I was just reading about Simone Biles leaving the arena
after she performed badly in the latest discipline. She says she has to
concentrate on her mental health. She says that mental health is becoming an
ever bigger problem in sport. She says that sometimes she feels the weight of
the world on her shoulders. And why?
Because she has to win, win, win. She has to be the most
successful gymnast ever in a world where success means winning the most medals
and standing on the most podiums. Meanwhile, the news headlines in Britain are
crowing over the fact that the GB team has had the most successful start to an
Olympics Games ever. There’s that word ‘success’ again. Success is all about
being the best and proving it with bits of metal. To me it's about rather more than that, because that definition is effectively about division.
I watched part of the opening ceremony a couple of days ago
and felt quite moved. The opening ceremony amounted to a statement of what the
Olympics are really about. All colours, all flags, all costumes, all smiles, all there to
do their level best on a level playing field no matter who stands on the podium.
Diverse cultures: Equal
respect. None of Trump's 'shithole countries' here.
Isn’t that a better definition of success?
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