Jayme Paris

Image : London2012

The London 2012 official paralympics site has some good biographies . I have used it so I can try and get to know some of these Olympians. They are Olympians. Their stories are moving, their courage bottomless and their achievements well worth paying attention to. Makes me think of those people who think life is hard and basically they just won't get off their behinds and help themselves. These athletes are a good example to us all. One who has really won my interest is Jayme Paris. I liked her the first time I saw her and could see just how courageous and then how well trained she was. When you read her blog Jayme Richardson-Paris  you can see she has had to fight so hard from the moment she was born. One of our young equestrians has a similar tough story where she lost both her parents. None of them bleat on or use any of their hardships and emotional battles as an excuse or sympathy getter. These people have drawn strength from their trauma and what a wake up call for the rest of us. I have just watched Jayme win her bronze medal and my heart was in my mouth. I think the commentator was getting very emotional too. It was so touching. Her body started to wobble and yet you watched this woman rise above the physical discomfort and get on the way really well and then she was wobbling again. She holds it all together. She is obviously a very special woman who knows how to tough it out through the sorts of difficulties she has to manage and then draw on her training to pull her back to the top. We cannot help but be inspired and moved by these  great performances. They have been the talk of the town for sure. We have been grateful our commentators have done such a good job of joining the dots for us and interviewing some of the athletes. It has been a presentation which has involved us in a real way. 

Losing isn't everything

Image : AdelaideNow/Getty Images

It's not as if the Opal's are useless, nor our men's basketball team. We give less to sport and have fewer people to train and so all sorts of factors come into play when we lose. Same with the swimming. Pretty silly to think silver isn't good enough when we had so many new faces. It was awesome our swimming team did so well, so brilliantly when most of them were up and coming . This is where Ian Thorpe comes in handy. Remember when he fell off the blocks? He just got up and swam as usual. You know, even brilliant people have their imperfections. Like Michael Diamond. He is an astounding shot. He has been constantly that shining diamond. For some reason it went wrong in the shoot that mattered. Could be anything. He'll probably know or if we examine the footage we'll probably see. I'd be worried if human beings, no matter how good they are, were perfect.  So, back to Ian Thorpe. When he lost his place in that race someone was asked to move over and let him in. We all discussed that. There was something not right about it. The coaches made a decision which wasn't quite right in our view. Same with our cricket team. We just assumed we would keep on winning and made some odd decisions which then meant we crashed and had to rebuild. I think it's better not to follow that path. Ian Thorpe's first lesson is the better one. So you have given it all you have, you know you are capable , then , like Sally Pearson and Anna Meares you just have to go over it, get it into perspective and then adopt a scientific approach. No one should feel bad when they have done everything they could to get it right but are in a contest against someone who has a lot more options. We need to use our heads, feel the loss in our hearts, because we were so near. It was so near and then like our men's relay we didn't get there in the end. We have some things to learn as a nation. The Opals are a great team. Our men's relay team ran so well. We need to be backing our athletes with our care and our brains.

Go, Sally!!

Image: AdelaideNow

What a wonderful effort. What a great story. This lady has applied herself, has never given up, assumes nothing and just went for Gold and got it. I watched her grow at each Olympics and this time it was her time to shine in the sun. Sheer hard training and a belief she had the capacity to win Gold. At no stage did she assume it. She looks beautiful on the field. She sounds beautiful off the field. These Olympics are allowing people to be at centre stage when often they have been overlooked, paid lip service to or just taken for granted. We have some great Olympians. We have some fantastic Olympians in the making. We need to get the perspective. Accolades to Anna Meares , too , because she too, has fought long and hard to get to the top and she has shown that no matter what the odds are, if you have it in you, you can do it. Her story is so touching and she has the Gold she has earned and deserves. These are the sorts of stories which make a nation. Fantastic effort, ladies.