The music starts, the drums beat, and the culture of
the country sparkles in the dazzling lights. The Olympians burst forth and we
wait in anticipation for one of the greatest spectacles in the world to begin. July
27, 2012, London. An estimated 10,500 athletes from 205 countries will be competing.
The Olympics have special meaning for me. I am
looking forward to being part of the team of captioners who will be providing
closed captioning for the games on television. I also have a more realistic
idea of how much work goes into being an Olympian. One of my daughters is a level eight
competitive gymnast who has been doing gymnastics since she was four. She
spends twenty hours a week in the gym, and I drive her an hour and a half five
days a week back and forth.
Now almost fourteen, I look back through the years
at how our lives have been wrapped around her training—and the thousands of
dollars spent flying and driving across the country to attend competitions.
This year she was the level eight state vault champion for Florida.
Recently we were watching the Olympic trials and I
asked her, “How much better than you are they?” She laughed and shook her head.
The ones who go to the Olympics truly are the best. I have often thought about
what it takes to make it: You have to have a talented coach, parents that are
supportive (that’s a biggie because it takes years of preparation to get
there), plenty of money, not being
injured at critical times, an athlete who is able to receive instruction and
criticism, experience crippling failure and never give up; the self-discipline to
sacrifice a social life and other typical things that children and teenagers do;
the God-given physical and mental ability, and then peaking at the right moment—the
Olympics are only held every four years. And probably thrown in there is fate—being
in the right place at the appointed time and exposed to the one sport that the individual
can excel at, and then having the coach who can transform a gifted athlete into
an Olympian, like magic bound up in providence. Of the thousands who aspire to
make it, only a few do.
The Bible speaks in I Corinthians 9:25: “Everyone who competes in the games goes into
strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to
get a crown that will last forever.” I
wonder if we were to take our faith as seriously as the Olympians pursue their training,
what could we not do?
As I watch the Olympics, I will contemplate the enormity
of what athletes can accomplish when they devote themselves to a sport greater
than themselves; always amazed that for two weeks every four years, countries will
lay down their arms and participate in a tradition that’s as old as Ancient Greece
and the Parthenon; that we will sit glued to our television screens esteeming
the talents of athletes whose names we can’t pronounce, but wanting to know everything
about them; that we will celebrate together all around the world in a mystic
tradition of mythic proportion—of diversity, of unity, of beauty, of art, of
perfection, of gold.
What humankind can achieve through perseverance and
an unquenchable desire to be the best at a sport is pure brilliance. The
Olympics is magic in motion, art and destiny intertwined for a few. And for the
rest of us, a moment to pause and reflect, living out vicariously the success
of the winners—and anyone who competes is a winner. The world will be mesmerized
by young men and women who will take our breath away and remind us that in a
sense, we are one. We celebrate with them as their brothers and sisters and
mothers and fathers and sons and daughters.
For a moment we will enter their
world and be a part of it. We will cheer them on and applaud broadly, knowing
they are truly Olympians. I can’t wait for the games begin!
