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Olympic Commentary

My boys and I tuned into the Olympics a whole lot this weekend. It was a humid, hazy, stormy weekend, so whenever the weather outside was icky, the Olympic coverage provided some nice distraction. We saw cycling road-races (what a finish during the women’s race!!), beach volleyball, a little diving (Go Heymans and Abel!), and swimming, swimming, and more swimming. We even tuned into a water-polo game, which Benjamin and Nicholas loved. Pierre played for our provincial team in Canada. Now both boys want to be water-polo players when they’re older, just like their Papa.

They also had a blast running circles through the house from living-room to kitchen to dining-room, pretending to be in their own cycling road-race. Ben would call out imaginary times (“six minutes left”, “three minutes left”, “one minute left”) until they both won the race. Sometimes, neither of them won, and Ben would tell me which country did (“Mommy. France won”). For them, it was about racing, not winning. Talk about sportsmanship!

You know, the network station that we’ve been tuning into for coverage (Gosh. Do I ever miss CTV!) could learn a lesson or two from my boys about the true spirit of the Games. Maybe I go around wearing rose-colored glasses, but I find the coverage to be overwhelmingly negative. The focus is much more on athletes that didn’t, as opposed to athletes that did. When Ryan Lochte won gold in the 400IM, much more coverage was given to the fact Michael Phelps came fourth. Phelps in fourth led just about every swimming segment for the rest of the weekend. When the men swim team won silver in the relay event, they media reported that they were “edged out” by the French. “Edged out”? Excuse me?? They won silver! I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a silver medal…in anything!

Gymnastics commentary this weekend? Pretty rough. Even the Parade of Champions was marred by a reporter who couldn’t help commenting on the unlikelihood of given countries winning a medal. This as the Olympians proudly marched in waving their countries’ flags. I could give more examples, but you get the point.

Something is wrong here…

The message that the media is sending to future athletes is clear: “If it isn’t gold, it isn’t good enough. Silver and bronze are barely passable. Don’t even think about coming in fourth”. What a shame. That isn’t the message that I want taught to my sons. 

Why is winning everything? Why does every race have to break records?

What about the importance of simply competing? What about representing one’s countries with integrity and pride? Because, the majority of our Olympic athletes will never step foot on the podium, but they still deserve to be supported, and congratulated for their incredible accomplishment – they’ve made it to the Olympics!  In Benjamin and Nicholas’ eyes, they are heroes.  And in my books, that trumps every medal handed out at the Games.

So, the boys and I will be celebrating our Olympians: Canadian, American and from every other country, because simply being an Olympian is extraordinary.  That’s the message that I want taught to my sons.

xo Naomi

 

P.S. When I’m feeling snarky, I like to bake (also when I’m feeling happy, sad, goofy, hungry, blue, silly…). Here’s a recipe for chocolate chip cookies that the boys and I made today. I’m forever on a search for amazing chocolate chip cookies. This recipe is one of the best that I’ve tried:

Best Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie from allrecipes.com

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