Taimishu said:
The following article is from MSNBC.
Your comments please, do you agree, dissagree, or think that the athletes should stop winging and get on with it?
I have my views and am interested in what you think.
This is a long article so i've only posted the URL.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5716924/
David
David I think the tone of this article assumes a lot about how Americans think and behave. I don't feel the sense of entitlement that this article seems to portray Americans as having. I love watching all athletes compete and while there is a sense of national pride when an American wins an event, I have also been equally excited for athletes who come up on top and are not born in this country. Also, if an American wins something unfairly that is not a source of pride.
Ironically many top athletes train for their Olympic hopes in the United States. They are not shut out of the opportunity to train alongside of our athletes or have access to some of our coaching and facilities. When I see something unjust in any Olympics it is upsetting to me for any athlete, no matter where they were born or which country they represent. Most of that type of thing comes in the more subjective sports such as ice skating and gymnastics where there is no touch pad or finish line, but rather judges' scores. Sometimes it is obvious when there is prejudice, but all athletes go in knowing there may be some subjectivity. I suppose it's a part of the game, and it may or may not involve politics. Judges are human and subject to mistakes and corruption. However, sometimes it's too easy to blame the judges, but I do remember many years back there being admitted corruption in gymnastics judging so that type of thing may explain some of the whining I suppose.
As far as the swimming goes here. I think the Japanese swimmer knew he was doing/did an illegal kick. They showed the underwater camera footage and my son is nine years old was watching and he is a swimmer with a little over two years of formal training, and he said to me, "That was an illegal kick Mom! We are not allowed to dolphin kick in the breast stroke!" But here's the thing, we have judges who did not call it. Either they did not see it or they chose not to. In any sport we can never know for certain what the case may be, and we have to trust that most of the time the judges are doing their best to be fair. In the end it is what it is. In this case I think it's a shame, but I think since there is no rule to use cameras for tighter rulings it has to stand.
As far as making excuses, all athletes have good and bad days. Sometimes you are in the zone and other times things go wrong. There is nothing wrong in stating why you think you failed, but also recognize that while you were having a bad day someone else was in the zone....give credit where credit is due. I think most athletes do that. Watch the post game interviews of any professional sports in this country and you see the players or head coach giving explanations for why the team lost, and it usually includes compliments of the play of the other team. In the Olympics I remember only once seeing a pair of ice skaters protest a score by not accepting their medals. They weren't Americans. They may have been justified, but it was a shame and perhaps a hollow win for the other medalists. Ultimately athletes train most of their lives for this one day - matter of minutes. It is best if they can lose graciously, but understandable when sometimes they don't American or not.
