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 Athens
Greece, August 20th, 2004
Hello everyone,
I had a fun conversation with another person you may remember from previous Olympic Games. I was sitting with Carl Lewis at the swimming event last night, and he turned to me and said, “You know, it’s kind of amazing, we should enter the Olympics as a country. We don’t even have to compete, we have 18 gold medals between the two of us.”
There are lots of memorable moments to see during these games. Memorable performances by amazing athletes. What names will we remember from these Games? Michael Phelps, of course. Carly Patterson, yes, with her gold medal-winning performance in the all-around gymnastics competition. What about Amanda Beard? Our perception of her is changing. No longer is she the young girl at the Atlanta Games in 1996, walking into competition with a teddy bear in her hand. She won a silver medal there, and bronze in Sydney in 2000. Now she’s a gold medal winner, and with her maybe we don’t remember just a moment but almost an evolution of accomplishment through the successive Olympic Games.
The lesson each one of these athletes presents is a lifetime of dedication, of training, of the occasional failure and defeat, and then the accomplishment. Make no mistake, we celebrate the medal winners but everyone who makes it to the Olympics is a very accomplished athlete, at the top of his or her game. Every one of them is astonishing in their capabilities, commitment and sacrifice.
Think about that as you watch the Games this weekend. What will you remember from Athens 2004?
All the best,
Mark
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