The Olympics: Your Only Chance

When you go to those X-Games, World Championships, or Trials, you know you are having a once in a lifetime chance to really cut it. You know that one tiny mistake could cost you everything you worked on, in many cases your life, and if you're lucky, you might [attempt] to walk away paralyzed.

Take Kodar Kumaritashvili for instance. He practiced Luge just as fast and hard as he could. But a bit TOO fast and hard. He flew out as if you would on a waterslide. Ugh. I would hate for someone to ask me how to spell my last name with that... It is just too sad to exclaim what happened. Of course he tried so hard, but just couldn't even enter the doors of the Vancouver Opening Ceremony.

Or take Kerri Strug. She was trying so hard for HER team, not Russia, that even after she could just barely walk anymore, she vaulted again, so that her team could feel the touch of a gold medal.

These athletes really want this.

the 2002 games were held in Salt Lake City, Utah, and if you know me at all, you know I've only lived in Ohio for a little bit longer than six years. I might as well have lived in Salt Lake City. From where I lived, you could already smell the dead lake's salt. THAT is how close I was from the Olympics. In fact, my parents have been to the stadium the Olympic ceremony was in and we even saw the torch before it was lit.

I didn't really care about the Olympics then, but as soon as it hit Torino, I was like, Gosh! that is awesome! I want to be a figure skater! Now, that's not my thing. Dancing on ice? No. But I do like speedskating. Now gymnastics has taken my attention, which would be a summer sport.

Every time I watch those games, it's like, how come I can't be there watching? Someone watching would say, 'How come I can't be an athlete?' Someone as an athlete would say, 'Why is SHE going home with MY medal?' Those athletes don't even know if they even WANT to be there because of Apolo Ohno and Micheal Phelps. But they do make this pledge:

I, (your name), promise to train my hardest in everything I do in (your sport, for example, volleyball).

But the question that no one, not even that athlete can answer is:

"Did I do my best today?"-Apolo Anton Ohno