The 21st Winter Olympic Games are officially over. Everyone will probably remember the winners: the U.S.A. winning a record 37 medals, and Canada winning it’s first and 14th gold medal on home soil. What people won’t remember, however, are the losers, the failures, the falls.
I watched more Olympics this year than I usually do. And yes, it mainly was to watch the best of the best. But what I noticed the most was how often these competitors fall down, wipe out and possibly not even finish their event.
NBC even put together a slideshow of the best Olympic wipeouts.
Above, I use the words losers and failures with a strong sense of sarcasm. There are the athletes who show up and don’t even qualify for their event. But they are still among the best in the world.
They train for nearly four years just for this opportunity. And if they do fail? They pick themselves up and train for another four years to compete next time.
Even America’s superstars like Bode Miller, Lindsey Vohn and Apollo Ohno didn’t medal in every event. It’s rare to see a winter athlete dominate, and you never see a performance like Michael Phelps in the winter games. Canada itself made fun of itself for the gaffe in the Opening Ceremonies.
So why are the rest of us so hard on ourselves when we fail? I’m certainly not the best in the world at what I do, and chances are, you aren’t either. If these competitors can brush off failure at such a high level, certainly you and I could handle it a little better.
Go ahead. Celebrate the winners. They deserve their time in the spotlight. But don’t forget the failures. Or more importantly, how the failures were treated. The next time you come up short, brush yourself off and get ready for the next opportunity.
