Relative Something

I have been watching as much of the Olympic competition as I can. Most often, that has been by way of recorded replays, due to the day-job. Today I get to see some live coverage, which is making it difficult to write here. I’ve got fencing, soccer, tennis, boxing, and basketball, all on while I’m trying to type. What fun! Just a bit distracting.

Last night, watching swimming and a couple of track events, I began to wonder about the competitors who get nary a mention. I bet they work just as hard to train, back in their home countries. I wonder what they feel, as the faster athletes leave them behind. Just getting to the Olympics is quite an accomplishment, and something to be proud of, but then to find themselves so far from being competitive…

I bet the slowest runners or swimmers of Olympic competition are amazingly fast, compared to the rest of the world. What do they think, when they get left far behind, in Olympic competition?

It’s probably a bad comparison, but I think of the musicians that I find performing at small venues, who are remarkably more accomplished than most people, but will remain virtually invisible to the world, while the greatest performers achieve a following that can be global.

During the Olympics, I will take in all the wonder of the greatest performers on earth, and enjoy the chance to witness the elite succeed on the world stage. As great as they are, I don’t believe their success in any way diminishes the accomplishments of the “also ran” competitors.