Three Olympians and the Olympic Spirit
Three Olympians named Kristin are inspiring to anyone who knows them. I am blessed to know two of them well and want to share their stories.
I will start with my long time friend and former coworker, Kristin Armstrong. There is so much to learn from Kristin. First, she was never an outstanding athlete growing up. She enjoyed sports, was never pressured by her parents, always had coaches who encouraged her and gave her a spot on the team and, most importantly, she had fun. Sport remained fun as a young adult and Kristin was always game to try things. She played water polo and would join in ultimate frisbee or anything else she was invited to try. Then she entered the Y Not Try Triathlon, finishing 8th in the women’s division. Again it was fun and she got encouragement from her friends. Before long she was winning all of the local events and was invited to join the US Olympic Development team in triathlon--a new Olympic sport. As she continued to rise in the triathlon world, she received the devastating news that she had a serious hip condition. Her choices were to quit running or continue and perhaps struggle to walk later on in life. She was heartbroken for about a day. Then she asked if just focusing on cycling would be okay. The doctor gave her the thumbs up and you know the rest of the story: Two Olympics appearances and coming away with the gold medal in 2008 plus two world championships. After giving birth to her son Lucas, she has decided to go for the London 2012 Olympics. Kristin recently won the Tour of California time trial and is back in championship form. She is committed to kids and serves as a wonderful role model for kids--especially girls. We can learn lots of lessons from Kristin Armstrong, especially parents and coaches who believe they have to push their kids at an early age and think that if kids are not the best at age 12, they will never make it. Kristin’s first competitive bike race was not until her early 20’s!
The next Kristin plays on one of the six Special Olympic basketball teams I am blessed to coach with a number of other great coaches. She is legally blind . . . not exactly a plus in the sport of basketball . . . but fortunately, in Special Olympics the attitude is always “why not” and “let’s make it work”. Kristin has some trouble tracking what is happening on the court so her teammates help her with verbal support and sometimes by taking her hand and leading her down the court. The most amazing thing happens when a few minutes go by without Kristin getting the ball (and this happens every few minutes since she cannot really get rebounds or receive a regular pass in game conditions): Someone will walk over and gently hand her the ball. Immediately, both teams form an alley and they shepherd Kristin down the court to her basket with words of encouragement all the way. She gets positioned a short distance from the basket and she often makes her first shot. But if she does not, it doesn’t matter which team you are on, if you get the rebound the ball is handed back to Kristin and this is repeated until she does make it. Everyone is smiling; cheering and high fives are all around. Then we go back to the game.
Finally the Kristin I have not met, but know of is a Special Olympian. She was a favorite in Nordic skiing in the World Winter Games, and Pirie Grossman, who with her husband Jim was so instrumental in bringing the games here, shared her story with me. Kristin got to the starting line with a big crowd there to cheer her on to victory. The gun went off and she almost immediately fell when a ski came off. The scene was repeated numerous times in the race. Instead of winning she finished second to last. Her fan club was heartbroken for her and went over to console her at the finish line of this tough race. When they got there they were surprised to see a big smile as she shouted out to them, “Did you see me get up?”. Wow, wouldn’t we all be better off if we focused on the getting up in life instead of the falling down?
My title in Special Olympics is Coach, but I often wonder who is the teacher and who is the student. I learn so much from these athletes. Thanks to three amazing Kristins who teach us about the true Olympic spirit.
