Friday, August 11, 2000
No excuses for skipping Olympics
Pete Sampras can't be bothered. He won't be playing tennis for the United States at the Olympics next month. He says his schedule is full. The Olympics are not yet a Grand Slam event. And, well, they're halfway around the world, right? One trip a year to Australia is enough.
“More of my attention is to Davis Cup. The Olympics wasn't really a consideration,” Sampras decided.
Jim Terrell was building airplane interiors when I called. He was an Olympian four times, a canoeist from Milford who lives in southern California now. Terrell devoted most of 20 years to his sport, sacrificing money and employment, donating his spirit, asking for nothing but a chance to compete.
I wondered if he ever considered the Olympics not worth considering.
“It was a passion for me forever,” Terrell said. He wanted to go again this summer, but didn't qualify. To be an Olympian, Terrell worked part-time as a coach and cabinet-maker. He put two dollars in his wallet and prayed they'd magically become four.
“I look back now and say, "Jeez, how did I ever make it on $20,000 a year?'” Terrell said.
Comparing situations
I asked him what he thought of superstars rejecting the Olympics. Terrell was charitable.
“I think it's really hard to compare a high-profile sport with a low-profile sport like canoeing,” Terrell said.
No. It's not hard. Same gold. Same medal stand, same anthem, same uniform. Same striving. Same silly notion, antiquated perhaps, that representing your country for something grander than coins is not only worthwhile, but precious. An honor.
Pete Sampras can't be bothered. Nor can Anna Kournikova, who said no to her native Russia. Nor can Kobe Bryant. The Los Angeles Lakers star decided he'd rather get married than be an Olympian. Here's to all the swimmers, gymnasts, wrestlers and rowers, training six hours a day and working eight more at the post office:
I think I'll take some time off. I think I'll pass.
Part of the Olympic spirit, what's left of it, is the sacrifice made by the athlete and, in many cases, the athlete's family. That may be idealistic. But without ideals, the Olympics are merely a fortnight of prime-time television.
Why turn us down?
If Sampras says his schedule is too full for the Olympic Games, fine. He's entitled. But really: Why should anyone's schedule be too full to be an Olympian?
It's not a knock on Sampras or Kournikova or Bryant. It's a wish we'd stop giving them the chance to turn us down.
Give the Games back to the strivers, for whom the experience is something more than a wage. The Olympics is made for Jim Terrell, not Michael Jordan. It's a stage for 20-year-olds who've been up swimming at 5 in the morning for 10 years, not wealthy tennis players who can't find the time in their day planners to wear an American uniform.
Sampras' peer Todd Martin, for one, gets it. “There's no excuse not to play in the Olympics for me. What do the five rings stand for? That's five reasons. The 1980 hockey team, Jesse Owens, Mark Spitz, Eric Heiden,” said Martin. “All those athletes inspire me to be a part of it.”
I wonder if Jesse Owens checked his calendar before committing to the Olympics.
Paul Daugherty welcomes your comments at (513) 768-8454.
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