Sshhh – I’m Not Rooting For the Home Team

I enjoy watching the Olympics, but I don’t get to see as many events as I’d like. In years past, I recorded them on my DVR but there are so many events I don’t care to watch, that it gets tiresome fast-forwarding past them to get to the good juicy events I really want to see. This go round I’ve seen almost no events, but I did catch some highlights. One constant for me is that I almost always find myself rooting for the unexpected underdog who shows up out of nowhere with overwhelmingly high scores and blows everybody else out of the water. Or wins by a nose. You know? That athlete that sneaks up on everyone who is supposed to win and steals that medal. The one nobody is watching. Yeah, that person.

I always feel so proud for those athletes who perform at the very top of their game and win medals that they were not even supposed to be in the running to win. This year is no exception. There have been some amazing moments for some very special underdogs. The one that brought tears to my eyes – an event I actually got to sit down and watch, and one of my favorite events – was when Rebeca Andrade won the silver medal in the women’s all-around, the first EVER Olympic medal in women’s gymnastics for the country of Brazil. Brazil? Not exactly a powerhouse when you think of women’s gymnastics. How excited and proud must that lady have been? I was bursting at the seams for her, I can’t imagine how she was feeling at that moment.

My chest swelled with pride for her and for Brazil. I teared up at the medal ceremony, not just for our little American gal, who, let’s face it, we all pretty much thought was going to win, but for that outstanding Brazilian lady who made history. Who would have ever thought that their position on the medal podium would be challenged by someone from Brazil? Bravo Rebeca! Bravo!!

Then, as if that moment weren’t exciting enough, she came back in the next round of events and took home a GOLD medal for her amazing vault. Brazil, who has never won a women’s gymnastics medal, took home two!! I was rooting for her. I wanted her to win. Again – who would have thought? I’m pretty sure none of the other coaches even had their eye on that gal and yet – BOOM – move over Russia, move over USA, Brazil has entered the building.

Sticking with women’s gymnastics, Yeo Seo-Jeong because the first ever medalist from South Korea, to win a medal, taking home the bronze in women’s vault. Again, she wasn’t even really on anybody’s radar, yet there she stood on that medals platform all smiles and tears. Good for you young lady!!

Other firsts that launched people – and even countries to the top of the “watch list:” Stefanos Ntouskos won a gold medal for Greece in rowing, the first ever for that country. Flora Duffy earned the gold medal in women’s individual triathlon on Tuesday, the first ever gold for her home country of Bermuda. 

Hidilyn Diaz earned the top spot in women’s weightlifting, earning the first gold medal for the Philippines in over a hundred years. And, she broke all kinds of records doing it. Fellow weightlifter, Polina Guryeva, made history for her country, too: her silver medal is the first Olympic medal Turkmenistan has earned since gaining independence from the Soviet Union. Turkmenistan? Is this a nation we should be keeping in our sights at future Olympics? Well done ladies.

And then there’s the awesome performance in trap-shooting by Alessandra Perilli from San Marino. Who? Where? That’s right, Alessandra Perilli, not even really a top contender in the event took home a gold medal for a country that has a population smaller than the state of Wyoming and is smaller in size than the state of Rhode Island. Who’d have thought? Another country I had to go look up on the map. Sure enough, there it was, a small republic situated on the slopes of Mount Titano, on the Adriatic side of central Italy. Another outstanding moment of national pride that nobody saw coming for a country that nobody’s ever heard of.

I’m so proud of all of the athletes this year for working even harder throughout the strange and unusual circumstances to even get to an Olympics that they weren’t even sure was going to happen. How nerve-wracking and stressful the training must have been. How lonely to stand up there with a full heart, bursting with pride, in what must undoubtedly be one of the most exciting, memorable moments of your life, but no family or friends to cheer you on. I commend you all for giving your all and sticking with it despite the obstacles stacked in front of you. You’re all winners in my book.

Word of the Day: Wentletrap

Fun fact about me: I love hearing the national anthems from other countries.

Original post by Jansen Schmidt, August 2021. Images by Google and giphy.com

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