Olympic Gifts

Talent belongs to God. Training comes from the robots within us. What makes the equally trained and the equally talented unequal is their humanity. Gabby Douglas' charisma, Missy Franklin's sweetness, and Michael Phelps' humility, qualities they sustain regardless of the results, sets them apart from their sometimes more qualified opponents, whose desire to win is palpable and gives away their ego (or their parents' and trainer's egos, in some cases).

Within my own talent and my own training, I have often felt that subtle tug-of-war between my ego's need to succeed and my gift's desire to serve. Before I step on stage, I have learned to ask of myself, May my ego step aside and make way for my gift. May I give what I am meant to give to this character on this stage for this audience. May I have the courage to serve, may I love every minute of it, and may I remember to be grateful for the experience in its entirety. 

I do not always grant my own request. I am sometimes too pleased with myself. I sometimes want to shine more than I want to give. But it is never long before I am humbled. On those moments, I look much like Jordyn Wieber, Viktoria Komova, and Ryan Lochte. Failure shatters poses.

Gifts are delicate. They shy away at the sight of arrogance. I must always keep myself in check, and practice catching it as it happens. If I have enough clarity and presence of mind, sometimes I can reverse it as it is happening. I am failing. I suck tonight. I am shmacting. It is hurting me to fail because I stepped on stage tonight wanting to succeed, wanting to be known as a great actor, wanting to be applauded.  I must let that go. It is not my job to succeed. It is my job to get out of my own way. I'm sorry, Talent. I tried to use you to make others see me, admire me, and love me. That is not your purpose. I accept failing tonight so that I may learn and grow for your sake. 

I watch the Olympics not only to cheer on the athletes I admire, but to study their humanity. I hope to absorb their clarity, their balance, and their drive. And I always applaud the courage it takes to remain humble, kind, and grateful after their consecutive wins.

Qualification Scandal: Jordyn Wieber and the Two Per-Country Rule

For any gymnastics fans living under a rock for the last 24 hours, the biggest American drama at Qualifications was that Jordyn Wieber, current World Champion, did not advance to the all around finals. In gymnastics, there is a rule that only the top two athletes per country can advance to any given final. Even though Jordyn finished only 4th in the world, she finished slightly behind teammates Aly Raisman and Gabby Doulgas, thus failing to advance to the all around finals.

Jordyn was clearly devastated at this outcome. When Aly's score was released, Jordyn burst into tears, but respectfully tried to remain as calm as possible. The whole scene was heartbreaking. Jordyn had good performances on vault and bars, but received scores that were much lower than usual on beam and floor. On beam, Jordyn received only a 14.833. This was mainly because the judges did not give her the full difficulty of her routine, likely taking away the connections around her standing back tuck with a full twist. Although these connections are never the smoothest or the quickest, they are usually given credit even when they are much slower than they were in that performance. On floor, Jordyn received only a 14.7. I think that this was much too low a score for her. She had a tiny step out of bounds-only a tenth. She didn't mess up anything else, though--Jordyn gave a great performance. I'm pretty sure, though not positive, that the judges also took away some start value on this performance.

Needless to say, the backlash has been huge. Many people all over the world have criticized the two per-country rule and acknowledged that Jordyn is a fantastic gymnast who deserves to compete in the all around final.

But people are also wondering what would have happened if Aly had been the one to narrowly miss out on the all around final. Would there even have been a reaction?  I'm the first to admit that, as much as I LOVE Aly, I wouldn't be having this reaction if she missed out because of the two per country rule. I was fully aware of the rule and wasn't expecting her to qualify. And although it would have been upsetting, I wouldn't have felt the same way I do now.

A lot of people are saying that this isn't fair because we're only reacting for Jordyn, either because we like her or because we were just expecting her to win. They argue that if it were someone else who failed to qualify, we wouldn't care nearly as much, even though it would an almost identical situation. Although I agree that she was a huge favorite for many people, I'm not complaining about the two per-country rule just because she's one of my favorites. She is the WORLD CHAMPION. She's not some up and coming new senior who was expected to win, she's not the Olympic Trials winner, she's the current World Champion. As much as I recognize that this fuss wouldn't be made over Aly's third place finish, I don't think that it should be. This is a proven champion, one that finished fourth in the world on one particular day. I don't think this fuss is all about Jordyn being our favorite, it's about her being a champion. And Jordyn is a champion who deserves every bit of the fuss.


Photo Credit-ABC News and Boston Herald

Final Olympic Team Prediction

Photo Credit-Getty Images

I cannot believe it's already Day 2 of Olympic Trials. My team has changed so much throughout the past year, and now it's finally the time to choose the actual team. Here's my final prediction:

Jordyn Wieber
Aly Raisman
Gabby Douglas
Kyla Ross
McKayla Maroney
Alternates: Elizabeth Price, Sarah Finnegan, Alicia Sacramone

Vault: Gabby, Jordyn, McKayla
Bars: Jordyn, Kyla, Gabby
Beam: Kyla, Jordyn, Aly
Floor: McKayla, Jordyn, Aly

I really feel like McKayla proved herself on floor night 1. She got a 15.2, and even though floor was overscored, it would still be a good score a few tenths lower. She did fall on beam and bars, but those are the two events that we wouldn't be using her on. Sarah Finnegan, on the other hand, had a major error on floor, an event on which we would expect to use her in team finals. I was thinking about putting her on the team rather than McKayla, but Sarah doesn't have much experience and her errors at Nationals and Trials make me doubt her ability to perform under Olympic pressure. I think the other four spots are basically locks; the only one with the slightest chance of being off the team is Kyla, but her bars are so strong that I don't really see a team without her on it.

I'm more uncertain about my alternates. Since I believe that Sarah is very close to making the team, I think she's a very likely alternate. Price made a wonderful case for herself on the first night of trials, and her Amanar is almost as good as McKayla's. She's a great all arounder and I think she'd be a fantastic alternate. The last spot is the one I'm not sure about. I think choosing Alicia for the last alternate spot might just be me being optimistic, but I really do think she deserves a spot. She can be counted on to hit in any situation, even if she was brought in at the last second. However, Martha loves all arounders, so I think a more realistic alternate might be Sabrina Vega. She proved herself at Worlds, and although she doesn't have super high difficulty, she hits her routines and would be solid in a leadoff position.

Well, there it is. I can't believe we are less than 12 hours away from the selection of the Olympic team. It's been a great 4 years, and I wish all the best to the girls competing tonight. The USA is so deep right now, and I think that there are a lot of combinations of teams that would do well in London. I can't wait to see what happens tonight!

Why We Loves Us Some Lochte!

Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps are set for an epic duel in the pool in the Olympic Trials and the Olympics.

Here's why we at Team Ironmac loves us some Ryan Lochte:

A few years ago at a swim meet in Daytona Beach shortly after Mac Crutchfield had died, Maggie Crutchfield (Mac's mom), was at a swim meet to cheer on Mac's former teammates. Ryan Lochte heard about Mac's death at the meet and walked over to her and said, "Whatever I can do for you, you just let me know, I'll be glad to do it."

Well, now we fast forward to look back at what Ryan Lochte has done for the Crutchfields and the Mac Crutchfield Foundation. He has made countless trips to the boonies of South Georgia to just visit with the family or to be the star of a fundraiser. He has agreed to be the spokesperson for the Mac Crutchfield Foundation. But what I saw a couple of weeks ago at a community pool in Gainesville summed it all up for me.

Gold medalist Ryan Lochte revealed his gold heart once again. He has become a surrogate big brother to Savannah Crutchfield, Mac's little sister. I have witnessed him numerous times do big brother things like give her noogies on her head and fake spit loogies in her hair. Things only a big brother could get away with.

Two weeks ago though, I saw it all play out in such incredible simplicity and clarity, it was stunning. Ryan told Savannah he wanted to come watch her swim. Savannah had just returned to competitive swimming a few months earlier. At the pool, Savannah turned to her mother and said, "I don't want him to come see me swim yet, I'm embarrassed."  Savannah's mom told her not to worry. Not two minutes later, Ryan Lochte slipped into the swim meet snuck up behind Savannah and put his hands over her eyes.  She guessed right away who it was.

Ryan Lochte slipped in like a ninja but soon the buzz grew. While Ryan quietly made small talk with the Crutchfield family, a small storm of excited kids waited like they were about to see a Santa Clause with six pack abs and bedroom eyes. When one kid finally got up the nerve to come over and ask for an autograph the line grew exponentially. Ryan was more than friendly and unassuming. He bent down to take pictures with the little ones. He signed everything. Who knows what kind of strong man workout he had just finished. He never complained, always smiled and did whatever the kid asked.

He graciously broke away to yell for Savannah when her event started. This was the only time he got loud. He made sure that everyone knew he was cheering for his newest little sis. Actually I don't think that was his point, he just wanted to be loud enough for Savannah to know that he was there to cheer for his newest little sis.

After she swam, he went quietly and graciously back to signing autographs until there was not a kid in the place with Ryan Lochte's name on something. He and Maggie then quietly made plans for the Crutchfields to come over to his house for dinner. And then he quietly walked off into the sunset like some mythical hero.

And he is, except he's not a myth. He's real. He's genuine. Oh, and Savannah also says he's goofy. Just like any little sis says about their big bro'.

So tonight, or any night over the next couple of months, you see that shark in the water devouring his foes. Remember that is one shark with one very big golden heart.