I freely admit that I’m an Olympics nerd. I cry when they light the torch. I cry when they play the national anthem for every gold medal. I cry when people win who aren’t supposed to. I cry when people win that are supposed to. I cry over pretty much every human interest story. And I cry when the torch goes out. So yeah, there’s a lot of crying packed into the two weeks. But it’s good crying.
The first Olympics that I can vividly remember was the Winter Olympics of 1976 in Innsbruck, Austria when I was all of 9 years old. I don’t remember the colors because we only had black and white televisions back then, but I remember that I was so very excited. My parents didn’t make as huge a deal out of it as I did with LG this time, so I think she might be able to remember the Olympics when she was 3 1/2.
So many of my greatest sports memories are of the Olympics. So many names imprinted in my mind…Dorothy Hamill, Nadia Comaneci, Carl Lewis, Florence Griffith Joyner, Bruce Jenner, Eric Heiden, Dan Jansen, Mary Lou Retton, Kerry Strug, Alberto Tomba, Ian Thorpe, Janet Evans, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, Scott Hamilton…the list goes on and on and on.
I’ve never been an athlete, but that doesn’t stop me from appreciating those who push their bodies and minds to the limit, who achieve things that most of us could never even dream of, who dream big dreams and make them come true, and those who dream only about participating and think that just doing even that much really is good enough. I admire their sacrifice and their drive and their belief in themselves. I cry when they fail and I rejoice when they succeed. I am inspired and amazed by them all.
My mom passed on her love of sports to me and I hope that I can in turn pass it on to my little girl. My mom was an avid sports fan, and so am I. My dad not so much, but he did take me to basketball games and football games and put up with me watching sports all weekend long. Oh, how I miss you Jim McKay and your Wild World of Sports. It’s kind of funny that Mike is not really an avid fan, but he is a fan, and he enjoys watching with me and with LG.
This Olympics gives me plenty of names to add to that list I mentioned above, including Dara Torres, Nastia Luikin, Natalie Coughlin, Shawn Johnson, Misty May-Treanor, Kerri Walsh, and of course, the name that will start LG’s own list: Michael Phelps.
I like to think that one day she’ll be watching the Olympics with her own little one and reminiscing on the first Olympics she remembers. And I kind of think it will be 2008 - Beijing. Or maybe she’ll walk in with her country and compete and remember where her dreams began. Who knows what the future holds, but whatever it is, I think she has become a sports fan, just like her mom and her grandmother before her. She even cried when the torch went out. And I cried right along with her. In 18 months, we’ll do it all over again. Oh, how I love you Olympics. I really need some sleep, though. See you in Vancouver.
