Sportsmanship is Not Dead

In honor of the Winter Olympics in Sochi (also, if you haven't followed @SochiProblem) on Twitter, go check that out right now, then come back and read, I've decided to write about sportsmanship.  The Olympics are the world's biggest stage, and the best athletes from every country gather for seventeen days to compete and bring pride to their home countries.  The competition is steep and athletes are under severe pressure, even more so if they've been to an Olympics before and performed well.  What many athletes seem to forget, as well as viewers around the world, is that medaling in the Olympics isn't the sole purpose of the Games.

When Olympic athletes fall, are slow, or in any ways don't get that Gold, so many of them are genuinely pissed that they didn't win.  Now I've played sports all my life and been very competitive in softball and skiing, and I completely understand being pissed at myself for doing playing or doing as well as I know I can, but that frustration in myself only lasts for so long.  And I know that I am not a professional athlete, but I am very hard on myself in any sort of competition, and although I am hard on myself and get frustrated at myself, I still appreciate when someone does better than me.  They may genuinely be better than me, or they may have just had a better day than I did.

What bothers me is, athletes are seen as role models to so many people, especially those athletes wearing the colors of their home countries.  When an athlete is expected to medal and doesn't, some take it with grace, while some become verbally upset and make sure everyone knows how upset they are.  Some 4th place athletes tweet about how pissed they are and make it seem like they deserved a Gold just by showing up to Sochi.  In reality, it all has to deal with the day, the conditions (especially in outdoor sports), and sometimes it's just not your day.

*WARNING.  SPOILERS AHEAD* Watching Shaun White tonight was, as always, incredible.  He was the reigning Olympic champion and the favorite to win again.  Sochi was expected to be his last hurrah, since he will be 31 if he competes in South Korea.  Unfortunately, Shaun didn't medal, he got fourth place.  Fourth place.  That's AMAZING.  Honestly.  Fourth IN THE WORLD.  While most only see accomplishment as getting a medal, finishing fourth place in the world in the Olympics is an amazing feat.  But the best part about Shaun was after he heard his score and knew that he wasn't going to be on the podium and would leave Sochi without a medal, he was excited about fourth place and immediately went to congratulate the Swiss boarder who won.  During his interview, he didn't blame the judges or get pissed, he simply said that "it just wasn't my day".  Even after the interviewer tried to get him to complain about the conditions of the halfpipe to fuel the #SochiProblems rage.  Even when it would have been perfectly acceptable for him to say that it was the conditions' fault and that's why he wasn't able to medal, he didn't complain about the pipe, he said exactly what he should have: "the conditions were the same for everyone".  He should be very proud of a fourth place finish, even though the USA might not be happy with it.

Sportsmanship is not just shaking hands at the end of a game and fake smiling at each other followed immediately by "resting bitch face".  Sportsmanship is trying to be genuinely happy for those who beat you, even though you are upset that you lost.  The Olympics are the world's biggest stage for competition, but it doesn't mean that professional athletes are exempt from the values we were taught since we started the sport.  We started playing sports to have fun and make friends, and even when the competition is as steep as it is in Sochi, we shouldn't forget the values that sports teach us.

Happy Olympics!
USA, USA, USA

Thanks for reading!
Kim