After Beijing

The 2008 Summer Olympics are now a mere memory, but I definitely have lasting reactions to the events of the past few weeks. I know there are people who have no interest in the Olympics, but I see them as a fun athletics treat. I attended a bit of the Games in Atlanta and I'd love to go again sometime. That said, here are a few things that stick in my mind from Beijing:

Sportsmanship, or lack thereof. I wish I could recall the good sportsmanship more than the bad, but I just can't. There's Angel Matos, who kicked a referee in the face after being disqualified from his taekwondo bout. Ara Abrahamian dropped his bronze medal on the floor in protest. Usain Bolt and his post-victory showboating. I know, I know, some people have said that he was just expressing his joy at winning, but I think there's a fine line between unabashed Olympic happiness and an attitude problem. Michael Phelps would win a race, cheer for himself, and then shut up and congratulate his competitors. He was thrilled to be making history, but still knew when to turn it off and be a class act.

Always a bridesmaid...the women's water polo team and more. A little bit of background will help with this point. My best friend from high school is a two-time Olympian. She played on the women's water polo team in both Sydney and Athens, winning a silver and a bronze. That sounds great, except that I watched her work for years toward that gold medal. I saw her pain when she got back from Sydney with a silver. I sat with her as she decided whether to compete in another Olympic Games for a chance to win it or push forward with school and her dream of being a doctor. She went to Athens, and they fell short. To this day, it's not something about which we talk. Never. Ever. It's that painful. So, while most people may look at it and say "she has two Olympic medals and that's awesome", there's a lot of disappointment that comes with those medals. She appreciates them, really she does, but I've seen the hurt, too. She almost reached her dream.

Since that, I have a newfound perspective on those who come up short in the Olympics. Sure, it's amazing. They're doing things at which I'd fail miserably. But I've come to empathize with the idea that it sucks when you're not quite good enough. It sucks to get so close to the gold and then hear someone else's anthem. It sucks when you know you don't get to try again. I still know a few people on the water polo team, and it sucked watching them finish second...again.

Wrong to cheer for the USA? Near the beginning of the Games, I observed a conversation regarding cheering for the American athletes. One person was excited about seeing the USA do well; the other said he would be ashamed to cheer for his country so blindly. His argument was that most of us don't know anything about the Americans, the Michael Phelps and Shawn Johnson's aside, so rooting for them just because of their nationality is wrong. Personally, I've always cheered for the USA in Olympic competition, so I was a little taken aback by the accusation.

Of course, it got me thinking about my own actions and viewpoint. I mean, I have been a lifelong Angels fan in baseball and a Kings fan in hockey for no other reason than that they were local teams and my dad loved them. Is my cheering for the USA the same thing? Am I just following what was always done in my own living room? Yes. Ah, but is that dangerously nationalistic, among other things? Well, yes and no. It raises an awareness in me that I appreciate. No matter how innocent my bias may be, it is still a bias. My opinions are slanted. Of course, I've yet to meet anyone who is 100% neutral about everything, so I'm okay with my slant in this particular instance. I love my country, I love sports, and I love to see fellow Americans win.