The Olympics and Anniversaries
Going for the Gold
Hi, my name is Heather, and I am addicted to watching the Olympics. And after more than two weeks with a steady hit, I am in withdrawal.
I was hooked back in 1984. It was the first Olympic Games I was aware of, since the United States had boycotted the 1980 games. The Olympics were in Los Angeles, and ABC broadcast competition live from morning to night. My memories are of being glued to the television at my grandmother’s house, watching with my sister, marveling at Mary Lou Retton and the men’s gymnastics team and Carl Lewis and Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Edwin Moses and Greg Louganis and Cheryl Miller. We watched volleyball and boxing and synchronized swimming. We cheered for every U.S. medal and teared up during the medal ceremonies when our national anthem was played. We later set up picnic table benches in my grandmother’s back yard to use as hurdles, and we practiced sprinting and hurdling in laps around the yard. (Thankfully there is no video of this. We were terrible.)
Watching the Olympics is more fraught now, especially this year. Doping scandals abound, and even national programs that are banned still managed to send a delegation of athletes that scooped up 71 medals. Female athletes, from gymnasts to runners to divers to cyclists, have started to come forward about their disordered eating and emotional health, often exacerbated by abusive coaches. Many athletes have felt more like commodities, pushed to please their corporate sponsors who care more about selling shoes than supporting the human beings who wear them (or make them). On top of all that, add COVID-19 to the mix this year, with concerns about whether an event like the Olympic Games should be held at all.
And yet … I still manage to put all that aside and devour every second of Olympic competition possible. I am amazed at what human minds and bodies are capable of. For drama, suspense, action-adventure, romance, or comedy, the Olympics can’t be beat: Tom Daley sobbing on the medal podium when the national anthem is played; Sifan Hassan falling on the track during a heat and then sprinting past everyone to finish first; the top two male high jumpers deciding to share the gold medal; watching dressage (dancing horses will never not be funny to me).
There is a personal reason why watching the Olympics was both harder and easier this year. It was easier logistically because I am generally sitting in a chair all day. But it was harder because it happened during the one-year anniversary of tearing my hamstring. After months in 2020 of online gym workouts—logging into class on Zoom from my garage, using a mop handle to practice barbell movements, and countless burpees—we were finally cleared for group classes outdoors. But during my second class, I did a lunge and felt something pop and then felt pain.
The physiotherapist confirmed that it was a hamstring tear—not a rupture, thankfully, but it would still take several weeks to recover. I was given some therapy exercises to do to strengthen surrounding muscles.
I was very motivated to recover and wanted to be ready to go when the gyms fully reopened. I wanted to be able to grab a barbell again. I faithfully did my rehab exercises … and the pain got worse. For the next four months, I was in and out of physical therapy, trying to figure out why the pain was spreading, from my hamstring to my hip to my lower back to my upper back. My physiotherapist is very good—a former professional athlete, he himself has had to rehab from several serious injuries. Finally in January, he told me he was stumped. It didn’t make sense why I wasn’t getting better.
So to be honest, the joy of watching Olympic athletes excel at incredible feats of speed and strength and coordination and artistry has been tempered with sadness at the memory of what my own body could do a year ago. I miss the physical activity, but also the best of what sport can be: camaraderie with a team, motivation from a coach, and the satisfaction of setting goals and pushing to achieve them. I miss the heart-pounding sense that you have been as fast and strong as you can be. I miss the competition, even if it’s only against your own personal best. Sport is not perfect, but I loved it and I’m sad that it’s no longer part of my life.
Golden Anniversaries
Two special couples are celebrating their golden wedding anniversaries this weekend. A hearty congratulations to our friends Tom and Maggie on their 50 years of marriage! They are well-known for many great accomplishments and talents, but I want to specially celebrate their talent for presence in friendship. At different times when we have faced challenging circumstances, they have provided the essential gifts of showing up, listening without judgment, and sharing a meal; I could go on and on about their kindness to my children and their generosity of spirit and their enthusiasm for a rollicking dinner conversation. Their decades together have blessed many people, not least their own children and grandchildren; the church, academy, and communities; and countless other friends spread across the globe. Happy anniversary!
And these two love-birds—my beloved parents—are also celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. A shy seminary student asked a young woman in his Sunday school class if she would accompany him on a preaching assignment to play the piano. She agreed, and then laughed at all his jokes on the drive home. It was love. Fifty years later, she still will accompany him on preaching assignments to play the piano, and she still laughs at [most of] his jokes.
They faithfully served six churches over 40 years of pastoral ministry, and after retirement they continue to be active in the music and Sunday school ministries of their church. Daddy has also faithfully loved the Chicago Cubs, gardening, and going to Ace Hardware; Mom loves cooking, quilting, and driving through the mountains to get fresh fruit or to see the flowers or leaves. And they always made sure my sister and I felt loved and supported, from when we were little and Daddy would fall asleep reading us bedtime stories, to when Mom stood up for me against a screaming high school coach, to all the times they moved us in and out of dorm rooms and apartments, to feeding our husbands their favorite meals, to loving our children.
They’ve never won Olympic medals, but they’ve still won the gold in a long life together filled with all the greatest loves: love of God, love for each other, love of their family and church and ministry. Happy anniversary, Mom and Dad! I love you.
Treatment Update
On Wednesday I had an appointment with a spine physiotherapist. The good news: I was finally evaluated by a physiotherapist since my diagnosis! The bad news: This was from a referral from my GP back in January when I just had back pain, before the diagnosis!
More good news: Almost all the strength measurements are good—at least in isolation. But it also points to what we already knew, which is that my challenges are related to the spinal cord, not the muscles and joints themselves. She also said I really need to work with an oncology physio specialist, and she is looking for someone to refer me to.
Until then, she suggested to just keep trying to walk on my crutches a little bit more each day. A few days ago I took three or four unaided steps in front of Dave, and he joked that the Olympics teams are going to come recruit me. Unless one of the new events in Paris 2024 is Slow Crutch Hobbling, I think I’m going to be out of contention. I wouldn’t even be able to manage Picnic Bench Hurdling. So maybe no gold medals and glory ahead, but hopefully I can manage a few more steps each day, a few more minutes of being able to stand, and gain a little more strength in my back.
Some Itemized Lists For Today
Requests for Prayer
- Able to find an oncology physiotherapist specialist soon who can help in some specific areas.
- My next blood work is on Tuesday. Pray that it will be good enough to continue treatment.
- I have an oncology appointment on Monday, and there are several questions and issues that I’m hoping to get answers for.
Favorite Olympics Moments from Tokyo 2020
10. The Opening Ceremonies flagbearers for Tonga and Vanuatu.
9. Kipchoge was almost a sure-fire guarantee to win the men’s marathon, and he did so in majestic fashion over a full minute ahead of the next finishers. My favorite moment was Dutch runner Abdi Nageeye, in silver medal position, repeatedly turning to urge his training partner, Abdi Bashir from Belgium, to catch up to him. Bashir was able to use that encouragement to find another gear in the last few meters and finish with the bronze medal.
8. Anna Kiesenhofer, who wasn’t considered a medal contender, made an early break in the women’s cycling road race, a move that usually never leads to victory. But somehow the trailing pack lost track of her and she pulled further and further ahead—she was so far ahead that the silver medalist, the favored Dutch rider, thought she was the winner and had to be told that Anna had actually finished first.
7. Ask me anything about Modern Pentathlon—I am now an armchair expert. Why is it called “modern”? How is it one of the weirdest events in the Olympics? Who won the gold medals? (Team GB! In both women’s and men’s competitions!)
6. The Fiji men’s Rugby 7’s win the gold medal, pray and weep on the pitch, and then break into song on the medal podium.
5. Tom Daley wins gold medals AND knits sweaters.
4. Sifan Hassan, a favorite in the 1,500 meter race, was tripped up and fell during a heat. She got up, looked at the pack of runners pulling away, began sprinting and finished first in that race.
3. Emily Campbell, a weightlifter for Great Britain, was guaranteed a bronze medal, but if she could lift a personal best in the clean and jerk she could win a silver medal by 1 kg. She went for it. She got it. She shrieked for joy.
2. Mutaz Barshim and Gianmarco Tamberi, tied after two hours of high jump competition, agreed to share the gold medal.
1. Simone Biles, with the “twisties,” had the awareness and agency to remove herself from competition, kept cheering for her teammates (and others), worked hard in a safe gym to see what she would be able to do, and came back to safely complete a balance beam routine and win a bronze medal.
Beautiful and inspiring tributes to those celebrating their wedding anniversaries!! I loved the Olympics too this year and I'm about to watch some of the back stories about the run up on I-player. Praying with you for your prayer requests, I hope the appointment today went well. Love, Becky xx
Praying for all your requests- to find the right therapist, for labs allowing your treatment to continue and for you to continue growing stronger. Love the picture of Uncle Clyde, Aunt Lillian, Sarah and you! Wishing many more happy years for your Mom and Dad and I look forward to seeing you all together again one of these days on a visit! Love and hugs from Boone, NC!