Are you a Winter Olympics fan? Did you see the opening ceremony? We’re still getting over being sick, so we watched the ceremony from the comfort of our couch.
The best part of the Winter Olympics is watching people from warm-weather countries compete in cold weather sports. There are the Nigerian bobsledders who honed their craft in Houston. The Kenyan Olympian at the entire event who is an alpine skier and crowdfunded her way to the games. And I love the Iranian cross-country skier who flies to Turkey to train. It’s inspiring to see these women push their bodies to the limit in a variety of terrains that aren’t accessible to them.
I also love the Winter Olympics because each contest, no matter how boring, represents an innate desire for perfection achieved through a rigorous commitment to practice. The Winter Olympics reminds me it’s not enough to be gifted; your natural abilities won’t calm your nerves. Talent gets you the invitation to try; training awards you the privilege to compete for gold.
The final thing I appreciate about the Winter Olympics is that I learn about sports not on my radar screen. I’m looking at you, biathlon. Hard to get excited about people skiing and shooting rifles except, now that I’ve run marathons, I’m envious of the quiet and intense focus required to push your body to the limit and hit your mark with a weapon.
I’m not Jason Bourne, but reading the coverage of the biathlon event makes me think that I’d love to try something like it. Curling it too social for me. I want endurance sports and guns, but, you know, in a healthy way.
So consider me a fan of the Winter Olympics. I’m all in with Skeleton, Freestyle Skiing, and Nordic Combined. But I’m not buying any Ralph Lauren winter gear. Those puffy gloves are ridiculous and too big for my petite hands!
I bet biathlon is harder than it looks, even once you remove the endurance element and focus solely on standing up straight on cross-country skis etc.