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Making
things happen - with integrity. A weekly CyberMemo designed to keep you on task. Monday February 25, 2002 Volume IV Number 8 |
FOCUS - Olympic Moments
When my long time friend Ron told me that the Olympic Games just might be held in his home town, it was a prospect that held some serious economic ramifications… he’s a real estate broker in Park City. That was more than ten years ago. For the entire decade since, Ron described a the small mountain community outside Salt Lake as a town in perpetual preparation for the staging of a world class event. And as of last night, it’s over.
But the memories will linger long.
I get hooked every time. Maybe it’s because of my interest in leadership and achievement. Not all the events have their appeal (I still have no idea what Curling is about) and some of the events (like snowboarding the half pipe and ice dancing, for example) just don’t feel like they belong in the Olympics. But there were several moments that got to me; three participants that I’ll remember for a long time to come.
That’s the universal appeal of the Games.
The critics, we’ll always have. The most cynical of them all come from the other networks who live for a couple of weeks floundering on the bottom of the ratings charts. Their Network lost out on the bidding, so they are stuck with re-runs, they are cut out of any opportunity to air photos or video clips on their Olympic highlight news features, and they are for the most part limited to covering controversies that trail the Games like the dust clouds swirling behind a four-wheeler off road.
Listen to some of them, and you’ll conclude that the Games have been an abysmal failure. You’ll hear them cry “Foul!” And “Unfair!” And “Terrible coverage!” And “Give me a break, already!”
But they apparently, they weren’t watching.
Jim MacKay is a legend. For decades as the voice of ABC’s Wide World of Sports, he brought is “the Thrill of Victory” and “the Agony of Defeat.” I first knew him in black and white. Now, as an aging Sports Sage, sometimes tripping over a tongue that’s growing worn, he narrated some of the Game’s most touching backgrounders. The man is a walking encyclopedia of sport.
And we all know that most of the participants will never land a major endorsement contract. That’s why I like the Monster.com commercial… it’s so poignant. It’s a Web job fair. The Official Internet Headhunter. And in their Olympic commercial, they highlight some of the most brilliant of athletic performers as “one really fit guy… who will soon need a job.” Monster.com.
Three of the athletes touched me on a personal level.
* * * * * * *
Tiffany Parra attended many races. First in-line skating. Then speed skating. She knew her husband was not favored to medal in the 5000 meter long race. So she elected to stay at home in Orlando until his second race.
Like the rest of the world, she tuned in to watch the race at home. To her surprise, Derek broke the world record in the 5,000 that day. It held for about an hour, and then was broken by a Dutch skater, Jochem Uytdehaage, who took the Gold with a new World Record mark for the distance. Derek, unexpectedly, took the Silver.
Tiffany boarded an early flight for Salt Lake.
She was there when the former in-line skater from San Bernardino entered his favorite race, the 1,500. During the week, Derek took interviews. And in each, he spoke of his love for his wife and his little girl and how he loved to compete, but his real love was at home.
The attention of the world was on him in the final heat. The cameras picked out Tiffany, this time in the stands surrounded by Derek’s friends. At the gun, Derek got a great start. His opponent never really had a chance. Derek was strong.
As the pacers
checked his time, they announced he was on world record pace. Thanks so a new
technology, the ice was smoother than ever before. It was finished like the
surface of an aerospace project; built for speed. Derek took advantage. And
when he crossed the finish line, it was a stunning full second faster that the
previous world record.
Tears streaming down her face, Tiffany cheered, and jumped, and hugged her friends in the stands, and as Derek took his victory lap, he picked her out of the crowd of fifteen thousand fans and as the camera recorded the moment, he mouthed the words in her direction, “I love you.”
It was a genuine moment of victory. And family. The culmination of hard work and the support of his wife.
But when he was asked later if he would return in four years, the two time medalist from this 2002 Olympic Games replied, “Nope. I think it’s time for me to be a husband and a dad. That’s where my heart is.”
* * * * * * *
The media picked up on the human interest early on.
Jack Shea was a player in the Olympic movement in the United States. He was a speed skater. In 1932, at the Lake Placid Games in his home town, he won two Gold Medals. To the delight of his neighbors, and all Americans, he soundly defeated the speedsters from Germany and Norway. He became an instant hero. In 1936, Germany hosted both the Winter and the Summer games. Jack Shea was expected to repeat, and secure his dominance as a speed skater, but his Rabbi pleaded with him to boycott the Games. Adolph Hitler’s Anti-Semitism was already well established in 1936. Jack stayed home.
While his exploits on the ice gave him a scholarship to Dartmouth, the depression took its toll. Though he was qualified for a different career, he took employment as a US Mail carrier.
Much later, Jack’s son James aspired to become an Olympic Champion. He competed in 1960 Innsbruck, and though he did not medal, he and his father became active advocates for the Games.
Jack was a prime mover in landing the 1980 Winter Games in their return to Lake Placid. He served on the Local Committee.
It was about that time Jimmy turned twelve. The Olympics were part of the family. He took to sledding. By the time he was a teenager, his favorite was the Skeleton.
Of all the sleds that run down the Olympic course, the Skeleton is the craziest. Head first, at nearly 90 miles per hour, the G-forces hit four. Jimmy Shea, son of James, Grandson of Jack, hit the circuit.
The family was never wealthy. Jimmy traveled all over Europe competing on a shoestring. He won the World Cup. But not until the Networks and the Advertisers found a three generation family of Olympians did any serious money come to the Sheas. By the Salt Lake Games of 2002, Jack Shea was 91.
It was a truly inspiring story.
Jack was healthy, alert, articulate. He
spoke of the dream of seeing his grandson
compete at Salt Lake.
Barely a week before the competition, Herbert Reynolds, 36, drove a van through Saranac Lake, NY. He was intoxicated. On the icy streets, his vehicle spun out of control, and broadsided a sedan driven by 91 year old Jack Shea. Jack died instantly. Mr. Reynolds survived without a scratch. It was one week before Jack Shea’s scheduled departure for Salt Lake City.
He missed the historic Games.
When Grandson
Jimmy Shea ran down the hill in the Skeleton, he had a picture of his
grandfather taped to the inside of his helmet.
And when the timer stopped at the end of the run, Jimmy broke the world record for a Gold Medal.
“He was there with me,” he told the camera.
I do believe he was.
* * * * * *
Sarah Hughes may be too young for all the attention.
But for now, she is America’s Sweetheart.
No one who watched the competition doubts it. She captured the Gold by the sheer force of her mastery of the ice and her winning the crowd.
One wonders how it can be that the enormous pressure of that final moment in what some consider the most visible of all the Olympic Events, after all the years of preparation, and the performance of such mind-boggling impossible moves in a four minute presentation with the cameras, the commentators, the print media, the thousands of fans in the stadium and the millions outside, and then the judges… what makes the difference between one athlete who revels in the moment and another who buckles under the pressure, and misses the mark.
In the aftermath of the upset, when Michelle Kwan, expected to win, there is plenty of speculation. Coming into the competition in a respectable fourth place, the young Sarah had little to lose. Kwan, on the other hand, after her self-described humiliation at Nagano, and coming onto the ice for the final long program, was in first place and had everything to lose.
Michelle Kwan is a veteran. The media show-cased her as the athlete to watch. But as Michelle approached the ice, with all the coaching, she appeared from the start as one who just couldn’t live up to the performance of the sixteen year old just a few minutes before. And as she took flight for one more triple jump, her toe caught the ice, and she fell.
The crowd gasped. The groaned.
Sasha Coen, another extreme talent, tripped up, too.
Earlier,
Sarah took to the ice like Tinker Bell. Full of smiles and confidence. And
when she hit her spins and jumps, and landed them with perfect grace, her face
lit up in amazement as though she surprised herself, and the audience
celebrated with her. Every time. The extension. The grace. The turns. When
she hit her final note, the house exploded in applause.
She was at that moment, an Olympic Champion.
And a household name.
Millions of young girls will take to the ice.
They want to be like Sarah.
* * * * * * *
It’s Monday morning. You are a leader.
The Olympic Torch has been extinguished. But not the memories. The performances. The inspiration.
The athletes seemed more reachable this time. More real. People taking seconds and thirds and not medaling at all and still philosophical and openly thankful just for the privilege of competing.
Some of the superstars will cash in. But most will simply take the lessons and the friendships and the experience and bring it to the next challenge.
As will you and I.
On this Monday morning, we are back into the routine. But we’ve been reminded that in the rough and tumble, our attitude matters. The support of family and friends matters - whether you are on the giving end or the receiving end.
Sarah’s smile brightens the room. So can yours. Jimmy Shea’s got a picture of his grandfather there in his helmet inspiration. You can draw inspiration from those who’ve gone before, too. Derek’s got Tiffany up there in the stands cheering him on. And in front of the world, he says, “I love you.” You can say it, too.
Take the lesson.
In your Olympic Games, be a hero.
© Copyright Kenneth E. Kemp 2002
LeaderFOCUS is brought to you by Good Stewardship Associates
Special Thanks for Design by my good friend David Belcher, owner of Rhino Media Group and creator of WisdomGram
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