Sunday, January 17, 2010

Olympic Spirit

I wanted to share a touching story with all of you of someone who truly embraces the Olympic Spirit.


We have reached a point in our Bobsled world where every single person on our team is thinking about one person... themselves. Everyone is focused on how they will make the team and is busy calculating the next move. There is one exception on our team. One of my teammates worked just as hard as I did in the off season and had just as much hope of going to Vancouver as myself, but she ran into some unfortunate luck with race offs and subsequently has been placed on the bottom of the totem pole. I am well aware of how hard it is to be in the position every week watching other teammates be successful and not getting any appreciation for your contributions to the team. She could have easily been frustrated and angry with the spot she is stuck in, but instead has volunteered every week to slide the first runs on new tracks with Bree (being crashed 3 times this year) and has done everything she can to help our team out (she even learned how to drive a stick so she could help drive our sled trucks all over Europe). She has done everything she can to help Team USA be better this year.

We are each allowed to send a page to the Olympic selection committee of why we should be the one to be selected for the team. It is a way for us each to get a chance to speak our peace and explain our side. I was discussing my page with this teammate of mine when she informed me that I was going to have one up on everyone. I was going to have two pages written for me. She then proceeded to tell me that she was going to write her page for me. She felt I earned the spot this year and that I deserved it and she was going to write her page on my behalf. I have never been so touched in my life. In a sport I have never felt appreciated, I just received the greatest honor; respect. She could have easily wrote this for herself and told everyone about how she got screwed or what she did to earn it, but instead she selflessly wrote her nominee for me.

In a time where I have felt like our sport lacks integrity, I am shown what it truly means to have the Olympic spirit by a simple selfless gesture.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Emily,
Thanks for sharing this story on your blog. It is so incredible to know that those kind of people exist. I am proud that have risen above the drama and are the kind of person that others look up to.
All my love in Vancouver!
Bud

Amory Rowe said...

Emily:
What a wonderful story. You're right: that was a wondrously selfless act by your teammate. But you managed to follow it up with one of your own: you wrote an entire blog post without ever mentioning your own recent appointment to the US Olympic Team. So congrats to you for cultivating such strong and respectful relationships with your teammates; congrats to your teammate on her noble act; and congrats again to you for earning the honor to represent this country in Vancouver next month.
Amory