These weeks, while the Olympics were on, I read a lot of online journals, and especially comments of the common viewers to the performances of the Romanian athletes. The conclusion was that most of the viewers are STUPID.
I read on and on about stuf like: “They didn’t want the victory enough”, “They could have done more”, “They should have spend more time practising and less time talking to the journalists or walking, etc”, and these were the cenzored verions. I hate this attitude. Few people know (and the people who write these comments certainly don’t) what it envolves being a sportsman at the Olympics.
First of all, being good in any sports requires starting practicing at early ages (for gymnastics that is 4 or 5 years old), and continuing practicing for many more years (10-20 or even more). They have few holidays, few free time, practices once maby twice a day. Most of them have injuries and they keep on practicing, they take medicines that, on the long time, could effect their bodies (how many female athletes have now difficulties in having a baby beacause of the hormons they took when they were younger? ). Yes, they chose that life, but I don’t think that for somebody that has done so many sacrifices, winning or lossing is the same thing.
It is easy to juge when you are sitting in a chair, watching TV with beer and popcorn. It is easy to blame them because you didn’t have the satisfacition of seeing athlethes from your country winning. It is easy to say that they win a lot of money even if they do not win the gold. But it is unfair. One should be proud, sould congtulate them (winning or loosing) for the work, the pain, the practices, the sacrifice they made.
