This is about sports. But really not, so stick with it. As readers of these pages know, I love the Olympics. I vegetate over them when the Games are on, spending most of my days flipping between the NBC Family of Olympic Channels. I’m unfortunately less than excited about the Games this year for a couple of reasons (lets call them socio-political), and don’t know how that will impact my viewing of the Winter Olympics, but I’ve nonetheless been watching the Olympic trial broadcasts. And therein lies the tale… On Saturday, I was watching the women’s 500m speedskating event. Erin Jackson is not only the best American in that event, but the best in the world and current world-record holder. And on her final turn, she had the slight stumble but righted herself and won her heat. But in the 500m race, hundredths of a second matter, and so she finished in fourth place overall – and off the Olympic team. This became a big controversy, because there is a rule that if a skater actually falls, they can get a re-race. But since Erin Jackson maintained her balance, there would be no re-race. With the point being that she was penalized for not falling. “I suspect the rule will be look at after the Olympics to change that,” one of the announcers said. A bit later in the broadcast, they interviewed Erin Jackson about this and the rule. The TV reporter kept asking about the unfairness of the rule, and Jackson (the first black American woman to win the World Cup title) noted that, yes, the rule is “kind of encouraging people to maybe take the sit, you know, if they have a stumble kind of like mine. So, of course it flashed through my head that I should have sat down, you know,” and then laughed. “But I just think it’s a bad thing to encourage that.” Even though it would have gotten her a new race. She suggested that because the 500m race is so face and hundredths of seconds matter, maybe the rules should take that into special consideration. Which got the reporter, seemingly looking for a story, to then reply, “In other words, you believe that you were treated unfairly because of this rule.” “So, you feel right now that this is an unfair rule?” And then Erin Jackson endeared herself to me eternally because replying in an almost matter-of-fact voice – “No, I feel like I messed up, you know. It’s definitely on me.” I almost fell out of my chair. It was just a wonderful, decent, straightforward response. Later, I told a friend that I had a new favorite athlete. Which only lasted a day. Because now I have two. The following day, Sunday, I was switching the TV between football games and Olympic trials. But because I had the Chicago Bears game on the Internet, I kept the TV audio on mute. At one point, though, I saw them replay Erin Jackson’s stumble, and thought that they might be addressing the situation again, so I turned on the sound. And the moment I saw both Erin Jackson and another skater, Brittany Bowe, being interviewed, I had an “Oh, my God” moment of hope pop up in my mind. And in fact, that’s what had come to pass. They were being interviewed together because Brittany Bowe had qualified for the Olympic Team in the 500m, 1000m, and 1500m races – and as a result, told the U.S. Olympic Committee that she was giving up her spot in the 500m race so that her longtime friend Erin Jackson could compete in the race and make the Olympic Team! I didn’t almost fall out of my chair this time, because I was…well, too moved to move. Bowe is a veteran of the team, this will be her third Olympics. It will be Jackson’s second. And in explaining her decision, she said, “It’s bigger than me. Yes, it’s Team USA. Erin has a shot to bring home a medal, hopefully a Gold Medal. And it’s my honor to give her that opportunity. She’s earned it, and she deserves it.” Erin Jackson said everything you expected, “I’m beyond humbled and grateful. And happy”– but also that she wasn’t surprised because “I’ve always known what kind of a person she is. And now it’s showing” That they were from the same town (in Ocala, Florida, not where you’d expect speedskaters to come from…), had known each other almost their whole lives, “she’s always been there for me, as a mentor, as a friend” always had her back and as an older skater had always supported her. That’s just who she is. There was a lot of hugs, and they walked off arm-in-arm. And this is that interview, which can watch here. (I initially embedded the video, but for whatever reason the official NBC Olympics code starts running as soon as the page loads.) So, now, I have two, new favorite athletes. And if you watch the Winter Olympics and usually don’t watch women’s speedskating, you now have a reason to. As a bonus, this is the full 10-minute coverage of the race and aftermath. It starts with Brittany Bowe’s race in the 500m, but if you want to jump directly to Erin Jackson’s race (with the slip), that starts at the 2:00 mark and only runs for 40 seconds. But if you only want to watch her interview after the slip – and see how poised and gracious she is in the immediate face of great disappointment not making the Olympic Team despite being the best in the world – that starts just about at the 7:00 mark.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
Categories
All
|
© Copyright Robert J. Elisberg 2024
|