The Olympics are coming up in a month from now, and while I generally don't watch a lot of sport, I love the Olympics. No matter what the discipline, at the Olympics they are the best in the world, and for many of the sports they don't do it for the money, because there is very little, yet they have trained their entire lives for it. One gold every four years, out of thousands of athletes, but only a handful with any real hope of claiming victory.
In most countries, the Olympic committee makes the selection, but in the US it is a bit different, because it comes down to competition alone. For instance, the reigning 800m champion from Tokyo, Athing Mu, won't defend her title after falling in qualification, even though she is the best the US has to offer by far. Qualification is a harsh business in the US, but to counter favoritism and politics, this is the way they have chosen to handle the process - no excuses.
Track record matters.
But it isn't about long term track record, it is about the last race run, and I think that this attitude is become increasingly pervasive in society. This is the "only as good as your most recent performance" attitude, which means that we are essentially wiping away consistency from our judgements. A person makes a single mistake in a career of successes, and the world will turn on them, punish them, forget all that had come before.
Is there any coming back?
I was reading about another athlete, Steven van de Velde, a beach volleyball player from the Netherlands, will be competing in Paris, even though he is a convicted rapist of a twelve year old girl ten years ago, when he was nineteen. A terrible crime, and one that should be punished. Yet, should there be a way for a person to come back from mistakes, poor judgement, immaturity, stupidity?
Is absolution possible?
It is a question I ask myself, because there are plenty of things that I wish I hadn't done in life, and while not illegal, what happens if culture changes? We live in a world where comedians are being cancelled for decades old jokes, or actors and athletes are having their careers taken away from accusation alone. Even if they are found not-guilty, it is too late, the damage has been done.
Over the space of time, no one is innocent.
Most people believe that they want a meritocracy, where the best person for the job is in the job. But that becomes very difficult once we include all the other factors into the mix. The best person for the job, might be a terrible human, so should we give them the position based on merit? If this was the US Olympic selection, than yes - the person doesn't matter, just their results. It doesn't matter if they are a terrible person with no moral fiber, if on the day they are better than the other candidates, they are selected.
Kind of crazy, isn't it?
I wonder if when we look in the mirror, we see the best of us, the worst of us, or the average of us. I consider myself a good person on average, and probably a better than average person on average, but this doesn't mean that everything I have ever done has been the best version of myself. I have made mistakes too, said the wrong thing, done the wrong thing.
Which is the real me?
As said, I like the Olympics, as it is the best in the world doing what they are the best at. However, it is more than that, because it is thousands of athletes who have overcome all kinds of adversities to be there, to push themselves to their limits, even though there are no guarantees that they will make it far enough. They are people who are flawed, who have problems in their lives like the rest of us, but for a brief moment, they can put all of the baggage down, and line up against others like them. Others like us.
They do superhuman things - but are human.
And for a brief moment, it might be possible to forget all the problems of the world, all the challenges we face as a society, a community, an individual, and just put it on the track, giving their all.
The best is momentary. Better is always possible.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
