Text 19698, 159 rader
Skriven 2008-08-16 13:00:51 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
  Kommentar till text 19675 av Joe Bruchis (1:3828/12.0)
Ärende: Re: A passing of signific
=================================
Joe,
 
JB>JB> How is Belgium doing in the Olympics? I can't find them listed.
 
JB>RW> Who?
 
JB> I've got it figured out now. If a country hasn't won a medal, it's not
JB> listed. Oh my, Belgium sux!
 
I must make a general remark and not because a certain country is listed or
not.
 
A lot has to do with possibilities for youngsters to practice sports and
develop talent. Statistically we can suppose that talent is equally distributed
around the globe, it's just other factors which surround it which determine
whether or not a talent will be discovered and develop.
 
Practically Belgium, because someone else launched that subject, is a very
urbanised country with little open space, the most populated country per square
km (or close to anyway) in the world. That means if you want to build a sports
accomodation (track, swimming, hockey, gymnastics, etc...) the first issue is
to find enough open space to build it. The whole country has been subdivided in
zones for living, industry, agriculture, recreation ... for example you cannot
build a swimming pool in a zone which has been designated for industry
<period>.
 
Second, there are no school-sport programmes here. Sports are not part of the
curriculum at school where every available moment is invested in scholastic
learning. Everything which is intent at "not learning" happens outside school
... it explains the high academic achievements of youngsters here.
 
School sports are a major scouting-ground for talent overthere, that level is
lacking here for a number of practical reasons.
 
There's also a reason in climate. There only are that many number of good days
available here for outside events. Last summer in Belgium we had 2 (=two) sunny
days plus a lot of rain. This year there's more sun, but still heavy rains.
Being able to practice outside, to have safe running-tracks instead of just
running alongside dangerous roads, to practice in the open and do it in the sun
... it helps the mind.
 
There also are the numbers to choose from. Compared to the US the population,
here the scouting ground for talent is that small.
 
And be not that overjoyous for medals won by a specific country. Subtract the 7
golds for Phelps and look at the overal medal count, it changes dramatically.
 
There's also a mental switch. In a country like the US people think in numbers
... that many gold, that many silver, that many bronze ... if Phelps will not
win them then Lochte or another guy will.
 
But what is the individual value of those medals? In Belgium a single medal,
any medal, will be the talk for years ... even if it's bronze.
 
Mongolia just won a gold in judo, their first gold ever. That makes him a
national hero there and a role-model for years. Phelps? He will have a photo
taken with 8 medals around his neck, just as Spitz with 7 in 1972, and sell it
for a million dollars, just as Spitz in 1972. But is he going to be a role
model for a generation of youngsters? Nope, he will just be a statistic which
will be rcalled in next Olympic games and then not be mentioned anymore because
something more exiting happens.
 
Success in sports is very relative and volatile, Joe.
 
My daughter is a national champion in gymnastics. If I see all the training
that goes into it while trying to combine it with keeping her grades at school.
Plus the expense. Plus the time. Plus the family time lost...
 
A young Belgian girl made the individual all-round finals in gymnastics (she
finished 24th and last). I drove out in the country yesterday morning at 3am to
be with her mom and dad in front of the  large screen with hundreds of others.
He told me "Ward, she's practicing for 32 hours a week, but she follows a full
school programme and needs to keep-up with her grades because once she's
finished with gymnastics, her achievements mean nothing"...
 
Joe ... 32 hours each week. That is close to a full-time employment ... and
then comes school.
 
One can say .... "Duhhh ... she finished last". What we say is "What an
achievement. Being the 24th best in the world ..."   Getting to the Olympics is
not an easy feat. There are international standards to be met to assure quality
of performance and many national federations go beyond that. It is the case for
Belgium, I know because I'm involved in selections, it certainly is the case in
the US where "Being good is not enough". In gymnastics the standards there are
higher than other countries ... it pays off. A friend of mine's daughter made
the IOC minima in maxi-trampoline ... USA Gymnastics determined participants
have to be 17, not 16. An excellent rule ... so she couldn't go as she was 16.
She finished first in the trials ... "no go".
 
The successes of a mr.Phelps are generally not the successes of a specific
country where he just happens to live, but those of a single family which
invested a lot of its own resources and the people which surround that family.
 
Nastia Liukin probably would have made it as well had the family not moved to
the US. So what is the value of nationality and how much do the successes of a
country actually are the results of efforts by that country and not of the
coincidence of a number of unplanned factors coming together by chance?
 
China at the moment is the lone exception but that will also fade when
eventually the communist rule will collapse and a democratic government will
need to justify its expenses to the electorate. See what happened to the
hegemony in eastern-European communist countries when the wall, and the
regimes, collapsed.
 
There's so much to be said about this, that a Fido-conference is not even an
appropriate medium because too many participants can only stoop to meaningless
one-liners.
 
That one national title and that one university championship of my daughter
have cost us a small fortune, I dare not even calculate. In September she's
competing in a worlcup meeting in Portugal, that again is an investment ...
plus she needs to get permission from school. The next worldcup meeting is in
Russia, we can't afford it. Then there's one in China ... can't afford it.
 
I'm just guessing $5-6,000 alone for the cartransportation on an annual basis.
On a whole gymnastics carreer of let's say 15 years you can do the math ...
just for the gas. We're fortunate to be able to pay that, many can't. We know
of a particular family which drives 34,000km a year just for practice. We know
of a couple who technically separated and mom rented an appartment closer to
the swimming venue to live with her daughter there because practice is at 6am.
We know of parents of an Olympic hopeful who said "We hope our son does not get
his selection because we cannot afford it". Someone needs to pay for talent to
come into bloom, it's not something that happens overnight, not at the expense
of the country and George Bush certainly will not be watching at 5am when
Phelps pulls his training laps.
 
So if/when you don't live within a stone's throw of a particular venue for
training then you will "suck" as you described. But what is the meaning of
"sucking" when you made it to the Olympics? When you're that successful as the
US you may forget, but please have a look at the path you need to complete in
order to be even allowed in during the opening ceremony ... that in itself is a
feat.
 
I dare not think how many talents are wasted here because they are not being
given the same opportunities as elsewhere.
 
So, Joe, instead of saying "<country> sucks" because of the medal standings, it
is so much better to reflect upon your own country, the opportunities that are
afforded to youngsters overthere, the ability to develop their talents and say
"How lucky we are..."
 
And don't take this personal ...
 
This coming Friday our Northwest (in the US) phototour of highschool
sportsteams starts, so I know about the opportunities that youngsters have
there. And, yes, I am envious ... but envious in a sportslike manner for
opportunities overthere afforded to these kids. If only they knew how lucky
they are.
 
BTW, my daughter has been offered a scholarship to study at the university of
Kentucky to combine her college education with sports. I'm praying she'll take
it ... for more than one reason.
 
Enjoy the day,
 
 \%/@rd

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