By Ben Olson
Reader Staff
The Winter Olympics is more than just a collection of elite athletes competing for medals. It’s a salve that soothes skin rubbed raw from political divisions that have sharply divided us, perhaps permanently.
For these few weeks in February, we can partake in sportsmanship, healthy competition and rivalry that doesn’t end in bloodshed. We can wave our flags and root for our country to score medals, but we can also root for others whose performance stands above the rest. We can celebrate our differences in the name of sport.
Every athlete that steps on the ice or snow has earned their right to be there. It’s the culmination of training that is sometimes measured in decades. It’s also the epicenter of what healthy competition really means.
Take the example of the biathlon, in which athletes cross-country ski a great distance around a track with steep elevation gains then shoot targets every lap with a rifle they carry on their backs.
During a race on Feb. 9, two competitors were exiting the shooting stalls at the same moment and one accidentally stepped on the other’s ski pole, which was left behind in the snow. Without hesitation, the athlete who stepped on the other’s pole unstrapped his own and handed it over as they gained speed. It didn’t get much attention online, yet that simple act of fair play brought me to tears because my heart is hungry for good news.
In that spirit, let us return again to the good things that divide us: our strange peccadillos as humans.
I’m talking about the important questions, like are socks left-footed and right-footed, or ambidextrous? When you fold your pants in the laundry, do you buckle them closed or fold them with the button left open?
The debate over the correct way to install toilet paper in the holder has been waged for generations (the over-under side claims this is how it was originally depicted in the 1898 patent, the under-over crowd thinks their method is tidier and limits accidental unrolling).
Or, do you put water on the toothbrush before applying toothpaste, after, both or neither?
Do drinking glasses go right-side up in the cabinet or upside down?
Is it called a soda, a pop, a Coke, a soft drink?
Does silverware go right-side up or upside down in the dishwasher?
Shoes on or off inside the house?
Do you cut your sandwiches horizontally or diagonally?
These are the important questions we should be asking ourselves today. I once had an argument with a friend over whether a hot dog was a sandwich or not and we didn’t speak to one another for several months over it. When we did, the hot dog-sandwich debate wasn’t mentioned.
I have no regrets, because I’d rather have a monthslong argument with someone over hot dogs than a five-minute conversation about political divisions that are literally killing us.
Sportsmanship means winning with dignity and losing with grace. It means playing fair and respecting your opponent. It means bringing it all to the field and leaving it behind when the game is finished.
Team USA figure skater Ilia Malinin had been talked about ad nauseum by sports broadcasters for weeks leading up to his performance at the Milan Winter Olympics. Dubbed the “Quad God” because of his lone ability to successfully land a fully rotated quadruple axel in international competition, Malinin had the weight of the world on his shoulders as everyone expected him to easily achieve a gold medal for his solo skating. That’s not how it happened, though.
Malinin’s final performance was a disaster, with several falls and aborted tricks that left him in eighth place. Mikhail Shaidorov ended up winning the first figure skating Olympic gold for Kazakhstan in an emotional moment. Watching his performance, it’s clear he deserved it.
After the match, as Malinin was devastated and the U.S. announcers went on and on about how disastrous his performance was, he hugged the Kazakhstani skater and congratulated him on the win. Malinin is a cocky young skater and has a lot to learn about sportsmanship, but he nailed that moment. As they say, it’s not about winning or losing, it’s how you play the game.
Sportsmanship doesn’t exist in the world of politics, religion and money, which revolves around getting ahead by any means necessary — discounting others in order to strengthen your own team. It’s all about self-preservation and trickery, and, frankly, I’m sick of it.
Bring back the good debates, the good divisions, the good arguments. Let us return again to the fun things that divide us, because we may find that they actually promote unity while we all whistle past the graveyard.
And no, a hot dog isn’t a sandwich.
