It's So Easy To Fall in Love With Olympians

As appeared in the Albuquerque Journal, February 19, 2010

With a malfunctioning torch-lighting arm at the Opening Ceremonies, the 2010 Winter Olympic Games began last week in Vancouver with high hopes and dreams. The athletes have been battling the elements as they try their best to win a gold medal while we sit back in our living rooms learning their back stories and picking our favorite underdogs to cheer for.

Americans love an underdog and when it comes to the Olympics, we don’t discriminate. Oh sure, we prefer to cheer on our red, white and blue-wearing homies, but when there are no American flags in the top three positions, there is always another sweet face with a heart wrenching background we can cry for when they fall.

There are always athletes who stand out for us, individually and as a country. Remember Olga Korbut from the 1972 Munich games? This 17-year old gymnast from the USSR with the scraggily pig tails and crooked smile stole hearts all over the world when she showed uncharacteristic emotion and tears after her success on the uneven bars and balance beam.

I fell in love with Mark Spitz that summer. An American swimmer with a big smile, big mustache and seven gold medals made cheering for this record setter as much fun as cheering for Michael Phelps 36 years later. I have forgiven Michael Phelps for breaking Spitz’s record because well, records are made to be broken.

My next crush came in 1976 when Bruce Jenner won the gold medal for decathlon in the Montreal Summer Olympics. That final victory lap he took around the track, all out of breath and waving the American flag is burned in my memory forever. Mark Spitz was now history.

For the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, speed skater Dan Jansen stole our hearts. On the day of his race he received a phone call saying that his sister, Jane was dying of leukemia. She died later that same day.

He went on to compete that night in the 500 meters, but fell early in the race. A few days later in the 1,000 meter race, he began with record-breaking speed but fell again. He left the 1988 Olympics with no medals. Then in a final chance at Olympic gold in 1994, he won; setting a new world record in the process, and dedicated his gold medal to his late sister. Pass the hankies.

We fell in love with Oksana Baiul in the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. After losing her mother to ovarian cancer when she was 13, Baiul was alone sleeping on a cot at the ice skating rink in her home town in the Ukraine. A mentor took her in and taught her the techniques that took her to the top; a gold medal. And the world couldn’t have been happier.

There are plenty of Americans at the gold medal level this year, so who has your heart this time around?

At 6’ 1”, men’s figure skater Evan Lysacek is considered much taller than typical skaters. For that and his black feathered gloves, we hold our breath for his success.

Who can’t not cheer on speed skater Apollo Ohno and hold their breath around the curves when he skims his hand along the ice? Speed skater gold medalist Shani Davis? Snow board gold medalist Shaun White? Downhill gold medalist Lindsey Vonn?

Does anyone else have Olympic fever this week?

Quote of the Week: “A lifetime of training for just ten seconds.” - Jesse Owens, winner of four gold medals at the 1936 Summer Olympics.