What an Olympics, right!?! Did you watch any of it, and if so what sports did you watch the most? My summer Olympics favorites are gymnastics and track & field.
I remember trying the various gymnastics apparatus - uneven bars and balance beam especially - in high school. We were required to learn it in gym.
The uneven bars are really big. I don't know how those tiny young ladies can hold on to them, even with the things they wear on their hands/wrists. They make it look so easy. I think I was able to go from the lower to the higher bar once and that was it. The balance beam was a little better, a little easier. That's to say I could walk back and forth, turn around and lift my leg up to show balance (my leg wasn't straight or anything and I couldn't hold it for more than a second or two). I did try to do a cartwheel on the beam and promptly fell. Ouch. That ended my interest in the beam. :)
Now, cross country and track & field was my love. In high school, I ran the 880, mile and two-mile. My junior year was my best year. I made it to state in the two-mile. I didn't place but it was an amazing experience. My fastest high school time in the mile was 5:08 and around 11:21 for the two-mile.
By the time I got to college, track was using the metric system and I usually ran the 5000 meters (3.1 miles). Not my favorite distance. I ran the 1500m once or twice and loved it. I ran cross-country for 2 years in college and track just 1 year before I shifted focus to my studies.
While running is an individual sport, track & field is a team sport and there is much to learn about competing and being part of a team.
Never is it more evident than when watching the Olympics.
Take Simone Biles. WOW! She is beyond amazing! G.O.A.T. (greatest of all time) is so appropos for her. She truly is the greatest. But she's also a wonderful human being. In the 2019 Olympics, she got the dizzies doing the vault. That and the pressure she was under took its toll. So she listened to her body and mind and pulled out. She sought out a therapist and continues seeing him or her to this day. She returned to the sport in 2024 with love and joy.
But what is even more inspiring about her is what she did for Jordan Chiles. Jordan was ready to quit the sport. She told Simone that things were too toxic where she trained and it was too much. Simone told her to come to Texas and train at her gym where the atmosphere was supportive and loving. Wow!
Now Noah Lyles is another young man full of inspiration. He has asthma, allergies, dyslexia, ADD, anxiety, and depression but he didn't let that stop him from working hard to pursue his dreams. He won gold in the 100m and dreamed of winning gold in the 200m. He placed third, which is awesome, but we learned that he ran after being diagnosed with COVID two days prior! Unbelievable that he could compete at that level while sick. Wow!
These two incredible athletes aren't the only ones with inspirational stories. Each athlete in every sport has a story of determination and grit, beating the odds...stories of inspiration that make the Olympics so very special.
What can we learn from them?
Hard work and diligence pays off
Never give up
Finish what you start
Be a good winner, be an even better loser
Help others and lift them up, it lifts you up as well
Be kind
I hope you were able to watch some of these athletes and sporting events. I hope you were inspired by them like I was.
What else can you learn from the Olympics and these elite athletes? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.
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