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Bill Long 8/11/08
Olympic Gold--From a Different Perspective
The victory of the American men in the 4 X 100 meter freestyle relay yesterday at the Beijing Olympics was such a powerful and stunning human accomplishment that I find myself unable to be "inspired" by it. Why? I am only inspired by things that goad me into action because they are seemingly within my reach. But the accomplishment of the American swimmers was so far beyond my conception (after all, they shaved nearly 4 seconds off the previous world record, from 3.12 and change to 3.08 and change, with their "fast pants") that I can only look at it in awe. It is reminiscent of the inner tensions felt by a 19th century painter when taking up the art of painting. He said,
"When I see a Hals (Frans Hals, a 17th century Dutch painter), I want to take up painting. But when I see a Rembrandt, I want to give it up!"
In other words, a "merely human" painter inspires, but a "divine" painter like Rembrant almost mocks our efforts, even as he produces the most amazing depictions of human life. That, I think, is how I felt at watching the American "quattro" of Michael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones, and Jason Lezak. An indication that this race was going to break the world record was the fact that neither France nor the US, the two favorites, lept out to the early lead: Australia did.
The Race, The Basics
Michael Phelps swam the first American leg, and set an American record of 47.51 for that leg. But rather than bowing to the crowd, he had to be content with touching the wall in second place because of the world-record setting time for an opening leg of 47.24 by Australia's Eamon Sullivan. The French were third, with Amaury Levaux's 47.91. But the Americans and French turned it on in the second leg, with Milwaukie's Weber-Gale turning in a 47.02 split, with Fabien Gilot trailing slightly at 47.05. Thus, the American team was "ahead" of the French by about .43 seconds going into the third leg.
But an amazing French third split of 46.63 by Fred Bosquet, more than a second faster than Cullen Jones' 47.65 for the USA, put the French in the lead by nearly 6/10 of a second. And, when you have the likes of Alain Bernard, who recently set the world record at the 100 freestyle at 47.50 seconds (from a dead start), swimming fourth, it looked like there was, indeed, no joy in Mudville.
Jason Lezak, the cool 32 year-old senior statetesman of the American swim team, turned in a mind-boggling split of 46.06 to make up the .59 deficit to France and beat the floundering Bernard by .08 of a second. Thus, the final leg by the French was in about 46.73. I guess that isn't exactly "floundering," but it wasn't enough to win against the determined Lezak. Here is what Lezak said in a post-race interview:
"When I flipped at the 50 and saw how far ahead he was, knowing he was the world-record holder, for a split-second a thought crossed my mind: 'There is no way,'" Lezak said. "But I said, 'You know what. This is ridiculous. This is the Olympics, and I'm here for the United States of America. I don't care how bad it hurts.' Honestly, in like five seconds I was thinking all these things. I just got like a super charge and took it from there. It was unreal."
Looking at the Race, From A Different Angle
The typical reviews of the race followed. Analysts interpreted the underwater shots just before Lezak and Bernard touched the wall; interviewers tried to get all four guys to say something on camera; Bob Costas gave several well-chosen words on the subject. But I think something that Chris Collinsworth said got me thinking about what NBC Sports, which is already in the "blogosphere doghouse" for its decision on when to air the tapes of the games, ought to do in the future. When Bob Costas asked him to interpret the race for the viewers, Chris said sheepishly, "I am a football player; I don't have the words."
The Need for a Wordsmith
Yet it was this admission that got me thinking. When you have an Olympic performance like last night, you simply need an interpreter who has language to match the achievement. If you don't, it is better simply to let the video and the interviews speak for themselves. My suggestion would be for NBC to hire a writer, a wordsmith, whose task it would be to sing the accomplishments of the athletes with words that are "up" to the task. But what is the language that is appropriate to this accomplishment? I think it consists of at least three things.
First, it is the language of the heart. The athletes are so strong and so equally matched, that it is their abililty to reach into nearly inaccessible spaces of the heart that gives them the energy to win. Any literary interpreter thus must also know, first hand, the language of the heart. S/he has to know the vocabulary, the places in literature where these words come out the best and be able to combine them to the spirit of the event. It is the language of competition, of self-conquest, of reaching into places where you don't even know you have power, and producing something of a stunning and enduring nature.
Second, it is mythic language. Whenever you have Olympians compete, in events that strain human capacities, you have to be able to draw on other language to express it. In this regard, the language of Greek mythology, of swimmers and travelers, of competitors human and divine, will help define the nature of the human victories in 2008. The athletes wear the laurel for victory; why not have them wear some of the "laurel-language" that emerges from Greek mythology?
Third, it is language of both individuality and of team. A relay, especially, brings both of these to the fore. Without four strong 'legs' of the relay, the team loses. But without the united force of athletes screaming for each other, coming unglued for the sake of each other, the team also can't win. Thus, the writer/wordsmith needs to know the language of individual accomplishment as well as the "chemistry" language of a team victory.
Conclusion
A stirring performance becomes more firmly embedded in our minds if we have those who can skillfully put words of celebration and interpretation to it. We didn't have that last night, but I hope we realize, through Chris Collinsworth's "aw shucks" comment, that this is a desideratum for the future.
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