Sportsmanship on full display at the Olympics

As many parents will tell you teaching good sportsmanship to young athletes faces many challenges in this SportsCenter driven culture.  The attention give to selfish, and immature athletes such as Many Ramirez, Barry Bonds, Ron Artest, and Chris Henry fall far short of showcasing role model behavior.

This is in stark contrast to the refreshing scenes coming from the Beijing Olympics where sportsmanship can be readily seen from both the winners and those suffering “the agony of defeat.”

Amid great applause, Dara Torres demonstrated tremendous class when she asked an official to hold up her heat when Therese Alshammar needed to change out suits after a rip happened right before the 50m semifinal event.  Torres was very quick to congratulate Britta Steffen of Germany when Torres fell just short of gold by one hundredth of a second in the 50m Freestyle.

Dana Torres is 41 and should be mature enough to show sportsmanship, you say.  Then look at Shawn Johnson (age 16) and Nastia Liukin (age 18) openly cheering for each other when a strong performance from one would knock the other from gold medal status.

“I am really happy for her,” Liukin said of Johnson.

They are teammates you might argue and should cheer each other on.   Then also take note of Cheng Fei of China, along with the Chinese coaches, warmly congratulating Johnson and Liukin after their strong performances on the balance beam.

In track and field, Lolo Jones was in anguish after seeing her gold medal run evaporate when she clipped the second to last hurdle and finished seventh.  As she was explaining her mishap she stopped the interview to hug and congratulate silver medalist Sally Mclellan of Australia.

“Good job, sweetie,” was Jones’ message to Mclellan.

What other great examples of sportsmanship have you seen at this year’s Olympics?  Please tell us by commenting below or submit a story of your own.

Olympic athletes that beat the odds

If you live in the United States and plan to watch the 2008 Summer Olympics you will certainly hear inspiring, and deservedly heart warming stories of althletes that succeeded in spite of significant challenges.  In the sport of swimming alone you’ve likely already heard about Dara Torres and Eric Shanteau.  Torres, coming out of retirement at the age of 41 is setting records and Shanteau is battling testicular cancer but plans to postpone treatment until after the games.

Looking outside the US one can also find tremendous stories of athletes achieving their dreams while overcoming tremendous obstacles.

The BBC has a series online titled “Against the Odds” which profiles such inspiring athletes.   Follow these links to see the following stories:

Nery Brenes
Costa Rican sprinter who left behind a town hit by gang violence to get to Beijing

Bernadett Baczko
Neither family tragedy nor serious injury deterred this Hungarian judoka

Hem Bunting
A crumbling Cambodian athletics stadium is home to marathon runner Hem

Ziad Richa
Meet the Lebanese clay pigeon shooter training in the hills around Beirut

Vijender Kumar
An unsung boxing champion fights for recognition in cricket-mad India

Samiya Yuusf Omar
A 16-year-old’s amazing journey from war-ravaged Somalia to the Olympic Games

The BBC should be lauded for creating such a compelling series.

Open-water swimmer Chloe Sutton, 16, heads to Beijing

You will be hearing a lot about Chloe Sutton, the 16-year-old swimming pioneer.  She is likely the youngest member of the US Olympic team, and she is forging ground in a new Olympic sporting event - open water swimming.

Her teammates have taken a keen interest in understanding not only the event, but also Sutton’s motivation for participating in a swimming event outside the traditional olympic pool.

“They’re like, ‘Oh, my gosh, it’s so crazy; I would never do that,’ ” Sutton said. “At the airport, I was sitting on the ground and they were all in chairs. They’re like ‘How does it work? How do you start? Is it really physical? Do you eat during a race?’

“They’ve never seen it before. It’s so new, so different. They’re really interested in what I go through out there.”

“In open water, you don’t know what’s out there. … You never know if you’re going to have a bad turn and get stuck in the pack and have to battle your way out.

“It’s such a thrill. It makes you feel so alive. It’s a great experience.”

John Schumacher of the Sacramento Bee wrote a great article on Chloe in today’s paper.  Please read it here.

41-year-old Torres makes US Olympic Team

OMAHA, Neb. Forty-one-year-old Dara Torres completed her improbable Olympic comeback, making the U.S. team for the fifth time by winning the 100-meter freestyle at the U.S. Olympic trials. Read more