Diversity

Nothing in the world can show as much diversity as when the Olympics, summer or winter are taking place. Some of the Olympian personal stories are so amazing that for most of us it is inconceivable of some of the hardships that these athletes lived through, and yet followed through to their dreams. 

The commentators did an extraordinary job of telling some of them. Many things came to life...these athletes are so dedicated and emotionally tied to their sports. Some of them have family support and others do not, yet this does not deter them for one moment. They find a way that works for them.

Another thing that I noticed is that no matter what country the athlete was from, you would have been very unwise to assume what the country was by the physical characteristics of the athlete. We all in this crazy world of ours have become increasingly more global. Parents get moved to other countries for their careers, which many times means the whole family goes. Some become citizens of their newly adopted country, even learning the language. 

Just from what I observed, the United States seemed to have many more diverse athletes, probably due to the size of the country. The host of these Winter Olympics, South Korea has been in a war with North Korea, yet they came together as a group of athletes. If there were any ugliness or bitterness, it was kept well out of the headlines and cameras (which is not an easy thing to do). I am willing to bet that there really was not too much of that going on when one has to be so focused on the skills required to win a medal; not to mention the years of training.

This year I even became interested in the sport of curling. Learning how to score and what all the yelling was about was quite an experience for me.

The one thing that did bother me somewhat was hearing negative talk about how The Olympics messed up the whole television schedule, even for other stations. Either don't watch it, go rent a movie or watch one on Netflix, just please don't spoil it for the rest of world.

My last note is that I have always loved Bob Costas as the Olympic commentator. He did a great job from 1992 up until now. This year NBC went with Mike Tirico. What a good choice! Even Bob Costas admitted that Mike was "killin' it." And yes, he did. Both correspondents made their job look easy, just as if they were sitting down with you one on one telling you what was going on. That is a skill in itself and one not to be taken lightly.

To end this blog I would like to quote John Williams who wrote the Olympic Opening music and even directed symphony orchestras in playing this and other music written specifically for the Games. 
"The Olympics are a wonderful metaphor for world cooperation, the kind of international competition that's wholesome and healthy, an interplay between countries that represents the best in all of us."