I know The Cycle has been a bit Olympic crazed here with all our recent posts- but how can we not? For a short period of time people allow their patriotism to shine and the world comes together to watch each other’s best athletes perform. It is great to have people, if only for a moment, to be invested in their country and to show a genuine interest in the outcome of events.
Not only do the Olympics bring world class athletes together but coaches as well. The other day my boyfriend suggested I write up a short post about how the Olympics have really developed and transitioned away from just country versus country competitions and become more of a melting pot. He brought up an interesting point since in the sports world, country borders have been blurred for a while. Take a look at professional sports: athletes willingly sacrifice the comforts of home (whether that be city, state or country) to travel around the world with dreams of being the best and playing with the best. Looking at these 2012 London games I realized there were some strong examples of coaches and athletes from differing countries coming together in the spirit of sport. This is not a new phenomenon, so it is not surprising that these dedicated athletes would also want to be coached by the best- and if that means “outsourcing” well, then isn’t that just the nature of sports where success holds no geographical bounds?
For gymnast Gabby Douglas that meant turning to China born Liang Chow.
China’s Sun Yang moved to Australia to train with the celebrated swim coach Denis Cotterell.
Russia’s basketball team turned to the successful Israeli-America coach David Blatt to work with their men.
Naysayers call it what you will but I think it’s a beautiful statement of countries working together and respecting each other’s talents, athletic globalism if you will. A forum for nations to come together in the interest of the world, looking past their individual, athletic gripes and competing in the good spirit of sport? You may not agree, however it is something to think about as we reach the closing days of the games in London. In the spirit of globalism, thank you Olympics for a great few weeks!