"To be the world's best, you have to beat the world's best." ~ Dorothy Hamill
An Olympic moment.
The first time I became aware of the Olympic games, I was ten years old. I was spending the night with my friend Patti, and she had talked about nothing but the Winter Olympic games all day.
I had no idea what she was talking about, but it made me excited to see what the fuss was about.
The moment I saw Dorothy Hamill glide across the ice – that was it for me. I was officially hooked.
She won the gold medal for Women’s Figure Skating that night in Innsbruck, Austria. She introduced the Hamill Camel which is still used in routines forty-eight years later. All the girls wanted her pixie haircut, including myself!
Friday marked the opening ceremonies of the 33rd Olympic games in Paris, France. We watched the opening ceremonies and was delighted by the art and history of both France and the Greek games that were depicted.
The costumes and color of the ancient Greek Bacchanal festival, (NOT the Last Supper), Sequana, Goddess of the Seine River, (NOT death on a pale horse), and all the other scenes were inventive, creative and represent what one thinks when thinking about Paris. Romance, Fun, Over-the-top.
I am one of those people that wants to see each event. Anymore, that is hard to do, so I must choose my favorites from both Winter and Summer games. Even then, I watch for hours!
To have the physical stamina and energy to do the sport is amazing in itself. I have always wanted to be athletic, but it was not to be. The determination, sacrifice and perseverance needed is a mark of a person worthy of being awarded. I think each athlete should get a medal just for getting to the games.
Life can feel like a race at times, can’t it? Some days you feel golden and other days you are lucky if you manage a bronze. Then there are those days you do not even qualify or get in the game.
Over the next two weeks, we have the chance to see these athletes pursue a medal. I highly recommend you get off social media, turn the channel to a game on whatever streaming available and be inspired, and encouraged, and know that anything is possible. Not just in sports, but in life. There is always hope!
May you have an Olympic moment as did I in 1976.
I agree that the Hamill Camel got me hooked on the Olympics !! She was awesome !! I enjoy watching the gymnastics and swimming the most. Watch other events when I can and look forward to the golf events. I also think that anyone making that far as to go to the Olympics should be recognized for all their hard work and dedication to their sport. go USA !!!
The team sports deserve to be there. I still feel weird about it though. Relay teams are different, but some of the team sports like basketball seem overkill with the NBA and tennis with all of their professional matches. In my younger days, you couldn’t participate in the Olympics if you were a paid professional athlete. I can’t get used to the change but athletes of all kinds are what Olympics are about. I’m mostly just watch gymnastics and track.
Let me start with the silly and vain, the Dorothy Hamil haircut. I too struggled to maintain one and had many a blow job at the beauty parlor in an effort to maintain.
Claire is correct about paid athletes, excetetera but what happen other countries were paying their athletes.
I am hoping that even if it’s not publicized there is some sort of memorabilia for all athletes in attendence due to their modeling of character, discipline and skill.
The culture and the divirsity of the participants, alone is reason to watch even for those like me that aren’t much into spectator sports. Currently, I am totally enthralled at the New Zealand Rugby team and the Haka!