Olympics

First let me say how much I love the Olympics. I have been reading more than watching this time and it is still fun to share the excitement and joy of these athletes. Michael Phelps has been amazing of course and his interview alongside Mark Spitz was a terrific bit of programing. And that young woman who took the Bronze in the women's 10,000 meter three days after having food poisoning - Incredible! And that was the first US medal ever in that race -- or something like that. I had never heard of her until I sat down to check out what was playing at the moment and there she was -- and there her Mother was, cheering, crying, urging her on. I "knew" them for 30 seconds and I was crying with them as she hugged her mom, wrapped the flag around her shoulders and kept going around that track. We are basketball fans at our house and I am just competitive enough that I am OK watching my team whomp the living day lights out of another team. (Can you also tell I'm southern?) So I am enjoying these Olympics - cheering when I do watch and reading with great enthusiasm when I check the news. 

So - what's the problem? I just read an article where a "disappointment" was listed as two young women bringing in two silvers and a bronze. I heard an announcer acknowledge a silver and then say, " . . . but no American has ever reached the gold." -- Excuse me! These folks are In The Olympics! They actually qualified and Got There. They have run, thrown, jumped, swam, played with the Very Best in the World and we are "disappointed" when they "only" get a silver or bronze???? Sorry, folks. The athletes themselves are allowed to be disappointed if they thought they might do better but we have no right to do anything but cheer. The very fact that they are competing on Olympic soil ranks them among the Top in the world. Good for them! They should all get a medal just for walking in the door - then let them compete. They are superb and it is a joy to watch each and every one of them.