After a few jumper shows and some weekly dressage boot camps Apollo and I headed off to Fair Hill this past weekend. Sadly neither Eliza or Holly could come because the morning that we were supposed to leave a few horses decided to break their pasture fences and got pretty torn up.
After being there a while Will Coleman pulled in and had a block of stalls directly behind me. The last time I saw Will (in person) was at Bromont when he was one of several riders just shooting for Europe and hoping to end up in London. Thinking about this it then occurred to me that Will, along with Tiana and Boyd were now Olympians. Regardless of how well they did, placed or what troubles may have happened during those 4 days, a selection committee picked them based on previous performance and sent them on with big hopes. They went and tried their hardest and can now add "Olympics 2012" to their resume. That is an accomplishment in its own.
So why do some people upon discussion of these athletes and team then feel the need to add "well yeah but they didn't medal..."? Why is there a constant degradation of athletes that put their all into their sport just because they aren't always the absolute best in the world? There can only be one "best" and while that individual is amazing in their own right, that doesn't mean that everyone below them is dreadful or unworthy.
You may see this at local horse trials, someone finishes the event coming in 7th or dead last even and that numerical placing is all they can think about. What about that amazing canter transition you got in the dressage ring? Or the awesome show jumping course when you horse got every spot and just toed a rail or two and it fell? While it's necessary to be realistic and go home to improve on the parts that didn't go so well, it's just as important to realize what was good. The horse doesn't know the difference between 7th and 27th, so why should you focus on it so much.
So circling back to my initial thought (sorry, i know its kinda rambley but stay with me) i think its time that we give people more respect for their efforts. Will Coleman, Tiana Coudray and Boyd Martin are Olympians now, and while they are bling-less for the moment it doesn't mean they deserve any less respect, but instead should be given time to learn from mistakes, work on problem areas and come back in the future because Karen and Phillip weren't perfect at every single event before they got their medals and yet they are now regarded as eventing gods, and rightfully so.
Hey Marina,
ReplyDeleteI think your completely right. Just getting to the Olympics or qualifying for these top notch trials is a big accomplishment. Although only one person will ultimately receive 1st that does not mean that your performance was any less note-worthy. The only true competition is yourself and any athletic can only go out in a competition and try to make themselves proud. If they can do that- the reward of feeling good about their own performance is better than any medal!
Oh btw, this is Mariel