Olympic Message - 1

For months we've heard in the media that the United States is done. Our best days are behind us, we're about to get our economic and political heads handed to us by the rest of the world, we can't do anything right anymore. I could go on but you get the point because you've seen tons of those reports and heard many arguments for that position for a long time now. I have opinions about why it started and when it started but that's simply not the point of this post.

The point is that someone needs to tell our Olympic athletes. Yesterday, there were two stories that we should all take note of because our athletes could have done what the media wants us all to do and pack it in when things get tough but in the end did not.

Story 1 is the men's 4 X 100 meter swimming relay. Yes, our team has Michael Phelps on it but was not the favorite going in. The folks on NBC made it a point to tell us that 1) France was going to win and that 2) they were talking trash. So they lowered our expectations and were supposed to settle for Silver. The American team led early and then gave up the lead to France just as NBC predicted. By the turn of the final leg it looked like NBC was right. Then Jason Lezak began to close the gap. With 25 meters (1/2 a pool length) he had almost caught up. It wasn't until the closing fractions of a second that he took the lead and won the Gold for the US. The French swimmers were stunned while the American team celebrated. I'm sure that our swimmers would have been proud with a Silver medal but they didn't settle for it. They put their all into the event and walked away with a win.

Story 2 is the women's gymnastics team. When they were first shown on TV you could tell something was up. They all looked like they were dealt a blow and they were. One team member was already injured and would be limited to one of four events. Now they found out that a second teammate was limited to the same way. They had 4 gymnasts who could compete in all events meaning that all of their scores would count - no margin for error. The night started out badly. Two gymnasts had penalties which reduced their scores which had an impact on the team's score. They settled down a bit on the vault but had more trouble on the uneven bars where two gymnasts either fell off or did not land their dismount. All looked bad going into the balance beam, arguably the most difficult even in the rotation. Something happened at that point. One after another the gymnasts turned in excellent performances. In the end, the team managed to finish the first round in 2nd just 1.5 points behind the Chinese team and in a position to take the gold when the competition begins again.

4 years of hard work. Hearts of lions in a pressure spot. That's how American athletes responded. For them there's glory - it is the Olympics and it's all on TV. However, we are all in a similar but not as bad situation right now yet the media would tell us it is more dire than it is. Do us all a favor, the next time the media decides that we're done turn them off or throw out their print article. Get back to doing what you do best, buckle down and win one for our Olympic athletes knowing that small victories by each of us will lead to a big victory for America.