Olympic Dreams and Mothers

I love the Olympic Games.
I have since I was a young girl watching

Olga Korbut on the high beam in 1972.

Do you remember her? 

She was so young, so far away from her home in Belarus,

and was doing wonderfully in the competition, but flubbed up on the parallel bars, and the little girl from the Cold Eastern Bloc, warmed everyone's hearts with her tear-filled eyes. I cried too. Then she came back and took gold! The gymnastics sports exploded worldwide because of her. There are entire generations of young women who don't know her, but at the time, she was responsible for filling gymnasiums with little girls who all wanted to "be like Olga." Myself included.

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And I cheered for Dorothy Hamill in  '76,

whose Mother devoted hours upon hours of sacrifice,

driving Dorothy to practices, like many moms do everyday.

She had spunk and a thousand-watt smile.

And a haircut

that became a HUGE trend!

It was everywhere on everyone.

Myself included.

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Nancy Kerrigan and Dan Jansen in 1994

If you remember Nancy BEFORE she was whacked by the other crazy skater's camp (I'm not mentioning her name, because I don't like her), Nancy's backstory involved her legally-blind mother.  Her mother used to sit about 4 inches from a TV screen to even see her daughter perform. Their bond was touching. I wanted her to win for her mother.

Dan Jansen...he came in a favorite in 1988. He'd been skating since he was 4 years old, thanks, in part to his older sister, Jane.  Jane was battling leukemia in 1988 and hours before Dan's competition, a phone was put to Jane's ear so Dan could say, "I love you."  Jane died six hours later.  Dan's performance that day, did not result in a medal.In fact, he wasn't even wanting to compete. It was his Mom who encouraged him to finish what he had come there to do. But he didn't win.  He had his mind on other things.  He did return in 1994 and went home with the only gold medal he ever won.  If you remember this, he skated a victory lap around the rink with his young daughter, named Jane.

And on and on...

every Olympics I find my favorites

and cheer them on in my own little way

like millions of others.

This year has been no different.

Athletes with background stories of their own,

that test their commitment and skills

surface out of obscurity

and into our livingrooms

and our hearts.

This year,

for me,

it is Joannie Rochette.

An only child from Quebec

whose mother died unexpectedly last Sunday,

just two days before her competition.

Outsiders wondered aloud

if this young woman would be able

to focus on what lay before her,

and not collapse under her grief.

She determined that she would set out to do

what she and her mother had worked together

so hard on doing:

Shine at the Olympics.

Joannie would not let her mother down.

She would do her part,

do her best

and do it for her Mother.

She skated a flawless program.

And it was only afterwards that we saw any

emotion at all....

And together,

we mourned and we cheered with her.

Joannie Rochette elected after skating Tuesday night not to stop to talk to reporters. But, waiting for the scores in the kiss and-cry area, she said a few words in French. If you could lip-read, you could make out what she said: "Thanks, mom, for being with me "

"A mother is she who can take the place of all others but whose place no one else can take."- Cardinal Mermillod