As I write this, it’s the morning after the 2024 Paris Olympic closing ceremonies. Like many individuals, I relished these Video games — the number of sporting actions, like gymnastics, judo, and canoeing. I favored seeing what individuals can accomplish once they decide to a craft and work exhausting. And I appreciated being uncovered to bop strikes that I can not do … but.
Observe and area, as normal, was unimaginable. It was full of unusual 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 Study
I’m not executed interested by the Olympics. And, anyway, to let the Olympics move — a stage the place we noticed a lot excellence on show — with out studying something, could be a mistake.
I’m certain 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.
Stade de France, able to host the 2024 Paris Olympics. Photograph: Shutterstock
1. You Can Be a Nice Athlete and a Good Individual
Previous to the Olympic video games, Nike aired a business that featured a number of star athletes, labeled with phrases like “misleading,” “single-minded,” and “obsessive.” Then it posed a query: “Am I a foul particular person?” As in, does aggressive success require the presence of vices — traits that in any other case detract from an excellent life, but make us extra profitable in our sports activities?
The impression of character on sports activities efficiency is complicated. Character in sports activities (as it’s in most human domains) is a messy panorama of virtues, vices, and the whole lot in between. And this can be a matter that advantages from being extra exactly framed — for instance, the impacts of satisfaction on teamwork in soccer, or the results of perseverance on distance working. If you’re enthusiastic about a extra thorough remedy of this matter, yow will discover one in my ebook right here.
Regardless, whereas there have been actually dangerous actors and situations 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 1500-meter champion and one of many favorites for this yr’s occasion. After ending a disappointing (for him) fourth place, he expressed gratitude for his supporters and graciously thanked his opponents (7).
American swimmer Katie Ledecky invited her teammate to the highest of the rostrum along 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 an excellent 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 Grow to be Glorious on Our Personal
There’s an error that satisfaction usually commits. It’s forgetful of the products it has acquired by others and thus arrives at a “false estimate of [its] personal self-sufficient greatness (8).” Satisfaction thinks, “I achieved this myself.”
Realistically, just about something we obtain is because of the investments of others — usually our mother and father or different caretakers who feed us and love us, the help of coaches and academics, the kindness of neighbors and buddies, and the teammates and opponents who refine us. And this was the message I heard as a chorus all through the Olympics.
Publish-competition interviews had a theme: gratitude for the individuals of their lives who helped them accomplish what they did. We rely on others. We will’t develop 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 ft, giving them suggestions via my tv.
One good reminder from the Olympics is that folks could have sturdy opinions about what it is best to or mustn’t do along with your life. For instance, I felt dangerous for the runners who did (or didn’t) take part within the relay occasions at first of the monitor meet.
Those that did had been criticized for not prioritizing their main occasions. Those that didn’t had been criticized for placing themselves first, over the curiosity of their nation. There was no approach to win within the eyes of the general public.
Most of us stay quieter lives and would not have to fret concerning the opinions of the numerous — massive swaths of individuals disagreeing about our life selections. Even so, this can be a good reminder to have just a few key individuals in your life whom you belief, who know you, and can your good. Take suggestions from these individuals. Have integrity earlier than them.
Ultimate Ideas
The Olympic Video games had been an excellent alternative to find out about what it means to be wonderful. There are various extra classes we might 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 via and declare Olympic gold within the 1500 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 residence with three medals, we realized to take at some point — and one troublesome factor — at a time. If she dwelled on the enormity of the duty earlier than her, it might have been overwhelming. However she received it executed, one race at a time.
The boys’s 1500m closing on the 2024 Paris Olympics. The U.S.’s Cole Hocker (again proper) moved up on the within to beat favorites Josh Kerr (U.Okay.) and Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Norway). Photograph: Filip Bossuyt from Kortrijk, Belgium, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, through Wikimedia Commons
Name for Feedback
- For you, what was probably the most inspiring second within the Paris Olympics
- What different life classes did you’re taking from the Video games?
References/Notes
- Kenneth Rooks’ silver medal within the steeplechase, Cole Hocker and Yared Nuguse within the males’s 1500 meters
- Grant Fisher’s double bronze within the 5000-meter and 10,000-meter races
- The Netherlands’s Sifan Hassan’s gold medal within the marathon, following bronze medals within the 5000-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
- Think about 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.
