As I write this, it’s the morning after the 2024 Paris Olympics closing ceremonies. Like many individuals, I relished these Video games — the number of sporting actions, like gymnastics, judo, and canoeing. I preferred seeing what folks can accomplish after they decide to a craft and work exhausting. And I appreciated being uncovered to bounce strikes that I can’t do … but.
Observe and subject, as regular, was unimaginable. It was full of peculiar triumphs (1), athletes rising to new ranges of success on the worldwide stage (2), wild feats (3), and ascendent figures within the sport who shined regardless of the large expectations positioned on them (4). Individuals ran quick, and it was thrilling.
What We Can Be taught
I’m not carried out enthusiastic about the Olympics. And, anyway, to let the Olympics go — a stage the place we noticed a lot excellence on show — with out studying something, could be a mistake.
I’m positive there are classes a coach or physiologist would report that may differ from my very own. Listed below are my takeaways as an ethical thinker.
1. You Can Be a Nice Athlete and a Good Particular person
Previous to the Olympic video games, Nike aired a industrial that featured a number of star athletes, labeled with phrases like “misleading,” “single-minded,” and “obsessive.” Then it posed a query: “Am I a nasty individual?” As in, does aggressive success require the presence of vices — traits that in any other case detract from a great life, but make us extra profitable in our sports activities?
The influence of character on sports activities efficiency is advanced. Character in sports activities (as it’s in most human domains) is a messy panorama of virtues, vices, and all the things in between. And this can be a subject that advantages from being extra exactly framed — for instance, the impacts of pleasure on teamwork in soccer, or the consequences of perseverance on distance operating. If you’re involved in a extra thorough remedy of this subject, yow will discover one in my ebook right here.
Regardless, whereas there have been definitely dangerous actors and cases of vice (5), good character was additionally on show all through the Video games. For instance, American gymnast Simone Biles cheered for and celebrated the victory of her Brazilian opponent, Rebeca Andrade. She known as Andrade a “phenomenal” athlete who “put me on my toes (6).”
Simone Biles on the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Photograph: Shutterstock
A second instance was Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the reigning Olympic 1,500-meter champion and one of many favorites for this 12 months’s occasion. After ending a disappointing (for him) fourth place, he expressed gratitude for his supporters and graciously thanked his rivals (7).
American swimmer Katie Ledecky invited her teammate to the highest of the rostrum together with her to share her gold medal second, and tennis gamers Novak Djokovic (Serbia) and Rafael Nadal (Spain) gave one another hugs and exchanged phrases of respect after their match.
I left the Video games hopeful that peak sports activities efficiency needn’t come at the price of a great character.
Novak Djokovic on the 2024 Paris Olympics. Photograph: By Like tears in rain – Personal work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=151172242
2. We Do Not Change into Wonderful on Our Personal
There’s an error that pleasure typically commits. It’s forgetful of the products it has obtained by others and thus arrives at a “false estimate of [its] personal self-sufficient greatness (8).” Pleasure thinks, “I completed this myself.”
Realistically, just about something we obtain is as a result of investments of others — typically our dad and mom or different caretakers who feed us and love us, the assist of coaches and lecturers, the kindness of neighbors and mates, and the teammates and rivals who refine us. And this was the message I heard as a chorus all through the Olympics.
Put up-competition interviews had a theme: gratitude for the folks of their lives who helped them accomplish what they did. We rely on others. We are able to’t change into wonderful by ourselves.
3. Don’t Hearken to What the Lots Say About You
Previous to the 2024 Olympics, I had by no means noticed synchronized diving. However this didn’t stop me from having opinions about it. After 5 minutes of watching the divers compete, I used to be on my toes, giving them suggestions by my tv.
One good reminder from the Olympics is that individuals might have sturdy opinions about what it’s best to or mustn’t do together with your life. For instance, I felt dangerous for the runners who did (or didn’t) take part within the relay occasions at the beginning of the monitor meet.
Those that did had been criticized for not prioritizing their major occasions. Those that didn’t had been criticized for placing themselves first, over the curiosity of their nation. There was no strategy to win within the eyes of the general public.
Most of us reside quieter lives and shouldn’t have to fret concerning the opinions of the various — giant swaths of individuals disagreeing about our life decisions. Even so, this can be a good reminder to have just a few key folks in your life whom you belief, who know you, and can your good. Take suggestions from these folks. Have integrity earlier than them.
Ultimate Ideas
The Olympic Video games had been an amazing alternative to find out about what it means to be wonderful. There are various extra classes we may have gleaned, past the three we explored above.
From marathoners and coaching companions, Conner Mantz and Clayton Younger, we realized that friendship refines us and makes the journey extra gratifying.
From Cole Hocker — who discovered a small window of area on the rail to sneak by and declare Olympic gold within the 1,500 meters — we realized that technique is necessary, and there’s a little bit of luck concerned in victory.
And from Dutch runner Sifan Hassan, who ran three distance occasions and went dwelling with three medals, we realized to take sooner or later — and one tough factor — at a time. If she dwelled on the enormity of the duty earlier than her, it could have been overwhelming. However she bought it carried out, one race at a time.
The lads’s 1,500-meter remaining on the 2024 Paris Olympics. The U.S.’s Cole Hocker (again proper) moved up on the within late to beat favorites Josh Kerr (U.Ok.) and Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Norway). Photograph: Filip Bossuyt from Kortrijk, Belgium, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, by way of Wikimedia Commons
Name for Feedback
- For you, what was essentially the most inspiring second within the Paris Olympics?
- What different life classes did you are taking from the Video games?
References/Notes
- Kenneth Rooks’ silver medal within the steeplechase, Cole Hocker and Yared Nuguse within the males’s 1,500 meters.
- Grant Fisher’s double bronze within the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter races.
- The Netherlands’s Sifan Hassan’s gold medal within the marathon, following bronze medals within the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter races.
- Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone within the 400-meter hurdles, Keely Hodgkinson within the 800 meters, and Gabby Thomas within the 200-meter run.
- Take into account the Canadian soccer employees that was banned for spying on different groups.
- Contreras. Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles Clarify Their Viral Podium Photograph with Rebeca Andrade. “NBC Information.” 5 August 2024. Net <https://www.nbc.com/nbc-insider/simone-biles-jordan-chiles-bow-to-rebeca-andrade-on-podium> Accessed 12 August 2024.
- See Jakob’s Instagram publish right here.
- Herdt. 2008. “Placing on Advantage: The Legacy of the Splendid Vices. College of Chicago Press.” p. 42.
