Given that
the Closing Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics wrapped up over a day ago this
post is perhaps a bit late, but timeliness has never been my strong point.
So here’s
a post about the Olympics, you unlucky people.
Despite
my confusion regarding it, religion is often a big part of sport. Just look at
all that bollocks with Tim Tea-face or whatever he was called and you’ll notice
that a lot of athletes to often hold a serious connection with god. I found
myself contemplating this as I watched Christian Taylor interviewed after
winning a Gold medal in the Triple Jump event.
This is
a chap at the peak of human physicality, an athlete who’s at a standard where
he can take a Gold at an Olympic event (which is to say, he’s extremely
strong). Reaching such a stage has taken months of painstaking hard work. The
training and practice, the blood, sweat and tears that this guy has put in is
nothing short of incredible. He’s had the unflinching support of people like
his coach, who’s urged him on through the darkest hours of self-doubt and
desperation, and his family, who’ve likely (I’m not pretending to know this
guy, don’t get me wrong) been there with him since the start.
And yet
the first thing Taylor says on camera after winning is “how
blessed” he is, and how he thanks god for his victory.
I just
can’t feel that he and the athletes like him are selling themselves short when
they make statements like that.
God didn’t
put all those hours of training and practice in; Taylor did. God wasn’t the guy training
him, urging him on all the way; that was Taylor’s coach. All in all, god really
didn’t do much in Taylor’s training and racing, so it’s
confusing as to why he’s the first person thanked in the victor’s interview.
Surely there’s far more worthy candidates deserving of mention?
I’m sure
there were plenty of people competing in that event who prayed long and hard,
yet it was Taylor who won. That’s note because god has favourites, that’s because
Taylor was the better athlete. He personally
put in the work, he personally was the better competitor, and thus he won. I’m
all for modesty, but if ever there’s a moment to be vaguely chuffed with
yourself it’s when you’ve just taken the Gold.
Don’t
get me wrong, I’m fully aware that this is just a personal opinion. I’m sure Taylor derived a considerable amount of
confidence in thinking that god had his back during the long hours of training.
It’s just I think it’s a shame these guys are giving away all the credit to
some deity who just sat there and watched impartially.
They’re
the ones who did all the work, after all, and so they’re the ones who deserve
the praise.
