The Olympics Revisited

Which is more important? Making the Olympic Team in your sport, winning an Olympic medal, or just finishing the freaking race without a hitch?

It's been months since the Beijing Olympics, which were overshadowed by swimming paraphenalia and pre-pubescent tumblers.  But did anyone ever stop to think about the US Track Team?  What the hurdle happened to them?  Seriously.  I hate to say it, but they dropped out like jacked up flies from a zapper.  Our once strong and proud team seemed to silently disappear behind the eight gold medals of a now quite interesting character (that's for another day).

And maybe I was extra disappointed due to my own unreluctant fling with track.  Hurdles to be exact.   And I'm short, so to see the look in the skeptics' faces as I soared over the men's hurdles was delightful.  Plus, I still have fantasies to make it into the Olympics, even if I passed my prime at the ripe old age of 19.  But I will even if it's in the "jump the hurdles to get to the shoes" event.

So I bring this up because of an article that popped up today in the Times, describing the release of a report by a committee looking to reduce the influence of agents and shoe sponsors.    

Back up just a little.  I know athletes get paid well;  really, really, well.  But sponsors making career decisions for the athletes is just beyond me.  Again, I hate to say this, but go play basketball.  Track and field is a sport that develops out of a passion and a gift.  Not a paycheck and a brand.  Now, I'm sure many professional basketball and football players are in it for the love, but how many can actually resist the lure of big money and major connections? 

I just hope that the suspicious actions highlighted in the report are a recent phenomenon; because if I had been coached the way these athletes seemed to have been, I wouldn't have developed the awe and respect for a sport that I still yearn to go back to one day.  

So maybe these Olympics were a wake-up call on many levels.  Many, many, many levels. 

Oh, how innocent we once were.