The summer Olympic Games are scheduled for next month and the trials for who will be on the Olympic team will be on televisions for many of the various sports. The Olympics have a special meaning for athletes because it only occurs every four years. For an athlete to peak at just the right time and make the Olympic team has to begin many years before. It is a special honor to make an Olympic team to represent your country and athletes train hard to become on the best athletes in their sport.
I think there are only three times the Olympics have been canceled or delayed other than during war years. One was when President Carter canceled our team’s trip to Russia because of some political differences. The United States tried to make up the missed trip with a meet here in the United States and invited other countries to attend. The athletes got their Olympic Uniforms but it was not the Olympics. Of course, the next year the Olympics were in the United States and Russia vetoed coming to avenge getting even with us. We held the Olympics but the athletes knew that without Russia the world’s best athletes may not be in the meet. Then last year with the COVID-19 virus so prevalent it was decided to postpone the Olympics for a year. It seems things are scheduled to be ready to go.
There are very few athletes that make more than one Olympic, but the majority only make one trip. I had some questions about the athletes who made the Olympic team last year when it was canceled and what was their status for this year’s Olympics. Did last year’s qualifiers get the Olympic uniforms even though the Olympics were delayed for a year? To make an Olympic team takes some hard work and then to have to keep that high level of training for another year is unbelievably difficult. I seemed to focus on the three top finishers in the marathon last year and now have to compete again to reach that status. Trying to remain at the top condition for a year to run a marathon and make the team twice will be interesting to see. Very few athletes remain at their peak performance for any length of time. There are sports where athletes can compete at an elite level for many years. Most of these athletes are in team sports and not as much in individual competition. Track is one of those sports where getting older is not always to an athlete’s benefit. A few can remain at that peak performance for a number of years – and even more than one Olympic level completion. But, for most it is a one-time effort to achieve that goal.
Making an Olympic Team is a special reward for the training the athlete went through. While making an Olympic team is special there are other levels that deserve recognition. How about the athletes that competed in the tryouts and competitions to make the Olympics? Being good enough to make an Olympic tryout is a special achievement in itself. Out of the number of athletes that compete in the pre-Olympic competitions an athlete should feel good about making the qualifying standards and having an opportunity to make an Olympic team. Only the top three athletes make the team out of all the competitors. If you look at those athletes that make the tryouts they are in an elite status themselves. These athletes may feel discouraged that they missed the top three but need to feel good that they were good enough to make it to that level.
This recognition can be carried down to state and local levels. Athletes go through several levels of completion to make it to the state finals. But the achievement of getting through the various, and increasingly difficult competitions is a reward in itself.
I liken this to first time marathoners that want to break the four-hour time. It is not a fast time but those that do break four hours are still in the top 50% of runners entered. I have had a few friends miss the four hour mark by a few minutes and they feel that they failed. I tell them that they finished the marathon and only about 15% of all the runners ever run a marathon. For that achievement they are in the elite status of runners. It is all a matter of perspective. Whether it goes from T-ball to the Major Leagues every sport has a step ladder of achievement and it often depends on how hard the athlete is willing to work to make it up to the next rung on the ladder.
