Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
Friday, February 17, 2006, Washington Post

No Medals but as Good as Gold

I am totally into the Winter Olympics. But the stories that get me are not the ones about the gold-medal winners. Although I do think snowboarder Shaun White, "The Flying Tomato," is pretty cool.

The stories that get me are the ones behind the medal stands, the heartbreaking near-misses of the Games, such as Lindsey Kildow. She's the American downhill ski racer who crashed during a Monday practice run and was taken by helicopter to a hospital.

Kildow climbed out of her hospital bed to compete in the downhill Wednesday. She came in eighth, missing a medal by little more than half a second. "It's the Olympics, and you work so hard to be here, you can't just give up. You have to try," she said after the race.

Then there's Tony Benshoff. After four runs down the dangerous, icy track, he missed being America's first luge medalist by .0153 seconds -- less than the blink of an eye.

Or how about the sad story of figure skater Michelle Kwan? She trained her whole life and dreamed of winning an Olympic gold medal since she was a little girl. Just before these Olympics, likely her last, she got hurt and can't compete.

I think it's good for kids to see these Olympic stories as well as all the gold-medal glory. Lots of kids have sports dreams. They might not have Olympic dreams; their dreams might be something smaller. Maybe they want to make a high school basketball team or swim in the regionals or run a mile in less than six minutes.

Not all sports dreams come true. Most Olympians don't win medals, even though they train as hard and dream as much as the athletes who do. Athletes, whether they are Olympic champions or neighborhood kids, have to learn to enjoy the sports they play -- win or lose. If the only thing you like about sports is winning, you don't really like sports. After all, sometimes no matter how hard you train, you still might slip on the ice, get hurt or run up against someone who is just a bit better than you.

The official Olympic motto, "faster, higher, stronger," makes you think about all the winners. But there's also an Olympic creed that everyone watching the Games should remember: "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."

So enjoy the rest of the Winter Olympics. But more importantly, enjoy the sports you play every day, regardless of whether you take home the gold medal.