Redefining Success
The Rio 2016 Olympics has been a blend of greatness and beautiful stories, athletes coming from different walks of life giving their best and redefining the status quo. I would like to talk about a few who have given us new inspiration and raised our spirits.
Usain Bolt the Jamaican sprinter who has redefined speed and is the first man to hold both the 100 meter and 200 meter world records. With a total of seven Olympic gold field track metals, he is indeed deserving of his alias, “the lightning bolt.”
Then we have Simone Biles, the teenage American artistic gymnast who bests all the records in the vault and floor routines. With a total of five Olympic gold medals, Biles even has a routine named after her. She is quoted as saying, “I’m not the next Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps. I’m the first Simone Biles.” Way to go girl.
Talking about Michael Phelps, he is the most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. He has broken all the swimming records in history and even when his critics did not believe his skills were natural, he submitted himself for drug tests and tested negative to all nine.
My favourite of all the Olympians of 2016 still remains Chierika Ukogu. She finished second at the women's rowing semi-finals but even though she didn’t make it at the finals, her story is still an inspiration to many. She put medical school on pause to train and also had to fund herself to get to the Olympics. Setting up a GoFundMe account, she raised $12,000 to make it to the Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro. She has gone on to prove to people that success is not only about medals, it is about putting in your best and about showing up too, no matter the odds against you.
While your article is inspiring, I'm going to have to step in here. Most of these athletes are juiced to the gills looking at Bolt and Phelps specifically (doping tests, you might say? Nope ) Companies like Nike, Adidas etc prefer having "super athletes" like Bolt so they their marketing campaigns are more effect. Some drugs are very hard to spot (and sometimes impossible as there are methods to hide use aswell as newly created drugs have evolved, like all industries) other than the usual drugs the only thing that might show something is the Athletes Passport which again might only show up years later if ever. There's too much profit to be made and like everything there's hidden agendas and people in the inside to cover up most if not all of this.
I know this sounds sad but it's the truth of the matter and most people in the field know this.
Repholder: Physical Education and Sports Science Degree with a speciality in Track and Field throws.
Thanks for the beautiful shots shared and the thoughts put into your article, it is appreciated, namaste :)
The Rio 2016 Olympics has been a blend of greatness and beautiful stories
I agree with you 100 no 99 no 98 no about 97 percent. That idiot swimmer Lochte has not represented the USA team as an ambassador. With his type of colloquial stupidity he should have stayed home. Ron
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It truely is a marvel to behold when one watches the Olympics. Its hard to even imagine how such high level athletes do what they do for a mere mortal like myself :D
@msgivings thank you for such a beautiful article. Yes definition of success need to be redifining as every person have individual background and for every person this can mean something else. However everyone who are in Rio they are winners anyway. Love it :)