Some Olympic Statistics

[Easternmost Frontier]

. . . strictly amateur, of course.

Michael Phelps current holds more Olympic Golds than most nations who have participated in the modern games. More specifically, he has more Golds than 89.9% of the nations who have ever been part of the summer games.

 

That's impressive.

 

More impressive is the comparison of the cumulative totals. Phelps holds more Gold Medals than the cumulative total held by 69.9% of competing nations.

 

That's absurd.

[silent thunder]

Makes me think about the nature of value and how we assign it.

 

The Olympics used to be extremely important to me.  Winter specifically, the skiing and the hockey.  There were a few years where I was in serious training to make the US Ski Team.  One day, while watching the qualifiers I experienced an epiphany that altered my perception and changed my experience of reality, changed my life.  It happened while watching one of my favorite skiers have an amazing downhill run, only to lose by a couple of hundredths of a second and seeing his misery at losing.  When all I could see was how amazing he was...  for him, there seemed no value in having been that close at all.  All he could see was the lack of winning.  That was his value.  And I realized that I had adopted that superficially as my value as well, when the authentic and true reality of my connection was just love of it.  Samadhi.  Losing all sense of self in the motion and the process... the moment.

 

So I realized, that for all the sacrifice I was making... the missed time with friends outside of school.  The early morning sessions, the travel costs for my family... that if I made the team, the commitment would be even more intense, for the run up to the Games and then, if all went well and I avoided injury and didn't happen to be sick on the day of my event, I'd have a chance to be at the peak of my potential against all the others of the world.  And if all those conditions came through and I won by whatever margin... would it really mean that much?  Absolutely, on one level... a rather superficial one for me.  Could I really consider myself to be 'the best'?  Not even remotely.  At that level, the differences are so minor and insignificant between competitors, especially in skiing, as the conditions on the course change throughout a competition, just having the wrong wax will kill your chances of placing.  At that level in nearly any sport, the differences pale to me, compared to the collective achievement already won.  And that real value was in the connection each athlete had to their sport and themselves. 

 

For me, in that moment, I realized what it was that I really loved and it wasn't winning, or even competing.  It was being connected and awake on those mountains.  In the moment, no hesitation and no thoughts, just action, reaction and life. 

 

I never raced in another competition after that, but I continue to pour my love into the mountains and being on them, Winter or Summer.

 

The last Olympics I watched was long ago now.  Although I've always loved seeing the games themselves, the progressively slanted and chest thumpy nature of the American coverage of the games made them unpalatable.

 

But I still love to see the faces and the shining joy of the athletes... I just wonder if they know now, or will know when they look back later, that it wasn't really the winning, or the losing.  What has value?

 

Whatever we assign.

[Andrei]

No man, you put the problem totally wrong. He took all those medals because in swimming there are so many contests, but if you ask him to run or throw a javelin he wouldn't be able to do it. He is good at swimming and that's it.

 

The purpose of Olympic Games in the ancient Greece was to train all men into athletics so that they could fight in war. They had to run, wrestle, throw rocks, throw javelins, archery, riding horses and all this to be all around good fighter with all the skills needed in war. An Olympian was good at all disciplines not only specialized in one.

 

And the quantity of gold does not mean anything, it's a totally wrong value. I just had a discussion with a friend of mine who is buying gold. If something happens (like war or natural disasters) you won't be able to use your gold but if you have survival skills (whatever those may be from martial arts to hunting) that is your real gold, the knowledge of survival.

[silent thunder]

No problem with any of it.

 

just a sharing of an observation of my take on value and connection

[Andrei]

Sorry silent thunder, I was replying to the OP. 

[Taomeow]

The last Olympics I watched, I was young enough to have crushes on the stars.  I was devastated when a star hockey player who, on top of a warrior physique, had angelic blond hair and an irresistible, brilliant smile, was revealed as having no teeth to call his own.  

 

That was the beginning of the season of the falling stars for me. 

 

Blessed be the season of the falling stars, because that's when you start doing things you've always wanted to do for which they convinced you you were not qualified because you couldn't be made into a star in those things -- too tall, too short, too slow, too lazy, too impatient, too old, too busy, too this and too that.  So, shortly after the last star fell, I learned how to ice skate, windsurf, play tennis and do yoga and taekwondo and then finally taiji which can suffice by itself or be applied to  anything else I want to do. 

 

There's no stars in taiji, it's not a competitive sport.  So it will never damage my teeth unless I get so carried away with its unlimited possibilities of application that I bite some iron man or other.  But I don't think I will. 

Edited August 15, 2016 by Taomeow

[joeblast]

I just want to see the pole vault, because it was so much fun to do back in the day.  Of course, it didnt help not having a coach and basically having to teach myself how to do it - I might notta had such trouble with the 14' pole, wouldnt have kept using that 13' until I broke it, and my shoulder would probably still enjoy golf as a result.  That break was one of those ones that brings on nausea, fast.  (and if it were another 3, 4 inches north, I wouldnt even be here typing, most likely...)

Edited August 17, 2016 by joeblast

[silent thunder]

I tried the pole vault once... ONCE.

that is a truly awesome feeling and also mostly a terrifying one to me...

[Taomeow]

I would try anything once except the pole vault.   

[joeblast]

oh, my list of things I've done once and said never again

 

they pretty much all involve spectacular evel knievel like crashes,

 

except for that time I mtn biked up this steep hiking trail with an old bike no shocks no helmet either, got to the point where even in the lowest gear it was still spinning out, so I turned around, and....

 

...after traveling 10 feet I knew there was no way in hell I was stopping for the next hundred yards or so... rocks...trees down along the path...

 

I somehow did all of it by the skin of my teeth, knowing the whole way down I was going to get royally f'd up hospitalized if I crashed 

 

(come to think of it, I've never seen anyone on  a mtn bike there, before, or since )

[Taomeow]

Damn...  I'm glad you made it doing that. 

 

I have my list of "once and never again" things too.  Riding my bicycle downstairs in an apartment building is one.  High diving into the sea at night, on a moonless, starless night --  the next day I came back to inspect the spot and discovered that the rocks sticking out from the bottom between which I managed to land were spaced exactly to let my body fit in but not a millimeter wider -- so the wrist watch I was wearing got sliced off my wrist, never to be seen again, but I didn't have a scratch...  yet just thinking of the stupidity of the thing I did and realizing what would have happened if I was an inch off to the side...  never again.  And so on...

 

But the worst injury I ever sustained was from playing hide-and-seek.  Don't ask...   

[joeblast]

I'd also like to catch the javelin, even if just to see if anyone's ever came up with my method of throwing a javelin.  but it has more to do with the carry than anything else - never seen anyone do it before, but I taught it to a freshman when I was a junior, and that kid broke our school's jav record using it.   

 

the key, I took from my pole vault method - I always used a vertical carry, to maximize my ability to run as fast as possible - so I used part of the carry-run to more effectively put the run into the throw.  it looked weird, tucked neatly under the arm in a way - but if you think of the opening of the body where the jav is brought back its furthest - start right from there - and twist the arm medially 180 degrees , with the tip going past the front of the shoulder....you might get an idea of what I had going on   it puts the run seamlessly into the throw - carrying it above the shoulder just means you cant use that arm for running! 

Edited August 17, 2016 by joeblast

[joeblast]

why am I not surprised

can find the winning vault,

and 1000 of the guy that took out the crossbar with his manparts (even though his shins hit the bar first, you dont usually get past that....but hey, I bounced the bar one time and had enough hang time to grab it and still it before it left the standards completely...not that it would count past high school, lol)

and then pretty much all the rest of the videos are of the female vaulters, and if you look hard enough, you might be able to find one here or there where they actually vault and arent just shots of them bending over

 

so just for the hell of it I went to look for the most spectacular breaks...the sound of a pole vault pole breaking is something I will never forget, and I cant find one out there I'd consider worse than mine.  Couple people take some glancing blows across the shoulder, but mostly everyone's holding their hands because it really buzzes the ever living shit out of your hands when it happens. 

 

mine, I was regularly bending the pole to its max - I remember it was something like 6.2 feet tip to tail before it'd break, but mine was at just a perfect angle so that when the break happened, it wasnt a glancing blow but a direct one, it was like getting hit with a baseball bat.

 

another thing that probably would have been avoided if I had a coach, I wasnt "riding" enough (watch the jumped-from leg trail a bit, that is to give the pole time to bend) and getting too quickly into launch position, something that gave me trouble on a longer pole.

Edited August 19, 2016 by joeblast

[Taomeow]

Sounds way scary, jb...  Do you happen to remember Sergey Bubka?  He came from my neck-of-woods and inspired quite a few local guys to expose their where-it-counts to the dangers of the crossbar.  He was not only an inspiration, but also probably a birth rate reduction factor for the generation.   

 

In high school, the crossbar was a problem for me even in high jump, some ancient instinct impossible to overcome kicked in and I just stopped in front of it, more than half the time.  I knew it would fall without hurting me if I don't clear it but my body refused to believe it.  Athletically it was not a problem at all (I was the long jump champion), but psychologically...  and no one taught us the technique of turning your back to that damn thing when you jump, I'm sure it would have worked for me.  Or maybe it would have made things worse.  Too late to find out.  Sports are off limits to a warrior.    (Sometimes to a ridiculous extent.  E.g. a guy came to my taiji class who refuses to warm up.  His rationale: "I practice for self-defense, and in a situation of self-defense I won't have an opportunity to warm up.  I have to know how to do it in an as-is condition."  Ridiculous, but I can see his logic...  in all its weirdness...    )

[joeblast]

Bubka's the man!  The odd video clip of him here or there was literally just about all I had to go on - just watching him or other vaulters, or analyzing the vault I just took in my head, because we had no video cameras handy back then.  I knew I had to ride more just from watching him, but it was just too easy getting that 13' pole almost instantly into full bend launch position (but I never knew back then why this wasnt a good thing.)

 

a lot of these guys look like they're not running very fast, but then again they're probably pretty tall, and talk folks dont always look like they're running fast when they're moving fast.  my runup was also odd, I started with casual steps, walk, trot, gallop, working my way to the point where I would produce a speed-curve towards max, and I'd only want to hit max speed in the last step or two, because any sooner would be wasted energy.  kept the pole vertical until way late in the run, which impacts accuracy to the box, but since I wasnt extremely fast, I needed all the run help I could get.  focused intently on that box, the whole runup -  you only worry about the crossbar once the body rotates (jumped from leg swings to meet the other) and you're looking upward.

 

always about efficiency, even when I wrestled - I'd sit in a veritable meditative state right up until it was time to walk on to the mat.  (even though I had no idea what meditation was at the time....I just knew that there was no point in jumping around and getting excited like other guys would do - what's the point of getting to the center of the mat and you're already huffing & puffing?  I dont get it.  lol!)

 

hehe....the crossbar in pole vault is much more forgiving than the crossbar in high jump!  it has an angle to rest against, whereas the high jump only has one surface to rest on - so pole vault you can get away with brushing the crossbar a bit, but high jump forget it, you touch it and its off.  I knew I was never cut out for it - I'm only 5'9 after all - but it was fun to do!  and even more fun once we found that trampoline and put the bar way high up over 6 feet and could really get the feel for the back arch.  I was able to clear 5'4 once in competition, which isnt quite so high, but my friend who cleared 5'11 noted that we both really just cleared 5 inches under our height, so we were about even there   oh boy though...my first runup to try and clear 5'6 was one I stopped just like that at the bar - felt like it was even with my eyes, utterly impossible for me, I think I took it down with my head or shoulders all 3 attempts   (but when you're at a little class S school, even such short heights can still get your team some points, so that was always a focus, pick up points anywhere we can....we were small even for class S)

 

 

sport, and warrior..... sport is what the warrior does for fun when there's no warring to do, the way I see it

 

 

about the breaks....fear only comes on the next vault after you've broken one     during a vault you're so in the moment   absorbed in execution that when it happens, you're already on the mats (and hopefully not lying in the steel box on the ground, been there too) before you could process that anything even happened!   thankfully only that one break injured me, the other 3 poles I broke I was totally fine, with the exception of severely buzzed hands.

Edited August 20, 2016 by joeblast

[Taomeow]

You won't be one of those people who report, late in life, regretting not the things they did but things they didn't do.

 

Me neither.   Unless you just got me to regret never having vaulted.

 

What I meant by "sports are off limits to a warrior" is competitive sports -- points and scores and records and beating the other guy/gal for the ego, for profit, or for any of the taoist no-no's (fame-fortune), all that jazz.  For fun, for sure.  But that's not sports if it's for fun.  It's just playing.  The way animals play with their bodies and environments and their mates.  They either play, or they fight.  No sports.  Something like that...    

Edited August 20, 2016 by Taomeow

[joeblast]

ah....for me, its always just about good ol fashioned competition   even if only with oneself.

 

 

hm....wow, a whole 1.2%?

 

[Taomeow]

Yeah, the competition is real, the reward...  1.2% real.  Figures.

 

In Russia, we had gold medals awarded to high school graduates with the perfect score, the highest possible in all subjects.  Usually about one student in forty or so would win it at the best schools, perhaps none elsewhere, don't know the exact statistics, only that you had to work your ass off to get it.  I am the proud first generation non-winner of that medal, everybody else in the family had it.  My parents' medals were about half the size of my husband's, but they did contain real gold, a fair amount of it.  The next generation medal, well...  we used it to prop the leg of a shaky sofa.  Not very respectful, but accurately reflecting the attitude of the winner.  

[Gerard]

But I still love to see the faces and the shining joy of the athletes...

 

Especially the synchronised swimming and rythmic gymnastic girls. So much heart in their faces.