Sunday Snapshot: Olympic Closing Ceremonies
I’m watching the closing ceremonies, and I’m also just an hour home from a weekend of skiing in Tahoe. Being on skis this weekend gave me a wholly new perspective of what these Olympic athletes really do. And coming home to watch the highlights—complete with the tear-jerking highs and lows of the past 17 days—is a reminder of how sports tests people, and also bring out the best of the human spirit. Athletics test our physical strength, but there’s also something so beautiful and expansive and freeing about how our bodies move when we’re engaged in physical activity. Because I’m a huge fan of the Olympics, I want to take today to acknowledge some of the athletes who touched us during these games:
Georgian Nodar Kumaritashvili, ranked 44th in the world in luge, who died before the games even got underway.
Petra Majdic, the Slovenian cross-country skier who had to be helped to the podium with five broken ribs.
Joannie Rochette, whose mother died four days before she won bronze in women’s figure skating.
There are many many others. I’m touched by each athlete who overcomes adversity, whose dream is fulfilled, who has an emotional outburst after a stellar performance, who breaks down crying after an emotionally taxing loss.
Which stories have meant the most to you and why?