"Don't put an age limit on your dreams."
What an amazing woman she is. I remember looking at photos of her in Olympics special magazines in Olympics years past. What an inspiration. 41-one-years old? Get out! 11 Olympic medals? Missing 2 Olympics and then coming back this year? C'mon!!! She's got a kid? And she chats her competitors and her teammates off like a 16-year-old school girl! She's great.
Last night, she showed sportsmanship. The kind of sportsmanship that is worthy of the Olympics. One of the swimmers (I believe the one from Sweden) had ripped her suit and went to put on a new one right before the semi for the 50m freestyle. Dara went over to one of the refs (is that what they're called? Beats me) and told her about what was going on with the Swedish swimmer. Lane 2 was empty. Dara then went to splash herself on the side, went back to her place, and let every one know that things would be okay and to calm down, that they just had to wait a couple of minutes for the Swedish swimmer to get her suit on.
With all that that COULD HAVE marred her focus, she pulled out to be first place in that semi to secure a place in the final in which she won silver. She almost had the gold. She needed that Phelps miracle.
I know what that feels like, on the minutest of levels. I played basketball for 6 1/2 years. Was MVP for 3 years and Most Inspirational for 1. I'm very competitive and hate to lose. There were games where my team would lose by 1 point to which I would have rather lost by 20. It was always hard to swallow but you always continue on. But, I can only imagine (yet, perhaps not) what kind of disappointment one must feel in the Olympics when they are so close to gold.
BUT, that does not take away anything at all from one competing in the Olympic Games. They are one of hundreds of the greatest athletes in the world. Amazing.
I love the summer Olympics. I always have. There's nothing like it. The intensity of the demands made on these spectacular individuals; physically, mentally, emotionally. Mm-mm-mm. The strain, the pressure, the Want. These athletes have an objective and they will do what it takes (hopefully, legally) to win.
I love it. I'm inspired not only by the ones who win gold, silver, bronze; but by the personal stories, the people behind the athletes, the sportsmanship, the teamanship, the Great support. NEVER have I not cried during the Olympics. Never.
