Passing the Torch

1984...The year I turned ten, the year I sliced my ankle open and had to get a tetanus shot, the year I watched Mary Lou Retton win gold at the Los Angeles Olympic Games. That was the year my love affair with the Olympics began, and ever since then I have been an avid spectator. Throughout the years I have loved Greg Louganis and Brian Boitano (back then, who knew?), watched Nancy Kerrigan cry "WHY?" over and over again in shock, admired Kerri Strug for sticking her vault landing with an injured ankle, and wondered why Marion Jones had such amazing performances (only to realize the answer later). Now, 24 years later, my enthusiasm for the Games is still going strong. And all the hype surrounding some guy named Michael Phelps and a couple of girls named Shawn Johnson and Nastia Luikin only added to the excitement.

I now have two children who are the age I was when I watched my first Olympic games, and thanks to that miraculous little invention called "digital video recording," I have been able to share those late-night Olympic feats with the kids. The first major event we showed them was the men's 4 x 100 freestyle relay, and it was so much fun explaining what was happening, how the Frenchies said they'd crush the US team, and what it all meant that USA came out victorious. I had seen it live the night before, but it was still just as exciting the second time around.

From that race on, the kids have been fully invested in the Summer Games. In fact, we watched the women's gymnastics all-around competition for pizza and movie night last week! I loved watching the kids singing along to the national anthem as I tried (unsuccessfully) to hide my tears (for the second time that day, by the way--I teared up watching Today Show highlights that morning!) seeing the Americans get the gold and silver.

I am proud of our country and the example that these athletes set for our kids. I am happy to be able to point out the good sportsmanship shown to other competitors. I am grateful that my kids see how hard work pays off, how much you can achieve if you set your mind to it, how even though you train your hardest for a gold, you are still a great person with a silver, bronze, or maybe even nothing around your neck.

I hope the kids look back at the 2008 Beijing games as being their first Olympics and that they find some sort of inspiration from the greatness we have seen so far. Someday, they will remember Phelps, Luikin, and Johnson as their childhood Wheaties box champions. And they can tell the tale of real American heroes to their children, just in time for the Summer Games of 2032.