On the Track
The Olympics are coming up in a month from now, and while I generally don't watch a lot of sport, I love the Olympics. No matter what the discipline, at the Olympics they are the best in the world, and for many of the sports they don't do it for the money, because there is very little, yet they have trained their entire lives for it. One gold every four years, out of thousands of athletes, but only a handful with any real hope of claiming victory.
In most countries, the Olympic committee makes the selection, but in the US it is a bit different, because it comes down to competition alone. For instance, the reigning 800m champion from Tokyo, Athing Mu, won't defend her title after falling in qualification, even though she is the best the US has to offer by far. Qualification is a harsh business in the US, but to counter favoritism and politics, this is the way they have chosen to handle the process - no excuses.
Track record matters.
But it isn't about long term track record, it is about the last race run, and I think that this attitude is become increasingly pervasive in society. This is the "only as good as your most recent performance" attitude, which means that we are essentially wiping away consistency from our judgements. A person makes a single mistake in a career of successes, and the world will turn on them, punish them, forget all that had come before.
Is there any coming back?
I was reading about another athlete, Steven van de Velde, a beach volleyball player from the Netherlands, will be competing in Paris, even though he is a convicted rapist of a twelve year old girl ten years ago, when he was nineteen. A terrible crime, and one that should be punished. Yet, should there be a way for a person to come back from mistakes, poor judgement, immaturity, stupidity?
Is absolution possible?
It is a question I ask myself, because there are plenty of things that I wish I hadn't done in life, and while not illegal, what happens if culture changes? We live in a world where comedians are being cancelled for decades old jokes, or actors and athletes are having their careers taken away from accusation alone. Even if they are found not-guilty, it is too late, the damage has been done.
Over the space of time, no one is innocent.
Most people believe that they want a meritocracy, where the best person for the job is in the job. But that becomes very difficult once we include all the other factors into the mix. The best person for the job, might be a terrible human, so should we give them the position based on merit? If this was the US Olympic selection, than yes - the person doesn't matter, just their results. It doesn't matter if they are a terrible person with no moral fiber, if on the day they are better than the other candidates, they are selected.
Kind of crazy, isn't it?
I wonder if when we look in the mirror, we see the best of us, the worst of us, or the average of us. I consider myself a good person on average, and probably a better than average person on average, but this doesn't mean that everything I have ever done has been the best version of myself. I have made mistakes too, said the wrong thing, done the wrong thing.
Which is the real me?
As said, I like the Olympics, as it is the best in the world doing what they are the best at. However, it is more than that, because it is thousands of athletes who have overcome all kinds of adversities to be there, to push themselves to their limits, even though there are no guarantees that they will make it far enough. They are people who are flawed, who have problems in their lives like the rest of us, but for a brief moment, they can put all of the baggage down, and line up against others like them. Others like us.
They do superhuman things - but are human.
And for a brief moment, it might be possible to forget all the problems of the world, all the challenges we face as a society, a community, an individual, and just put it on the track, giving their all.
The best is momentary. Better is always possible.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
It is always cool to see people pushing the limits, there is something amazing seeing this.
For sure. It isn't just doing what I can't, it is doing what someone can to the boundary of what is possible. And then trying for more.
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I’m not defending the rapist of the 12 year old.. but I know a few friends of mine that hooked up with a 14 year old when they were 19 or older. She did NOT look 14 and then add makeup, it was pretty insane what can be done these days. I’m glad I was too inexperienced to those things lol when that was going down I think I was 16 at the time, maybe newly 17 when these dudes were doing something highly illegal. She was attractive for sure but as soon as I heard 14 I was repulsed.
I’m not a huge fan of the Olympics, they seem cool but it’s essentially a lot of money laundering by building gigantic useless stadiums and letting them rot afterwards and the players get paid next to nothing while the advertisers and others make billions. Pretty disgusting in this day and age.
One thing I wouldn’t mind watching are the Enhanced Games. The new events that allow modification SL and things to a certain limit so that we can see what the human body is capable of with the right formulations and stuff. I think that’s far more interesting and also better for us overall because we can expect the knowledge gained from that stuff to permeate the markets for regular people in a few months to years after. I’m certainly going to be taking testosterone when I’m in my 60’s fuck it, why wouldn’t I want to boost my body? Lol
Yeah, I haven't looked into the actual conditions of what happened with the rapist, other than seeing a quote from him condemning his own behavior, but also knowing that it was done and he can't undo it.
The world is a pretty messed up place in this regard these days. The other article where I mentioned the sexualization of children doesn't help matters, does it?
I don't care about the pomp and fuss of the olympics - just the competition that brings so many disciplines together and broadcasts them all. So many little sports I never get to see, and wouldn't search to discover by themselves.
The enhanced games will be interesting, if they can get enough people there.
For sure - at that point, there really is only looking up benefits, as life is looking down :D
Yeah the obscure sports that are in the Olympics are cool. Like those bros with dad bods doing the ice thing they push the disc across and make it land in a specific spot, I forget the name of it. Maybe I'll watch a little this year, haven't watched it for a long time haha
I certainly hope so. There should be a price to pay for sure, contrition, apologies, etc, but yes I believe people deserve second chances!
What happened to; Learn from mistakes - don't make the same mistake twice. Sure, some people are psychos, but most are just idiots.
At this point, I think it is pure laziness and a force of habit. It is much easier for these elementary teachers to just show them show to do it rather than teach them why it works. From a very young age, the students are learning how to copy algorithms instead of how to figure them out themselves. The result it a bunch of copy cats that can't think for themselves and that is a scary proposition (and exactly what Rockefeller envisioned).
This statement right here might be the one running through my head tomorrow as I step it out for my first solo walk about the neighborhood. If I can stay upright and not break anything, it may be post worthy to write about my thoughts on the matter.
For now I will say it depends on the day and what track my mind is on at the time.
I think it is important to cross-reference what we do with what we are actually capable of doing. For one reason or another, what we could do once upon a time might be out of reach, yet we can still be our best in the moment now, with the resources we have.
I agree that a lot don't do it for the money, and more for the glory and being the best. I don't know in your country, but there is good money involved in some countries. In the Philippines, medalists get a lot of rewards from private companies. There are sums of money, house and lot, endorsements, and other things. So there is good money to winning.
As for holding qualifiers, I think it is necessary. A person's skills and abilities could have diminished after 4 years, or within even a span of a year due to injuries. Athletes wanting to go to the Olympics need to treat these qualifiers as if it is the actual thing. So if they fail in the qualifiers, what's to say they wouldn't do poorly in the actual Olympics as well.
Yep - medalists do. But, there are only 3 medals. What about the 50 people who don't medal, but put in all that work over a lifetime?
For sure - but they have other track events all the time. In the US, the qualifiers are the thing, so one slip there and it is over. However, in most countries, the olympic committee chooses the athletes, which means there is a chance that they still get chosen. But, this has its own problems.
The Olympics have kind of lost their shine for me over the years. I will likely still watch, but the greedy acts of the Olympic committee overshadow a lot is the achievements for me.
I tune all of that nonsense out and focus on the sports only. :)
If you apply the same rule to any of the major US sports, it is all about the franchise, the merchandise, the money rolling in - not the sport.
Yeah, that didn't used to be the case with college athletics, but I think it is changing now. We were watching some of the track trials the other day.
Dear @tarazkp !
Do you want to go to the Paris Olympics as a tourist?😃
I would love to - but am not.
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I also love the spirit of the Olímpic Games. I was lucky enough to work for Sports Illustrated during the Barcelona Olímpic Games back in 1992 following US and Australian teams from several sports and I have great memories from those days.
This is why some people sometimes say that they don’t like the Olympics method of choosing the winner even after they must have tried to pick the best person as the winner…
Bet all the people screaming for the harshest punishment imaginable for the tiniest of slips would also firmly believe that they and theirs should be instantly forgiven with zero repercussions for literally the exact same thing because then somehow "it wasn't that bad".
We might watch gymnastics if we remember it's on.
I’m sure if you have the opportunity to attend the Olympics someday, you’re surely going to do so
I’ve always admired how the Olympics show the incredible dedication of these amazing athletes. Their journey, overcoming so many obstacles for a brief moment of glory, is super awesome. I really wish plane tickets were cheaper, would have been flying to these games always