watching grace and power in motion.  Noah Lyles, same thing. Julien Alfred, winning St. Lucia’s first medal ever, is poetry when she runs. Grant Holloway on the hurdles-he makes it look easy.

What Simone Biles is able to do is amazing. Did you see how high she got on her vault? Unreal. Alice D’Amato of Italy on the balance beam? Magical! Katie Ledecky. The most medals for any woman in Olympic history, yet, she seems like every girl next door.

Cole Hocker was not on anyone’s radar in the men’s 1500 m race yet took that inside route to gold. All the pre-race conversation was about British runner Josh Kerr and Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen. No one gave much thought to the diminutive Hocker from Indianapolis.

And here’s the really cool part—there is a Blount County connection to Cole. Marty Sonnefeldt, who lives here, was an All-American and National Champion cross country runner at UT in the 70’s. His son Matt is Cole Hocker’s agent and was in Paris for that race.

The overall athleticism demonstrated in volleyball is quite something to behold, especially beach volleyball. Just imagine two people to a side, covering the entire court. Amazing!

There are stories everywhere. Sacrifices made. Disappointments redeemed. Athletes that pay the price, whatever the price may be.

The Olympics are also an opportunity for us to watch sports that we only witness at the Olympics. Team Handball. Slalom canoeing. Fencing. Track cycling.  Synchronized swimming. Even gymnastics gets the attention it deserves only once every four years.

The Olympic Games also expose us to the people of the award. If we open our eyes, we will realize that there are human beings just like us all around the world. Athletes from Senegal, Algeria, Bahrain, Iraq, and Kazakhstan.  From Estonia, Slovenia, and Ukraine. Places you have to look up on a map to even know where they are. Incredible athletes from Jamaica.

People that look like we do, love like we do, hurt like we do. People that face the struggles that we face and strive for the success that we chase every day.

Put Cuban Mijain Lopez, winner of five Olympic gold medals in wrestling, in a USA uniform and he’s a national hero for us. Same thing for Polish volleyballer Tomasz Fornal. And you have to pull for Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade--even the US team did.

The Olympics can humanize people that we might not understand, that might even be considered our “enemies.” Chinese divers. Oh, so divine. North Korean athletes have families that love them too. The Olympics give us the opportunity to celebrate everyone, nationalities aside.

Congratulations to ALL the athletes.  Getting there is an incredible feat. And thank you for the opportunity to see the world, if just for a little while.