Positive stories of Olympics sportsmanship

Let’s see.  Eight badminton players get expelled from the Olympics for sandbagging their matches and not trying to win, so that they would receive more comfortable placement in the quarterfinals.  One female soccer player turned into a “socker” player, giving Abby Wambach a black eye.  NBC tape-delayed the Olympics to the point where you think you’re watching Mark Spitz receiving multiple medals.

It’s too easy to sit here and compose a blog that bemoans the Olympics.  Too easy.  Anybody can do it.

I, on the other hand, have a better idea.

Rather than whine and moan about poor sportsmanship at this year’s Olympics… I’m going to show you several examples of good sportsmanship and bravery and self-sacrifice in the history of the Olympics.  Sometimes it’s not just about winning a gold medal.  Sometimes it’s really about doing what’s right in the face of things that have gone wrong.

1988 Summer Games, Seoul. During one of the sailing events, the weather was so windy that one of the boats, carrying two sailors from Singapore, capsized, throwing the men into the churning water.  Lawrence Lemieux, a Canadian sailor who was competing in another sailing competition – and who was in second place at the time – pulled out of his race and immediately guided his boat over to the capsized Singapore vessel.  He rescued the two sailors, and then waited until a patrol boat could arrive to take the men to safety.  Although he would finish 22nd in the race, the International Yacht Racing Union voted to award Lemieux second place in the event.

1936 Summer Games, Berlin. In a battle between two pole vaulters, Japanese athletes Shuhei Nishida and Sueo Oe finished the event tied for second place.  Nishida was awarded the silver medal, whlie Oe was given the bronze.  When the two athletes returned to Japan, they cut their medals in half, and created two special medals – one half-silver, one half-bronze – for each athlete to cherish.

1936 Summer Games, Berlin. Jesse Owens won four gold medals in Track and Field at these games, but one of those medals – in the broad jump – came thanks to the advice and suggestion of Luz Long, a German track and field athlete who was to compete against Owens in the broad jump.  It is said that Luz Long actually gave Jesse Owens the suggestion of, during Owens’ run, launching for the broad jump several inches prior to the foul line.  This way, Owens could qualify for the finals, without risking a foul and getting disqualified.  Owens won the broad jump; Luz Long took the silver.

1964 Winter Games, Innsbruck, Austria. Italian bobsledder Eugenio Monti won two silver medals at these games.  When he discovered that the British two-man bobsled team’s bobsled had a broken bolt, Monti loaned the team one from his own sled.  The British team won gold in that event.  Monti also repaired a broken axle on the Canadian four-man bobsled, allowing the Canadians to achieve a gold medal.

1984 Summer Games, Los Angeles. For the first time, there would be a women’s marathon contested at the Olympics.  While Joan Benoit took gold in the event, the most exciting story of this marathon was the struggle by Swiss runner Gabriela Andersen-Schiess to finish the race.  She entered the Los Angeles Coliseum, the finish line for the event, suffering from extreme heat exhaustion.  She could barely make her way around the final lap to the finish line, and despite her struggles, she refused to let medical personnel treat her – she would be disqualified from the race had anyone touched her during the event.  It took her nearly six minutes to complete that final lap, but she did cross the finish line in 37th place, completing her race. You can see her finish on this YouTube clip; it starts at approximately 1:40 of this video.

1932 Summer Games, Los Angeles. British fencer Judy Guinness was about to claim a gold medal in fencing’s foil category. But during her match with Ellen Preis of Austria, Guinness noticed something. Preis had actually scored two touches on Guinness, but the judges had missed – and therefore had not credited – Preis’ scores. Guinness immediately alerted the judges of the touches, and gladly accepted her silver medal; Preis received the gold.

1992 Summer Games, Barcelona. British sprinter Derek Redmond had a chance to win gold. All he had to do was finish his semi-final run in the 400 meters. But halfway through the race, he tore his hamstring muscle and went from a fast dash to a slow hobble. At that point in time, his father came out of the stands, put his arms around his injured son, and the two men slowly walked along the rest of the track to the finish. See it here.

2008 Summer Games, Beijing. Shawn Crawford, an American sprinter, finished fourth in the 200 meter sprint in Beijing. Then came the news that both the second and third place runners in that race were disqualified for stepping on the lines during their runs. Ninety minutes after the event, Crawford was elevated from fourth place to second, and received the silver medal. A week later, a package arrived for sprinter Churandy Martin of the Netherlands Antilles, one of the two runners who were disqualified for the minor infraction. It was Crawford’s silver medal, along with the following note: “I know this won’t replace the moment, but I want you to have this, because I believe it’s rightfully yours. – Shawn Crawford.”

1988 Winter Games, Calgary. The true story is that the bobsled team from Jamaica may not have medaled in their sport, but their determination to compete and finish the races changed them from being an Olympics novelty to receiving support from other teams.  Several other Olympic squads lent the Jamaican team parts and expertise. Don’t even compare this with the Cool Runnings movie. This is true footage from the Olympics in Calgary.

2002 Winter Games, Salt Lake City. Australia had won several Olympic gold medals in the past, but those were in the Summer Games.  Stephen Bradbury was an Olympic short-track speed skater, and he was in the finals with four other skaters, including the legendary Apolo Anton Ohno.  But in the final lap of their Olympic competition, Ohno collided with a Chinese short-track skater, and both men – and two other skaters who were behind them – lost their balance and crashed onto the ice.  Bradbury skated around them, and by never giving up during the race, he claimed Australia’s first winter gold medal.

So the next time you read some news report about an athlete tanking an event, or exhibiting boorish behavior – please realize that there is an Olympic ideal and spirit out there. It’s not just about winning gold. It’s about caring and compassion and competing with he highest ethics and motivation.