I am no athlete.
As a matter of fact, I’m the farthest possible thing from an athlete. The sight of gym shoes gives me angina, and I think the treadmill is akin to my many insecurities; that is, better going unacknowledged and locked away in a place where they will never be found. Not unlike the sloth, indigenous to South America, I am a slow moving creature that specializes in sleeping. There is a point to all of this: this is not self-pity nor a cry for reassurance, but a cold, hard fact; I am no athlete, and I am certainly no Olympian.
Every four years, a city is chosen, and the world watches.
The Olympics, an awe-inspiring international sporting event at which the best athletes in the world compete for medals they so righteously deserve. Split into Winter and Summer, each Olympics is held at four year intervals, overlaid so that they occur every two. It is perhaps the one event in which all of the participating countries actually cooperate – to some extent. Despite the international magnitude of the event, the Olympics only last about 16 days, and contrary to what the games have become, they have rather humble beginnings in ancient Greece.
The Olympics are both beautiful and… weird.
In less eloquent terms, the chosen country for the Olympics makes a multimillion dollar investment in a complex, where in a number of years all of the great sportsmen will come and sport together. Like the Super Bowl (FLY EAGLES FLY) or the World Series, suddenly everyone understands the sporting technical terms for obscure activities like curling, and all of us in each corner of the planet hold hands and sing Kumbaya. The Games are a stretch of two weeks where people worldwide tune in to watch some back-breaking, blood-sweat-tears-type sporting; a stretch of two weeks where your average Joe kicks back in his aged La-Z-Boy and criticizes the top sportsmen in the world at the height of their physical performance.
Does the irony in this occur to anyone else? I… I certainly have a thing or two to say about it.
For figure skaters, this is no ordinary ice. This is Olympic ice.
The distinction might not seem like that big of a deal to us, but for a skater, it’s the difference between world renown and a niche audience. It means going down in history, and years down the line, the world will still know their name. For us average folk, this is akin to us achieving our greatest dream, while people who don’t really understand what we’re doing stand by and criticize.
Constructively, it’s fine, but if we don’t understand the sport, what are we even saying? We would have to learn the distinctions between different jumps, their level of difficulty, what those points mean for the athlete, and where that will land them on the scoreboard to give advice or pass judgment that is actually sound. Not everyone can be expected to do that, but out of respect for the athletes and sport itself, that is what I’ve been trying to do. These misadventures in both the practice and comprehension of figure skating have made me not only appreciate the sport more, but have expanded my range of interests to include it.
Now, if you don’t understand the figure skating scoring system, worry not– plenty of people only have a vague idea, myself included. I can’t pretend to be an expert on a system that I only revisit every four years. Still, while we’re sitting on our couches and saying, “How could he mess up on that triple Axel?” the other, larger part of our brain is asking, “What the hell is a triple Axel, anyway?”
Some background: the Salchow, the Lutz, and the Axel are figure skating jumps that are some of the most difficult tricks on ice, in respective, ascending order. They’re named after the skaters who invented them, and to the casual observer, these jumps are the same; the main difference between the jumps is how the skater takes off and how many turns they make in the air. There are also toe jumps and loops, which are identified by their execution– as opposed to bending the knee and lifting off, the skater kicks off the ice with their toe pick.
Basically, these skaters have to keep masterful control of their bodies, in front of an audience of millions of people– yet we still have the gall to criticize. Incredible. Hell, when I skate, lifting my leg over a foot in the air is a challenge, but I did say before that I’m no Olympian. If you think about it, even the term “Olympian” is a bit off-putting. They are, after all, the circle of gods atop Mount Olympus in ancient Greek culture. Granted, these are the most talented sportsmen in the world, but “Olympian” is quite the title to live up to, if you ask me.
With this in mind, take some wild accomplishments from Team USA on the ice this past Olympics: Mirai Nagasu was the first American woman—and the third woman ever—to land a triple Axel at the Olympics. This. Is. A. Big. Deal, and definitely a huge mark in her skating career.
During his short program, Vincent Zhou landed an incredible quadruple Lutz; a complicated jump with 4!! turns!! that never stuck on Olympic ice, until now.
And Nathan Chen—ah, the good old Quad King— was hyped up as one of the best skaters Team USA had in their arsenal, but nerves got to him, and he crumbled a bit under pressure (can’t say that I blame him). To make up for it, he stuck six quad jumps into his routine, simply because he “had nothing to lose,” and he made Olympic history in the process. Can you imagine the stamina required for this? For six of these?
Some other striking performances came from Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu and Germany’s pair team Aliona Savchenko and Bruno Massot, who all won gold following their stellar performances – and I mean, stellar.
Aliona Savchenko has been after Olympic gold for years, and her dream finally came true with her new partner Bruno Massot and their flawless short program. After competing in five different Olympic Games, Savchenko absolutely deserved the win, and so did Massot, although PyeongChang 2018 was his first.
Yuzuru Hanyu skates onto the rink for the first time since October, delivering a stunning performance that easily broke the 100-point barrier – instant top 3 on the leader board.
Watch his second program here.
It’s so beautiful, I could cry.
Despite having sustained ligament damage in early November, Hanyu’s skate was flawless; his expressions pre- and post-performance were sly and confident, like Elle Woods after her acceptance into Harvard Law.
I’ll tell you this: after watching Hanyu on the ice, the first thing I did the next day was go to a local ice skating rink. It did not go well.
And while this is part of the beauty of the Olympics – what it inspires us to do – it is a harsh reminder of the painstaking training these Olympians go through. We sit on our couches, in our La-Z-Boys, and criticize – but when inspiration hits, as it will after the Olympics, we fail in the most grandiose possible way. It’s funny. We suck, and that’s fine, but our judgment persists.
Is this the world of sports?? Is it?? Because if so, I’m grateful that I was never a competitor in anything, although once I tripped on an ice rink and fractured both kneecaps.
We are fascinated by the extraordinary. It is the desire to be part of something bigger, I think, that makes the Games so huge. There’s a certain kinship in watching what the rest of the world is watching, in seeing impossible displays of strength, in judging as the judges score with their prim little notepads and advanced knowledge of Sport™. It is a bonded belief in heroism that lasts as long as the Games.
People watch the Olympics because they want to believe in heroes; I know I did.
-USA Olympic gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin.
The charm is in the involvement. I may not appreciate something like curling, but I’ll be damned if Olympic performances don’t trigger in me some ancient, primal urge to SWEEEEP. I want to hop into the toboggan with all of the professional sledders. I squeal at the television every time Adam Rippon winks.
* ill-concealed screaming *
It’s just a shame that the interest doesn’t last much longer following the Games.
Consider this: we go years – literal years – without thinking about these sports that Olympic athletes train their entire lives to compete in. Things like figure skating and luge – for God’s sake, who watches luge outside of the Winter Olympics? – get absurdly popular every four years, but after the * razzle dazzle * of the Games have finished, they remain what is basically a niche interest the rest of the time.
Don’t get me wrong, these sports are great! It’s just… The fact remains that outside of the Olympic sphere, they’re not popular things. Sometimes they appear in pop culture, like the sports anime Yuri!!! On Ice. Yuri!!! made waves when it became wildly popular after its release in 2016 – and if you haven’t watched it, you absolutely should. But I digress.
The Olympics are weird. We make an international event and deify the participants. We place them on a pedestal so far above the winner’s block that when they falter or make a mistake, it’s unspeakable. It’s of no concern to anyone that the average person definitely couldn’t swing a triple Axel in front of the entire world, but when Nathan Chen fell, so did the audience’s hopes.
Not mine.
We want to be elite. We want to be Olympians, almighty beings, but when the time comes for the challenge, we always settle in as observers. We allow the spotlight to briefly shine on activities that, frankly, no one thinks about outside of the Olympic Games. These sports will fly under the radar for another four years until the light shines on them again… But that doesn’t have to be the case.
At the end of this, I implore you to continue trying new things, to continue to learn like this, long after the 2018 Olympic Games have concluded. Take classes – you might find a new passion. (Though if you’re not interested in shattering your kneecaps and spending a harrowing year in leg braces, I strongly recommend that you learn from a professional – take it from me.)
We have four more years until the next Winter Games, but until then, try to keep up with the sports. You can start with Yuri!!! On Ice!
. . .
References:
*All skating gifs and videos are courtesy of NBC Olympic television, Team USA, and Team Germany.
Abad-Santos, Alexander. “A GIF Guide to Figure Skaters’ Jumps at the Olympics.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 5 Feb. 2014, www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/02/gif-guide-figure-skaters-jumps-olympics/357723/.
Praderio, Caroline. “The US Figure Skating Team Has Already Made History Three Times at the Winter Olympics – Here’s How.” INSIDER, INSIDER, 18 Feb. 2018, www.thisisinsider.com/us-figure-skating-team-made-history-winter-olympics-2018-2.
Mather, Victor, and Jeré Longman. “Olympics Figure Skating: Yuzuru Hanyu Shines; Nathan Chen Stumbles.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 15 Feb. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/02/15/sports/olympics/figure-skating-yuzuru-hanyu-nathan-chen.html.
Abrams, Abigail. “America’s Vincent Zhou Makes History Landing a Quadruple Lutz at the Olympics.” Time, Time Magazine, 16 Feb. 2018, time.com/5161971/vincent-zhou-makes-history-quad-lutz-winter-olympics/.
