Winter Olympics, aka "Tearjerker Marathon of '06"
I just got a voicemail from a friend who was confessing her inability to watch, let alone talk about, the Olympics without crying. "I don't know if it's inspiration...or like, disappointment, when people fall or mess up." (That's a real quote. I went back and listened to the message.)
At the very moment she called, I was watching either the Ladies' Snowboarding, the Men's Freestyle Skiing, or the Ladies' Figure Skating Free Skate. And crying. I was watching it with Tom's mom.
Conversation was typical girl chat.
Me: That Italian girl's outfit is the best. So simple.
Tom's mom: Yes, very elegant. And what a beautiful girl.
Me: Yeah, and she skates with such passion.
At this point, we make eye contact. Both of our eyes are welled up. We nod, do the lips turned down "I know what you're saying" look, and look back to the TV.
T.m.: Oh look, she's crying.
Me: She should be, she did great.
I'm really shedding tears now, thinking, "What is this? Why am I crying?"
I realized I was inspired.
I'll make fun of this in a minute, but first I have to jump to a couple moments.
Ladies' Snowboarding:
Some lady veers out of control and into the fence. It's not embarrassing for her...that's the one perk of being an Olympic athlete. Huge tumbles are seen as huge disappointments. If that were me on the snowboard and I were to wipe out on a hill in front of my peers, I'd feel like a total jackass. People would laugh. But when an Olympian does it, people cry. I cried when that girl rode into the fence.
Freestyle skier, Jeret Peterson, had an awkward landing.
I cried.
Because Jeret was a huge disappointment for the U.S. and he should be exiled immediately.
Kidding!
I felt disappointment FOR him. For all the work he put into getting there, all for that one moment in time.
Give him one moment in time, when he's more than he thought he could be, when all of his dreams are a heartbeat away, and the answer is all up to him. And he chooses FAILURE.
(I'm going to write something serious and thoughtful about this in my secret journal but I'll just make fun here...considering the only comment I got on my one serious blog [see WINTER] was from my mother. Thanks, mom, but I'm playing to the masses on this one.)
I was a mess during the entire figure skating competition. Figure Skating is a highly emotional* sport, for the following reasons:
A) Music is played. Often it is Classical.
B) The human interest stories are of particular interest because many times figure skaters are Orphans...rescued, trained, and dressed-up Orphans.
C) The camera loves these people, thus the many close-up shots of the skaters, showing their varied expressions. The competitions are performances and, unlike races, they last for a couple of minutes where we can see the dramatic expressions of the Ice Folk.
*Note: Because of its highly emotional nature, emotionally stunted people are often compelled to make fun of figure skating.
To watch Olympic athletes is to witness enormous energy, passion, and perseverance in humans and that's inspiring. When did the Olympics get so emotional? Right now they did, that's when. Right now, when I stopped watching and started recognizing what is required for them to do what they do. Paying attention to OLYhuManityPICS...the humanity in the OLYMPICS.
I've had dreams of being a figure skater since fourth grade, as I watched the Olympics at the Bourgets' house up the street. I was cheering for Debbie Thomas, who ended up winning a medal. She didn't win the gold--that was won by the monstrosity known as Katarina Witt. But that's where it all started...
My humble beginnings:
The practice rink.
Now I do double, triple axels...in my sleep, with my eyes closed! I do flips, triple toe loops, you name it. It's about the EVERY DAY. You just have to do it everyday.
You think one mulitvitamin's gonna make you healthy? Think again, Sanchez. It's about a multivitamin every single day. That's when it works...when today = one day in an army of days. That's dedication. That is success.
Maybe I'll bust on a triple-axel-Salchow into a layback spin...but I showed up to do it. I showed up everyday to get to that point. I forwent any hope of friends, boyfriends, a social life, children, pets, sleeping in, learning how to drive and learning how to love (anything but ice skating) to get to the rink at 4am and let millions of TV viewers live vicariously through me and my efforts because that's what the Olympics are all about.
At the very moment she called, I was watching either the Ladies' Snowboarding, the Men's Freestyle Skiing, or the Ladies' Figure Skating Free Skate. And crying. I was watching it with Tom's mom.
Conversation was typical girl chat.
Me: That Italian girl's outfit is the best. So simple.
Tom's mom: Yes, very elegant. And what a beautiful girl.
Me: Yeah, and she skates with such passion.
At this point, we make eye contact. Both of our eyes are welled up. We nod, do the lips turned down "I know what you're saying" look, and look back to the TV.
T.m.: Oh look, she's crying.
Me: She should be, she did great.
I'm really shedding tears now, thinking, "What is this? Why am I crying?"
I realized I was inspired.
I'll make fun of this in a minute, but first I have to jump to a couple moments.
Ladies' Snowboarding:
Some lady veers out of control and into the fence. It's not embarrassing for her...that's the one perk of being an Olympic athlete. Huge tumbles are seen as huge disappointments. If that were me on the snowboard and I were to wipe out on a hill in front of my peers, I'd feel like a total jackass. People would laugh. But when an Olympian does it, people cry. I cried when that girl rode into the fence.
Freestyle skier, Jeret Peterson, had an awkward landing.
I cried.
Because Jeret was a huge disappointment for the U.S. and he should be exiled immediately.
Kidding!
I felt disappointment FOR him. For all the work he put into getting there, all for that one moment in time.
Give him one moment in time, when he's more than he thought he could be, when all of his dreams are a heartbeat away, and the answer is all up to him. And he chooses FAILURE.
(I'm going to write something serious and thoughtful about this in my secret journal but I'll just make fun here...considering the only comment I got on my one serious blog [see WINTER] was from my mother. Thanks, mom, but I'm playing to the masses on this one.)
I was a mess during the entire figure skating competition. Figure Skating is a highly emotional* sport, for the following reasons:
A) Music is played. Often it is Classical.
B) The human interest stories are of particular interest because many times figure skaters are Orphans...rescued, trained, and dressed-up Orphans.
C) The camera loves these people, thus the many close-up shots of the skaters, showing their varied expressions. The competitions are performances and, unlike races, they last for a couple of minutes where we can see the dramatic expressions of the Ice Folk.
*Note: Because of its highly emotional nature, emotionally stunted people are often compelled to make fun of figure skating.
To watch Olympic athletes is to witness enormous energy, passion, and perseverance in humans and that's inspiring. When did the Olympics get so emotional? Right now they did, that's when. Right now, when I stopped watching and started recognizing what is required for them to do what they do. Paying attention to OLYhuManityPICS...the humanity in the OLYMPICS.
I've had dreams of being a figure skater since fourth grade, as I watched the Olympics at the Bourgets' house up the street. I was cheering for Debbie Thomas, who ended up winning a medal. She didn't win the gold--that was won by the monstrosity known as Katarina Witt. But that's where it all started...
My humble beginnings:
The practice rink.
Now I do double, triple axels...in my sleep, with my eyes closed! I do flips, triple toe loops, you name it. It's about the EVERY DAY. You just have to do it everyday.
You think one mulitvitamin's gonna make you healthy? Think again, Sanchez. It's about a multivitamin every single day. That's when it works...when today = one day in an army of days. That's dedication. That is success.
Maybe I'll bust on a triple-axel-Salchow into a layback spin...but I showed up to do it. I showed up everyday to get to that point. I forwent any hope of friends, boyfriends, a social life, children, pets, sleeping in, learning how to drive and learning how to love (anything but ice skating) to get to the rink at 4am and let millions of TV viewers live vicariously through me and my efforts because that's what the Olympics are all about.
posted by Stephanie at 12:21 AM
1 Comments:
I'm impressed I didn't even know how to spell Salchow. I think of the olympics as a way to fall asleep and I will miss them when they are gone- four more years of sleepless nights. At least we didn't have Michelle Kwan.Although I admit I cried a little when she had to back out I thought maybe I jinxed her again. But I got over it.
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