Change, Courage, Hanging In There
THEN AND NOW
In honor of the winter Olympic games in Sochi we have a special guest blogger Tai Babilonia, who was a two time Olympian and World Pair Champion with her partner Randy Gardner. Tai has generously shared some of her feelings with us here at Gratitude and Trust. And boy are we grateful. Thank you Tai.
A couple of weeks ago, I attended an event to celebrate 2014 Olympic athletes and cheer them on as they marched in the Sochi Opening Ceremonies. Legendary Olympic Decathlon Champion, Rafer Johnson, was there, too. Because we live near each other, we shared a car ride home after the celebration. What an honor, and a perfect opportunity for me to pick his brain about his Olympic experiences. I was particularly interested in his thoughts about the large sums of money today’s athletes earn, and are expected to earn, while training at an elite level, and how that compares to athletes of our generation?
My lifelong skating partner, Randy Gardner, and I were first-time Olympians in 1976 in Innsbruck, and afterwards, we were invited to guest star in a Flip Wilson TV special. Randy and I were thrilled to participate, but we both knew the rules of the Olympic Committee; if we accepted money, we risked being banned from our sport. (At the time, “amateur” truly meant amateur.) Flip Wilson felt so bad about this that he gave us each a Siberian husky as a gift (the dogs were featured in one of the scenes with he and Richard Pryor).
Rafer loved my story, but topped it with an even better one. While training for the 1960 Olympics, his good friend, Kirk Douglas, offered him a role in the film “Spartacus”. He wanted Rafer to play the Ethiopian gladiator, Draba. Rafer got the part, but had to turn it down, because the Amateur Athletic Union said it would make him a professional, and he would not be eligible to compete in the Olympics. Rafer wasn’t happy, but rules were rules. He went on to with the Olympic Gold Medal that year.
In my day, it was only after an athlete’s Olympic career ended, that they were free to make as much money as they wanted to make, doing whatever they wanted to do. Boy, have times changed.
Fast forward 30 years….
I think it’s fantastic that skaters today are provided opportunities to make a living and an income, which helps remove financial hardships and burdens that many families face. But, has it gone too far and is it helping or hurting the sport itself?
Today, it’s a totally different game. Athletes are not only training at the top level of their sports, but now they are also money-making machines, promoting airlines, insurance, soda, petroleum, makeup, tissue, cars, etc. And most have entourages that equal that of Justin Beiber – with agents, managers, publicists, assistants – not even to mention, coaches, choreographers, costume designers, sports psychologists, trainers, etc. It’s big business not only for the athlete, but for everyone else that’s part of the pie.
I don’t know what the answers are to these questions, but I can tell you what I think. It seems to me that all of these external pressures to perform outside of your training create distractions and a lack of focus. This impacts the athlete’s performance when it counts the most. In figure skating, we are seeing fewer and fewer consistent performances that were once commonplace in skating; where the audience jumps to its feet before the program even ends and the audience is invested in their on-ice career over many years. This is missing today in many ways.
My hope for the 2014 Olympics is that we recognize the amazing careers of athletes who will move on from these Games, but that there will be many that we come to know, appreciate and love over many years to come. And, that the athletes continuing on will remember why they fell in love with their sports to begin with, and return their focus to what matters the most. I am most grateful that Randy and I were part of the skating generation where it was strictly was about enjoying what we did and understanding how lucky we were, and what a privilege it was, to compete in front of thousa
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