She had been homeless, in foster homes, decided to live in one city with a track rather than with her family, got a scholarship to college to train. She didn't make it to Athens due to injury, and then fought to make it to Bejing. She was the clear favorite. This was supposed to be the greatest 100 meters in her life.
And then Lolo Jones clipped the 9th hurdle, lost the lead, and then lost the race.
Crossing the finish line in 7th place, she fell to the track and stayed there, disbelieving. It was utterly painful to watch. Somehow, she managed to hold it together enough to be interviewed on the track, where she was classy enough to say "It's the hurdles. You have to get all ten and if you can't, you're not meant to be the champion. Today I was not meant to be the champion. Today is hard. Tomorrow will be harder. I just have to get myself back up." I can't even begin to imagine how hard that interview was for her.
And then she walked into the tunnel, leaned against the wall, and broke down sobbing. The camera's caught it, of course, and NBC lingered over the money shot - the heartbreak of what happens when the slightest thing goes wrong in a 13 second race.
There have been so many incredible success stories in the Olympics, and it's hard to feel sorry sometimes for athletes that pout when they get a silver or a bronze instead of gold. But nothing made me cry these games more than the sight of Jones standing against that wall, wondering what went wrong.
The Olympics are only once every four years. If you have a bad day, that's years of work gone in a moment. That's what makes them special, wonderful, and sometimes heartbreaking.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
When It's Not A Happy Ending
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Classic Clips: American Anthem starring Mitch Gaylord
So in 1984, the world went a little bonkers for our very studly men's gymnastic team. Highest on the list was the hot, perfect ten achieving Mitch Gaylord (Currently a judge on Ccelebrity Circus of the Stars, I'm sad to report). He cashed in on his gold medal in 1986 and made a delightfully disastrous movie called American Anthem. Here is the final scene, in with both he and co-star Janet Jones (A League of Their Own) fight to make the US National Team despite being a rebel and a washout, respectively.
So, in honor of our Bronze medal last night, and the amazing fight in our Men's Gymnastic Team (Raj, call me!) , the conclusion of American Anthem.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Suck It France! (And Other Olympic News)
I wish I was a better person about this - and I might have been, if not for French Jackass Alain Bernard, who broke the cardinal rule of jinxing. When asked about the battle in the Men's Swimming 400 Freestyle Relay, he had the escargots to say "We will smash the Americans, that is what we came for." Oh, really? With Michael Phelps leading off the relay with an American record leg of 47.51, and Garrett Weber-Gale and Cullen Jones keeping us in the race, the stage was set for Jason Lezak. Going into the last 50 meters, he was about a half of a body length behind, yet he somehow willed himself to catch up with Bernard in the last 25 meters - and then somehow (I still don't know how) touched the wall .08 seconds ahead of the big-mouthed-soon-to-be-crying Bernard. In order to do so, he swam the fastest relay leg in history at 46.06. A hundred meters is 328.08 feet. That's swimming the length of a football field. In 46 seconds.
In other Olympic news:
Rafael Nadal hates the humidity, but still won two out of three sets to easily advance in his search of the "fifth slam" of 2008. Either way, the Spaniard will be the number one ranked player in the world officially on August 18th. Roger Federer will battle it out with Nadal once again at the US Open next month where, presumably, the weather will be more to Rafael's liking.
Seven world records have been smashed in the Swimming Cube. Among them, Kristy Coventry of Zimbabwe kicked ass in the 100 Free and Japan's Kosuke Kitajima used American Brendan Hanson former world record to towel off with in the 100 Breakstroke.
India won it's first individual gold medal EVER - Abhinav Bindra won the 10 meter air rifle shooting competition. Go India!!!
Gymnastics is a scary, injury filled place for the American's right now. Our women qualified in second place behind China due to last minute injury (including Samantha Peszek hurting her ankle in warm ups!). The good news: Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin are one and two going into the individual all around. It's going to be a battle royale for the team competition!!!
There's a German female gymnast that's rather interesting, for three reasons: 1 - She's Russian. 2 - She's 33 years old. 3 - She became German in order to secure medical care for her son, who had leukemia. Oxana Chusovitina is the war horse of the Olympics... she won the vault at the European Championships and will challenge for that medal next week. How badass is that? Also, her son is in remission and can do a backflip. NBC was delighted in producing a mini lifetime movie about her during prime time last night, but it's still an amazing story.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
From The Files Of: "I Could Do That"
So ever have a moment when you're watching the Olympics from your couch, eating some hoagies and drinking some beer and contemplating whether or not you still have ice cream in your freezer (but you're too lazy to get up and check)... and you're thinking "How hard is it, really? Swimming? I can swim. I can run."
These two brave, average guys got up from their couch and attempted the 100 meter freestyle, the 100 meter dash, the 110 meter hurdles, the long jump, and the rings. Results follow. They are exactly what you think.
Tomorrow night - Olympics!!! So I'm stocking up on ice cream. Bob Costas and I have a date, and it's a well known fact the he puts out.
