Did you think Sasha Cohen lost the gold? Did you think Bode Miller messed up? Did you think Lindsey Jacobellis whom fell in her snow boarding event just messed up too. Did you feel like the Olympics were a let down overall because of the United States performance?
If we felt like this, are we missing something very important about the Olympics? The experience of participating? To me the joy of the Olympics is the world coming together and competing with good sportsmanship.
It's sad that we try and place so much expectation on our athletes. It seems as though we are setup with so many expectations of how people should perform, and sometimes, the athletes are not even ready for such expectation, but they get labeled as such. Isn't the Olympic spirit encapsulated when an unknown athlete reaches a level they never reached before? The 2006, 2002 and 1998 Ladies figure skating gold medalist all were examples of this, they all rose to the occasion! It was exciting to witness.
The Olympics are not for those whom should win, they are for who win. And for those whom should win whom don't, are not failures, they are the same champions they were before the Olympics. The Olympics should not be just about the gold, about winning! If it is, then all the athletes whom know they will not place just should stay home, but they don't.
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