My fascination with the Olympics starts and ends with the athletes. Can you imagine going down icy track feet first at speeds of up to 50mph? Are those Lugers crazy? How about the Skeleton competition? The sport involves racing a sled down an icy track. Unlike luge, skeleton sleds are ridden face first.
I think of all the many hours of practicing, early in the morning, late at night and every hour in between when they are on the ice, on the slopes or trudging through the snow for these amateur athletes to get to the Olympics.
For me, the Games seem to bring the world together. All the nations marching out together during the Opening Ceremony says something about what it means to be one world. For two weeks, nations come together for a common cause.
The Games also advance the competency of the athletes’ speed, strength and endurance. The breaking of Olympic and World Records year after year shows how we have pushed what the human body and human spirit can do. This reminds me of the “Cool Runnings” movie, a bobsled team from Jamaica, not letting a little thing like no snow stand in their way. They were determined to make it to the Olympics.
So when I watch the games, I will not think of the nations that are disagreeing with each other or the human rights violations, I will think of the athletes, who despite all odds have become Olympians.