Sportsmanship in These Olympic Games, or Lack Thereof

Is it just me, or do these Olympics seem to be all about drama? Controversy has been plaguing these games since before they even started, from Bode Miller’s admissions of drunken skiing antics on 60 minutes to the dismissal of the U.S. skeleton team’s coach for alleged sexual harassment of team members. Despite the fact that we often put athletes on a pedestal and expect them to act with character and behavior above the average man, these games have highlighted the fact that often athletes fail to meet the standards that we place on them. Admittedly, sometimes we place to high a standard on athletes, especially at the Olympics. However, the open displays of pettiness and lack of sportsmanship at the Olympics this year have really gotten me down on the whole event this year. I am talking about two specific instances in the past week that have really struck me as displaying a disappointing attitude by Olympic athletes.

Issue #1- The Shani Davis Controversy
First let me say Congratulations to Shani Davis on the first individual gold medal to be won by an African American athlete in a winter Olympics, EVER! I am truly appalled by the way that Shani Davis has been treated by his own teammates and the media. He has been called selfish and unpatriotic for refusing to skate in the team pursuit. He never agreed to skate in the team pursuit and it was 2 days before his most important individual event. He made the decision way in advance not to skate in the team event. However, his “teammate” Chad Hedrick decides to have a temper tantrum because Shani’s decision to focus on his own best event kept Hedrick from winning 5 gold medals. The root of his complaint is not that Shani was not a team player, but that Shani didn’t put his own goals on hold to help another teammate (Hedrick) reach his. Hedrick was even so petty as to refuse to congratulate Shani on his gold medal and instead only saluted the silver medal winner (Cheek) at the award ceremony. Makes me ashamed that Hedrick is representing America at the Olympics, not to mention the reaction by many Americans who have derided Shani for his decision (someone even went so far as to call him the n-word on a post to his personal website!). I could say a lot more, but this author does it better: Shani Davis Disrespected in His Moment of Glory

Issue #2- Ice Dancing Prima Donnas or The Glare Heard Round the World
Two nights ago ice dancing turned into a “demolition derby” with an unprecedented five couples falling during the competition. The Canadian couple had to quit because the girl was dropped on her hip from about five feet in the air. (Sorry I don’t know peoples' names). And then you have the Italians, who fell right at the very end of their otherwise beautiful performance. When they stopped in their poses, they glared, and I mean glared, holes through each other. You could just see that each of them was blaming the other for the fall. Hellooooo, you are a team, when you fall, you both fall. Next night, all during warm-ups and up until they entered the ice they refused to speak to each other and kept giving each other eat-s***-and-die looks. Unbelievable. They came out of retirement for this and that is how they want to remember their last Olympics? Luckily they came out and skated to a very passionate and aggressive score (I think if their skate was romantic they would have bombed) and did really well and apparently forgave each other in the end. But it was disappointing to see them acting like children on international television.

Maybe I am just being too hard on people, but I have always expected more from Olympic athletes than from the pros or even most college players. Where are the personal interest stories that make me want to root for someone? Its just not here for me this year so far. I hope that this week will be better, we shall see.