A big Olympics story apparently involves Kiwi Nikki Hamblyn in the 5000m where she fell with a US runner with four laps to go and they helped each other to the finish line.
New York Daily News: Abbey D’Agnostino and Nikki Hamblin show true meaning of Olympic spirit after collision during women’s 5,000-meter race
It’s a great story and very nice to see, and both runners have been lauded for their sporting behaviour.
But it is being reported as ‘this is what the Olympics is all about’. But it’s not.
The Olympics is mostly about trying to win and trying to get a medal. It is as competitive as you can get, usually.
A fall at that stage of a race would normally rule you out of contention so spending a bit of time helping each other is not going to make much difference to the race.
This is rare, that’s why it is making headlines.
Also probably rare – race judges have put both runners into the final despite finishing well back.
What I find particularly goos about this is that at a time of high emotion and probably disappointment both runners automatically expressed their natural reactions, which were to help each other.
Hamblyn:
Missy
/ 17th August 2016Considering the Olympic motto is ‘higher, faster, stronger’ I would agree Pete, this is not what the Olympics are about. This is a great story about Sportsmanship, and putting people ahead of glory or money, and being in the UK it does make me proud that a NZer has shown such great sportsmanship, but they are both lucky that the IOC officials have let them through to the final, I don’t think they would have made it on their times.
Pete George
/ 17th August 2016I think it’s quite odd that they have been allowed to race in the final. There are many hard luck stories in the Olympics, and most don’t get another chance.
Kitty Catkin
/ 17th August 2016I don’t see this as a hard-luck story at all; it’s very sporting behaviour. Well done, Kiwi Girl !
Nelly Smickers
/ 17th August 2016As Wayne said, ” that’s the trouble with New Zealand these days …..our kids are being taught *everyone’s a winner just for competing* – even if they finish last ”
He reckoned what we need to do, is take a leaf out of the *Ukrainian Playbook* ….they know what the Olympics are all about 😎
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/cheeky-striptease-just-before-dives-8638027
Kitty Catkin
/ 17th August 2016Wayne would think that. He has totally misunderstood the situation with the two runners/
Gezza
/ 17th August 2016Well he’s a genius Kitty. They don’t always think like you & me.
Kitty Catkin
/ 17th August 2016Genius has, or had, many meanings other than the usually accepted one of being very intelligent. It also means what makes each person unique, so maybe in that sense…
It can also be an evil spirit.
Wayne is a clod and a dirty old man from the sound of it, unless he has been grossly misrepresented.
Kitty Catkin
/ 17th August 2016Has he been on Mastermind ? I have.
Nelly Smickers
/ 17th August 2016Funnily enuff Kitzy….Wayne’s mum thinks she remembers you being on Mastermind back in the 80’s ❗
Was your Specialist Subject *The size and shape of Marmite Jars 1955 to 1985* by any chance ❓
Conspiratoor
/ 17th August 2016Ha-ha Nelly. You’ll never penetrate the shield of sanctimony but hey good luck with your endeavours. Console yourself that you live in the real world. Cheers, c
Nelly Smickers
/ 17th August 2016“I’ve started – so I’ll finish….” XD
Kitty Catkin
/ 17th August 2016Has he been on Mastermind ? I have.
Gezza
/ 17th August 2016I don’t think so. Nelly would know. I don’t recall seeing any bogans on it but there might have been – I haven’t really watched it.
How did you get on?
Kitty Catkin
/ 17th August 2016Wayne’s mother is as silly as he is if she thinks that-I wasn’t on it as early as the mid-80s..She is proving that she has never seen Mastermind, which isn’t surprising..It’s aimed at a rather different audience. 32 people from the entire country are chosen from all those who apply-I can’t remember now how many did, but a lot do. A man from this area made sure that everyone knew that he’d applied and that (in his own mind) he was going to be on it, even telling the papers. He wasn’t, of course.
I didn’t do too badly-my topic was (of course) a writer and their works. I missed the finals by one point (weeps) when I hesitated and said ‘Pass’ instead of saying what I thought it was-and was. Always go with what your instinct tells you to do.
The general knowlege qs were stinkers. They kept making them harder and harder because there were quiz/game shows on and the Mastermind qs had to be far more difficult than the ones on those. I can’t remember them now, but they were like ‘What did Lars Larson and Sven Svenson invent in Stockholm in 1963 ?’ Everyone was fainting with horror at the rehearsal which used the last years ones-what on earth were OURS going to be like ?
Nelly Smickers
/ 17th August 2016Actually, Gladys thinks *she does* remember you now Kitzy ❗
She said she actually felt sorry for you with that last question Peter Sinclair asked, “Complete the title of the famous 1950’s novel by Lowell Thomas, Beyond Khyber xxxx”
Did you think of going for a review ❓
patupaiarehe
/ 17th August 2016traveller
/ 17th August 2016The Olympic spirit is many things. It’s also Cavendish and his git-like actions.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2016/aug/16/mark-cavendish-olympic-medal-cycling-omnium-rio-2016
duperez
/ 17th August 2016I believe that if a rider from Botswana did exactly what Cavendish did to draw the attention in that article, he would have been disqualified.
Kitty Catkin
/ 17th August 2016The Olympic spirit should be a positive one, not a negative one. By your logic, Traveller, drug cheating is the Olympic spirit, but not many people would see it as that.
duperez
/ 17th August 2016Surely “what the Olympics is all about” are totally individual notions in the perspective of the eyes of whoever. How those notions got to be are obviously down to the history of the beholder.
Expecting everyone to fall into line with hopes and concepts of 1896 or the visions about the good of mankind, sport, a particular sport, company bank balances or having the masses entertained as being what they are about, is dreaming.
Zedd
/ 17th August 2016It used to be that the Olympics was ‘not about’ professional competing either.. BUT thats gone down the shit-house too.
Baron Pierre deCoubatan stated it was about ‘the good of SPORT’ not just about winning.. & definitley for; amateur sportspeople ONLY 😦 WTF
Zedd
/ 17th August 2016try searching : JIM THORPE (native American, 1912 Olympics) who had his Gold medals (in Pentathlon & Decathlon) stripped, because he had played professional American Football. At the time he was called ‘The Greatest Sportsman ever’
His records are still not recognised (officially). 😦
Nelly Smickers
/ 17th August 2016The headline reads ;
*PESKY PENIS GETS IN THE WAY OF OLYMPIC POLE VAULT*
“Hiroki Ogita of Japan failed to move past the qualifying round of the Rio Olympics pole vaulting competition on Saturday, thanks in part to his dick…..”
I hope the coach wasn’t too *hard on* the poor guy XD
Alan Wilkinson
/ 17th August 2016Plenty of height, just not over the bar. A real flip flop.
Nelly Smickers
/ 17th August 2016Wayne said he bets Kitzy’s been sitting here watching it all afternoon XD
Joe Bloggs
/ 17th August 2016I have to differ with you, Pete, and with the majority of comments posted so far.
The modern Olympic games have an oath, a motto, and a creed. The oath, sworn by one of the competitors, is “In the name of all the competitors I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them, committing ourselves to a sport without doping and without drugs, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honor of our teams.”
As Missy points out the motto in Latin is “Citius, Altius, Fortius” which translates in English as “Swifter, Higher, Stronger”.
The creed has appeared on the scoreboard during the opening ceremony at every modern Olympic Games and reads: “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”
That’s part of the Olympic Spirit, and that was what was demonstrated by Nikki Hamblin and Abbey D’Agostino – performing fairly and honestly to the best of their natural ability. And when victory was denied them they comported themselves with dignity, humanity, and in the true spirit of sportsmanship.
The spectators at the games don’t just applaud the winners; they applaud all the competitors. We forget that at our peril.
duperez
/ 17th August 2016I don’t disagree with the spirit and hopes of de Coubertin. It would be good if those things were what the games are all about. To some the grand hopes live on, to others they are minutiae in the mist and to others they don’t exist at all. My post is acknowledging that everyone isn’t on the same page about the Games and expecting them to be on the same page with the world as it is, is unrealistic. Sadly.
The predominant force seems to be about money. Jingoism is right up there. It is important to acknowledge old values and aspirations and seek to retain them. In reality the athletes’ oath and creed and stuff like that are great but what do they really mean in an environment of drug cheating and corruption? Sadly.
I appreciate and support your views on desirable human qualities being fostered in and through sports and certainly hope they prevail.
Similarly, but in a different context, there’s a prayer every day at the start of Parliament which by and large reflect what you list in your penultimate paragraph. How is that going?
Joe Bloggs
/ 17th August 2016Amen to that…and ironically the money-angle is in complete contrast to what the Olympics stand for – it shouldn’t be about professionalism, it’s supposed to be the pinnacle of sport for amateurs… it shouldn’t be about the billions spent on advertising, it’s supposed to be about human endeavour in the sporting arena.
Sure I get that the motto and the creed are philosophically at odds with each other. And that winning is important in any sporting contest.
But do we really need to be served a cheap shot at one of the most genuine displays of sportsmanship I’ve seen at any Olympics in the past fifty years?
duperez
/ 17th August 2016Professionals used to be banned from the Games but today could a solely amateur Olympics be held? There are sports which are purely amateur at ‘grass roots’ level but would it be feasible let alone economically viable to have a ‘pinnacle of sport for amateurs” occasion?
Spectators (usually in front of tv sets) want to see the best exponents doing sports. Would the best take part if they were totally amateur? Some articles I’ve read lately:
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503450&objectid=11690763
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/olympic-executives-cash-in-on-a-movement-that-keeps-athletes-poor/2016/07/30/ed18c206-5346-11e6-88eb-7dda4e2f2aec_story.html
http://www.wired.com/2016/08/really-hard-make-money-olympian/
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/07/olympic-games-rio-athletes-personal-finance-struggle
Blazer
/ 17th August 2016Greece should run the ‘real’ Olympics,confining it to individual sports with a heritage.They could do with the money it would generate.