Mon rêve de toujours
Aug. 25th, 2004 04:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jawnbcCrass corporatization and drug cheating aside, I love the Olympics. Rare are the days I get to watch people go toe-to-toe with their dreams.
Yesterday was perhaps an archetypal day for l'équipe canadien. One competitor--hurdler Perdita Felicien, had high hopes for a gold medal. Another, diver Alexandre Déspatie (un chaud lapin, for a wee babbie of 19), had a decent shot at a medal, though the event in which he's world champion comes this weekend. Not counted out, but low expectations, were held for track cyclist LoriAnn Muenzer, who at 38 years old pushed it for one more chance at the Olympics, after several years of injuries and illness. When healthy she won world championship and Commonwealth Games medals.
LoriAnn Muenzer was the odd person in the cycling pursuit semi-finals: the other 3 women had all at one time held world championships or world records. First up the Anna Meares, the Aussie who won gold in the sprint a few days earlier. Meares stormed to win the first heat, but Muenzer fought back and won the next two: Meares was out, Muenzer onwards. The other semi=final was an all-Russian affair, with Tamilla Abassova winning through. This time, Muenzer wasted no time, winning the first 2 heats--and the gold medal!
"Nothing's impossible. It's what you decide your limits are," said an emotional Muenzer. "I've never wanted to say, 'I wish I would have.'"
Alexandre Déspatie is ranked #1 in the 10m tower diving, but today was 3m springboard day. He came into the semi-final in 1st place, won the semi-finals and looked poised to take the gold. However his third dive was a miss, and dropped him to 4th--just outside the medals. On dives 4 and 5 he came back on form, battled back and got the silver. In his "weaker" event. He was only ranked 4th prior to the Games, so a medal of any colour represents a great achievement. Still, the missed dive hit him hard.
"I did feel inside me a lot of anger, a lot of sadness of course because everything had gone so well so far that it seemed like it couldn't go wrong, but it did," said Déspatie. "But I knew it's not over and I had to keep going and finish strong."
Même-temps, Perdita Felicien is in the blocks for the women's 100m hurdles final. Two of her main rivals had been eliminated in the semi-final, and Felicien's the current world champion. Everything had gone to plan these Games: only one other woman in the final had run a time that would have beat her this season. A great start, a sudden end: she caught the first hurdle and fell, taking out another racer in the process. She sat, looked skyward, cried a bit, then, when a lot of people would've sought their privacy, Perdita Felicien walked over to the CBC crew covering the race.
"Everyone at home," said Felicien, "I'm sorry I let you down."
Let us down? Not bloody likely.
A long time ago I lived a life paralyzed by fear. I viewed everything in terms of danger, of vulnerability and of potential disaster. My path was set not by moving towards goals, but avoiding pitfalls. It was a sorry, sad existence. When the fear became so huge there was no way to avoid it, I had to go through it. The experience of moving towards goals, aspirations, dreams--rather than living a life ruled by fear and negativity--became the focus. Moving forward, taking (reasoned) gambles, aspiring.
Is it better when things work out the way I hope? Of course. And no doubt Perdita Felicien and Alexandre Déspatie would prefer to have gold medals this morning. But all three athletes went for it: they gave it what they had, and they responded with grace to the results. Regardless.
I am humbled by their character. I feel privileged to share something--being Canadian--with each of them.
Yesterday was perhaps an archetypal day for l'équipe canadien. One competitor--hurdler Perdita Felicien, had high hopes for a gold medal. Another, diver Alexandre Déspatie (un chaud lapin, for a wee babbie of 19), had a decent shot at a medal, though the event in which he's world champion comes this weekend. Not counted out, but low expectations, were held for track cyclist LoriAnn Muenzer, who at 38 years old pushed it for one more chance at the Olympics, after several years of injuries and illness. When healthy she won world championship and Commonwealth Games medals.
LoriAnn Muenzer was the odd person in the cycling pursuit semi-finals: the other 3 women had all at one time held world championships or world records. First up the Anna Meares, the Aussie who won gold in the sprint a few days earlier. Meares stormed to win the first heat, but Muenzer fought back and won the next two: Meares was out, Muenzer onwards. The other semi=final was an all-Russian affair, with Tamilla Abassova winning through. This time, Muenzer wasted no time, winning the first 2 heats--and the gold medal!
"Nothing's impossible. It's what you decide your limits are," said an emotional Muenzer. "I've never wanted to say, 'I wish I would have.'"
Alexandre Déspatie is ranked #1 in the 10m tower diving, but today was 3m springboard day. He came into the semi-final in 1st place, won the semi-finals and looked poised to take the gold. However his third dive was a miss, and dropped him to 4th--just outside the medals. On dives 4 and 5 he came back on form, battled back and got the silver. In his "weaker" event. He was only ranked 4th prior to the Games, so a medal of any colour represents a great achievement. Still, the missed dive hit him hard.
"I did feel inside me a lot of anger, a lot of sadness of course because everything had gone so well so far that it seemed like it couldn't go wrong, but it did," said Déspatie. "But I knew it's not over and I had to keep going and finish strong."
Même-temps, Perdita Felicien is in the blocks for the women's 100m hurdles final. Two of her main rivals had been eliminated in the semi-final, and Felicien's the current world champion. Everything had gone to plan these Games: only one other woman in the final had run a time that would have beat her this season. A great start, a sudden end: she caught the first hurdle and fell, taking out another racer in the process. She sat, looked skyward, cried a bit, then, when a lot of people would've sought their privacy, Perdita Felicien walked over to the CBC crew covering the race.
"Everyone at home," said Felicien, "I'm sorry I let you down."
Let us down? Not bloody likely.
A long time ago I lived a life paralyzed by fear. I viewed everything in terms of danger, of vulnerability and of potential disaster. My path was set not by moving towards goals, but avoiding pitfalls. It was a sorry, sad existence. When the fear became so huge there was no way to avoid it, I had to go through it. The experience of moving towards goals, aspirations, dreams--rather than living a life ruled by fear and negativity--became the focus. Moving forward, taking (reasoned) gambles, aspiring.
Is it better when things work out the way I hope? Of course. And no doubt Perdita Felicien and Alexandre Déspatie would prefer to have gold medals this morning. But all three athletes went for it: they gave it what they had, and they responded with grace to the results. Regardless.
I am humbled by their character. I feel privileged to share something--being Canadian--with each of them.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-25 04:48 pm (UTC)