オリンピック！

The Olympics is freaking awesome, and it’s one of the greatest blessings humanity has ever created. Being able to watch incredible athletes from around the world come together, once every four years, to show off their talents, skills, and strength is so special, and extremely exciting. The dedication and determination each athlete puts into their respective sport is obviously inspirational, and many times emotional.

I’ve been a competitive swimmer since I was nine, therefore the Olympics especially excites me, as well as my fellow swimmers, since it’s one of the very few times our beloved sport gets any national attention. And as if the ancient Greek Gods and Goddesses of Olympia answered my excitement, this Olympics did not disappoint me; from Michael Phelps setting the bar higher as the most decorated Olympian, Simone Manuel becoming the first African American swimmer to win a gold medal in swimming, and Katnika Hosszu, also known as the Iron Lady, smashing records and winning three golds for Hungary, it was quite an extraordinary competition.

But as swimming may be my sport, one of my favorite moments came from the men’s individual all around gymnastics finals, between Japan’s Kohei Uchimura and Ukraine’s Oleg Verniaiev.

The 22-year old from Ukraine, Verniaiev was winning by 0.9 points going into their last performance, the high bar. Many thought that Verniaiev was going end Uchimura’s streak of never losing a major international competition since 2008, and even though, with all that pressure, Uchimura laid down this unbelievable routine:

Verniaiev went up after him, and though he showed us quite a performance, the judges thought otherwise and Uchimura ended up winning by 0.099 point. Some may say he won by chance; many may say that King Kohei will reign - but nonetheless, we can all thank these two for one of the most exhilarating moments at the Rio Olympics. However, if you weren’t already inspired by this, what makes this even more special is the prime example of excellent sportsmanship, which was seen at the press conference after the competition.

Uchimura was asked by a foreign journalist, that may not have agreed with his winning score, if he thought the judges may have viewed him more favorably. Uchimura answered straightforwardly how he doesn’t think that, and that he believes that the judges are unbiased and scores fairly towards all gymnasts. But before the press went on to the next question, Verniaiev cuts in and adds his share, and responds saying that the scores given by the judges are sacred and fair, and a question like that is unnecessary.

Verniaiev, who missed the gold by 0.1 points, to what some may have thought unfairly, still defended Uchimura and his victory. This has to be the most pure and perfect form of what the Olympics should be like, and how each Olympian should treat each other. After this comment, Verniaiev most definitely gained many new fans from Japan, as well as my and many’s respect for him and the sport of gymnastics. Good sportsmanship will always be valued, and I’m very sure that with his positive attitude, Verniaiev will continue to succeed in the future. He ended up winning gold in the individual parallel bars a few days later, so kudos to him!

Unfortunately, all things must come to an end, just as Rio must end as well. It’s been a rollercoaster of emotions (at least for me) during these games, and though it may be a long four years until the next Olympics, at least it will be at one of my favorite places ever: Tokyo!