Olympic Values

I love the summer Olympics. Aside from watching some of my favorite sports there is so much more that you get out of it. There are stories – great stories – some won’t come out until afterwards. There are always the tales of great victories and heartbreaking losses but there are usually many more poignant stories to be heard. They may be of new, unexpected friendships being formed between athletes from competing nations, or the path an athlete took to get to the games, overcoming great odds in doing so. Many of the stories will be things that happened outside of the field of competition – stories of the people who are the athletes, perhaps of human kindness. I will look forward to reading or hearing about those stories in the days and weeks to come but so far I’ve just enjoyed watching the competitions. Honestly, I’ve been awed by much of it and in surprising ways.

Last night I was watching gymnastics and swimming. These athletes – all of them – are just incredible examples of what can be achieved when you work hard, when you put your all into your sport. They have trained for years to get to this point and I can’t help but smile when I see the joy on their faces when they realize they have won a medal. I can almost feel their pride as they stand on the podium. Their determination and perseverance is inspiring. I’m excited for them. I’m impressed by them - by their ability, by their skill, by their seeming flawlessness, at times, in the execution of what, to me, are impossible feats.

But here is what I am also impressed with – their gracious behavior in both winning and losing, their ability to hold it together when nothing is going their way, their sportsmanship, their respect for the competition, for their competitors, for the games themselves. I listened to crowds cheering as loudly for one country as another – clearly many were cheering for the achievements of the athletes not so much for a given country. I find myself excited for whomever wins – how can you not be? Seeing that sheer happiness on their faces is infectious.

I think, however, that the most impressive thing of all is seeing what everyone has in common, what brings them together. In that swimming pool, on that balance beam, court or track everyone is the same in so many ways. We’re watching people from all over the world strive for the same thing. We’re watching people from all over the world hug each other – sharing happiness, empathy, compassion, kindness, joy, and sadness. The color of their skin, their religious background, their politics, their culture, traditions, language – none of that seems to matter. They are all human beings who have gotten to the same place by practicing, by and large, many of the same values. They are showing themselves to be a lot more alike one another than different.

Of course, we all know that on a larger scale there are many differences. All is not right in the world. We do not all agree in concept or in reality with the policies, politics, traditions, beliefs or religions of others – even within our own countries much less those of other nations. We do not all get along. I wish we could take just a little of the magic that comes with the Olympics, whatever it is that brings us all together for that short period of time, that has us cheering for everyone, and sprinkle that around the world. Just think of the difference that could make.

So I’m enjoying these Olympic Games. They are showing me how very extraordinary humans can be – both in and out of competition. There’s a lot we can learn from watching them. I hope our leaders are taking notes.