The summer Olympic Games are scheduled for next month and the trials for who will be on the Olympic team will be on televisions for many of the various sports. The Olympics have a special meaning for athletes because it only occurs every four years. For an athlete to peak at just the right time and make the Olympic team has to begin many years before. It is a special honor to make an Olympic team to represent your country and athletes train hard to become on the best athletes in their sport.
I think there are only three times the Olympics have been canceled or delayed other than during war years. One was when President Carter canceled our team’s trip to Russia because of some political differences. The United States tried to make up the missed trip with a meet here in the United States and invited other countries to attend. The athletes got their Olympic Uniforms but it was not the Olympics. Of course, the next year the Olympics were in the United States and Russia vetoed coming to avenge getting even with us. We held the Olympics but the athletes knew that without Russia the world’s best athletes may not be in the meet. Then last year with the COVID-19 virus so prevalent it was decided to postpone the Olympics for a year. It seems things are scheduled to be ready to go.
There are very few athletes that make more than one Olympic, but the majority only make one trip. I had some questions about the athletes who made the Olympic team last year when it was canceled and what was their status for this year’s Olympics. Did last year’s qualifiers get the Olympic uniforms even though the Olympics were delayed for a year? To make an Olympic team takes some hard work and then to have to keep that high level of training for another year is unbelievably difficult. I seemed to focus on the three top finishers in the marathon last year and now have to compete again to reach that status. Trying to remain at the top condition for a year to run a marathon and make the team twice will be interesting to see. Very few athletes remain at their peak performance for any length of time. There are sports where athletes can compete at an elite level for many years. Most of these athletes are in team sports and not as much in individual competition. Track is one of those sports where getting older is not always to an athlete’s benefit. A few can remain at that peak performance for a number of years – and even more than one Olympic level completion. But, for most it is a one-time effort to achieve that goal.
