One Silly Centimetre

Canada's Dylan Armstrong missed the bronze medal in the shot put at the Olympic games by one centimetre. That’s about the width of your baby finger.

Immediately my head is flooded with questions. How accurate are the people who measure where the ball landed? Was the tape they measured with as equally taut for Armstrong and the man who finished ahead of him? How would it feel to come so close after working so hard for something and miss by so little?

I then shift gears and start asking more questions. Aside from Dylan Armstrong and a few other shot put fanatics (I imagine there must be some), will anybody really care about anybody but the winner? Will anybody even care about the winner after the Olympics are over?

I love watching some sports at the Olympics, but for different reasons. In most cases, I don’t really care who wins. What I enjoy is the lesson learned that people can overcome obstacles to produce amazing results. I also learn that most things in life take dedication and hard work. Sometimes having the right genetic material helps. Unfortunately, having the right chemicals is often the difference. Regardless, the difference between first and fourth is often very, very small.

When it comes right down to it, I don’t really care about most of the sports. Fencing is a good example. Although I would like to try it someday, watching it doesn’t excite me. However, the story of fifty-year-old Jujie Luan from Edmonton interested me greatly. She returned to her native China to compete in fencing twenty-four years after winning a gold medal in fencing in Los Angeles. These stories about the human spirit are the ones that I enjoy.

The Olympics also teach me that there are often second chances in life. Four years ago, the Canadian eights rowing team, world champions at the time, finished fifth. Four years later, they have won gold with some of the same crew. Defeat was a mere stepping stone to eventual victory.

And if these stories can happen to these people, why can’t they happen to me? All I have to do is have the dedication and faith of these athletes and I can reach the podium on the desires of my life.