February 18, 2002
Doing
Your Best vs. Winning
Some amazing things always seem to happen when the Olympics take place. Since the days when we first heard one of the networks use the phrase, “up close and personal” as a lead-in to human-interest spots, we have had the chance to get to know the athletes a little better. Even though we know that these profile pieces are staged and edited, they seem to be a fair reflection of these gifted individuals.
During the past
few days, however, there have been numerous opportunities to really see the
spontaneous reactions of a few athletes in less than cheerful settings.
Two of these events I would call soul moments that were reflected to us
in character. These moments came after what most would consider
disappointments and yet still resulting in Silver Medals.
The first belonged to the
Canadian pair skaters. As most of
the world knows by now, after skating a near flawless final program they still
found themselves in second place much to the dismay of most everyone.
In their early interviews, I was struck with the sincere way they
accepted the results. Sure, they
had to have been disappointed, but you would not have known it based on the
demeanor and grace they exhibited. Their first comments were about how they had done their best,
that is all they could have done, and that the results were beyond their
control. They then began to speak
about the future competitions. The
events that followed those interviews changed the final outcome in the awarding
of the Gold Medal, but the moments after the competition just might have been
Jamie Sale’s and David Pelletier’s finest.
On Saturday night, the moment of
soul belonged to Apolo Ohno, an American speed skater.
Perhaps fewer people have heard about his race, but it was also filled
with drama. As the five skaters
turned into the final curve of the 1000-meter short track, one of the skaters
bumped and then fell into three others skaters.
Ohno, who was thought to be able to win as many as four gold medals, was
not only knocked down to the ice, but suffered a gash on his leg that required
six stitches and put future races in question.
He ended up crawling across the finish line behind the Australian who had
been skating intentionally behind the pack as part of his strategy.
In all the interviews I have
seen since and seeing his interactions with the others on the medal podium, I
again saw the character of a champion. He
took in stride what had happened without excuse or blame, but was grateful for
the finish, congratulatory to the gold medallist, and sympathetic to his fellow
competitors.
There is a difference to most of
us when we hear that someone did their best and when we hear that they won.
When you witness these two Olympic moments, you see beyond the medals and
see champions of life. It makes me
wonder how most of us would react to the same events.
We may not all be Olympic
athletes, but we do face many situations in life that test our character and
give us insight to just how in step we are with our soul.
Our soul is not about winning but more about our character and about
doing our best. It is the person
who lives with great awareness of the soul who can rise above adversity and be
in the moment with grace and dignity.
With respect, acceptance, and love,
Richard