Why Even the Biggest Losers Should Feel Like Olympic Champs
By: Bean Jones
The Olympics are in full swing in Beijing, China and, of course, everyone gets excited when the medals are tallied. Even so, I hope we don't just focus on who's got the most gold, silver, or bronze.
Sure, the athletes who take home medals deserve to get a lot of media coverage for standing out. But what about the players who don't get ranked as the best in terms of speed or skill? Well, you see, the great thing about the Olympics is that it allows even the biggest losers to shine.
My favorite Olympic loser is Italian marathon runner Dorando Pietri, who wowed the world in the 1908 London Olympics. No, he didn't win the marathon. Not officially, anyway.
On July 24, 1908, Pietri, along with long distance runners from all over the world, took on the 42-kilometer Olympic marathon. With only two kilometers to go, the Italian athlete began to get fuzzy from dehydration. However, his determination to get to the finish line gave him enough strength to get up each time he fell.
For the record, Pietri crashed five times and had to be helped by umpires.
Some 75,000 spectators were on the edge of their seats as they watched Pietri cross the finish line first. However, the American team protested his dramatic feat as umpires helped Pietri get back on his feet each time he fell. The complaint was deemed valid and Pietri was disqualified, as well as subsequently removed from the final standings of the race. USA's Johnny Hayes ended up taking the gold medal.
But guess what? It was Pietri who had everyone cheering.
Writer Arthur Conan Doyle proposed that he be given a special gold-plated silver cup by Britain's Queen Alexandra. Composer Irving Berlin then wrote a song for him entitled "Dorando."
To celebrate the centenary of Pietri's non-victory, a statue of him was unveiled in his home town of Carpi, near Modena in northern Italy, last May. "The myth of Dorando is one of the biggest of the Olympics," Ivano Barbolini, coordinator of the Dorando Pietri centenary committee, declared to the international news agency Reuters.
I guess Pietri's story, first told to me by my half-Italian grandfather, has stayed with me all these years because it made me realize that losing isn't so bad--as long as you put up a good fight.
Heck, Pietri should have been given a medal for each time that he got up. The man is a true champion in my book. He sure had the heart of one.
Yes, it's an agony to experience defeat...but it's downright shameful to quit going after something you really want just because you've fallen flat on your face a few times. Like Pietri, I'm sure there are many athletes at the 2008 Beijing Olympics who deserve to be honored for their superb sportsmanship and their never-say-die spirit.
Robert Ingersoll, an American political leader who made his mark in the 19th century, said it best: "The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart."
I sure hope we don't forget that even in the heat of the medal tallying frenzy.
Comments
Oh so true Bean!
I got shivers just reading your story on Dorando Pietri.
It reminded of fellow Kiwi rower Mahe Drysdale at this year's Olympics who took bronze when he was certainly capable of taking gold.
He was stricken with a stomach illness a week before his race final, held on for third in the race, collapsed and vomited immediately afterwards and said he couldn't remember finishing the race. He made it to the medal ceremony after receiving intravenous fluids from paramedics!
Despite his circumstances, he gave it everything he had. He didn't win but I know most of us in NZ will remember the monumental effort he gave for that bronze medal!
Do you ever wonder if the chase of gold at the Olympics is a little conditioned? I don't mean to take anything away from those that do so well and win etc, but this story highlights to me that life is all about within, and not winning. Or put another way, you only win against yourself.
Anyway, it may be a bit fomr what you mean, but I sure want my children to better themselves for their own glory and their own rewards, not someone elses definition of a reward.
I love Pietri's story! I had never heard it before. Thank you also for the quotes. This article renews my courage to keep on keepin' on.
I have said this so many times. I totally agree. Some poeple get so competetive that they actually declare that 'losing is not an option.' Well, let me tell you, it is very much an option. They can usually only be one winner. Or as in the case of the Olympics three medal winners. But the effort that so many of the partakers put in should be extolled too.