What a Teen Takes Away From The 2012 Olympics

I was looking forward to the 2012 Olympics for months.  Why? Because the Olympics is the only stage that allows young people from all countries and all walks of life to compete free of bias and prejudice.

As a nerdy guy, there’s no way I’d be competing in local games never mind the Olympics.  I have two left feet and couldn’t  even figure out which net to aim for when I was forced to play soccer in gym.  So watching all these athletes giving their all is amazing to me.

Unfortunately not every athlete can win and seeing the heart ache and hurt in their eyes when they miss a medal by one hundredth of a point or second hurts me too.  I get emotional when I see someone who has put in years to get to the highest stage in their lives and they miss the time trials, or are eliminated from the finals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Matthew Mitcham is the gold medalist in platform diving, but his performance was not up to par during these games.  He missed the finals and was devastated.

Yet  at the same event I watched Tom Daley qualify and succeed in taking home a medal for Great Britain.  By now, everyone knows his story.  I cannot imagine losing my father at such a time in my life.  It’s difficult for me to imagine how he balances his personal and public lives.  Wow, that must be tough.

We all know the rivalry between Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte.  Now that Phelps has retired, maybe some of the other team members can show the world that swimming is not synonymous with Phelps.

I think I’d hate being on that team and having to stand in his shadow.  There are other great male swimmers yet they were not as recognized even when they won medals, cause the media only showed or concentrated on Phelps’ amazing performances.

Usain Bolt scares me a little.  Not only is he a great athlete, he is positively sure of himself.  When you see him prepare for an event, you know what he is thinking. And it shows when he runs.  I watched his events in awe as did much of the world.  How can a man run as fast as he does?

Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh are in the same league as Phelps.  They just keep performing at their best and keep on winning medals.  I wonder what happens to the other half of a team when one member retires.  Can she put another team together or will she falter without her strong partner?

I love so many Olympic events that it became difficult to see them all.  We have a DVR so I found myself recording the two evening shows when I wen to bed.  Each day I would watch the live/taped show of the day and flip back to the show I recorded the previous night during commercials.  Yeah, I’m sure NBC didn’t like that, but it was the only way I could watch all the events I wanted to see.

Gymnastics is probably my favorite sport to watch.  Like I said, I can’t even dribble a soccer ball and these guys can do triple flips and double whatevers while in the air for 3 seconds.  I can tell you that I hit replay and slow mo on several of these events.  There is no way I could even stand on the beam and those girls did flips and turns like they were on the floor.

Watching the Olympics was something very special for me.  It continued to support the notion that anyone can win if they put their all into it.  Oscar Pistorius is one of those determined individuals.  He not only had to compete against other athletes, he had to overcome one ruling after another against him even being in the Olympics.  He left to go on to the Paralympics which will start in only a couple of weeks.  I wonder how he will do with such a short rest between major events like this. (Unfortunately his life has turned into something we don’t want as a role model)

Now that the 2012 Olympics are over and the hype is gone as well, I look at those two weeks and remain in awe.  What does a teen take from the 2012 Olympics?  I am a good artist and have dreams of becoming even better.  Those athletes are great at what they do and have dreams of Medals hanging from their necks.  It gives me a sense that I can succeed.  I know that if I put as much time into my goals that I can achieve what I want too.  The question that sits heavily on my mind is do I want to put in that much time, and are my goals as high on my list as theirs are?  I wonder.

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