dethroned kings

As I talked about top performers of the Olympics on previous posts, I personally really like to follow artistic gymnastics and track and field.

Somehow I got into the women's pole vault jump. Mainly because the Russian "queen" Yelena Isinbayeva is renown for her gold medals on Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, and she was going for the 3rd straight gold (I don't think any track and field athlete has accomplished it). She is the holder of the world record, the only women to jump more than 5 meters, so I was fascinated and got attracted to follow pole vault jump.

I was watching the women's pole vault jump final which was roughly at the same time as women's soccer semifinal Canada vs USA (which was an exciting game, and 3 of my housemates were streaming in their own rooms) but I was so into pole vault jump. As I watched I realized that it takes great concentration and skills to perform a decent jump, it is a tough sport! So I was all-out cheering for Yelena, but unfortunately she was only able to jump up to 4.7m, 0.05m (5cm) less than her two opponents so she had to conform with the bronze medal.

But when asked whether she was sad about the bronze, she actually said that she was very happy and she wasn't bitter or frustrated but content. She actually thought of retirement, but now she is aiming to participate in Rio 2016 and I look forward to see her compete.

Another great athlete I admired from watching him in Beijing 2008 is the Chinese Chen Yibing, gold medalist on ring apparatus, and double gold medalist in Men's Team in gymnastics.

His dominance in the last 5-6 years in the ring is so intense that he is nicknamed "the lord of the rings". He was favorite to get the gold medal, and actually performed a great routine, but he was surprised by the excellent performance of the Brazilian Zanetti, so Chen got the silver medal.

After the results were announced, he congratulated Zanetti, and smiling showed his thanks to the fans who came. In an interview, he said he was quite happy for his performance and that he did what he could.

These two great athletes have won championships and gold medals so they don't really lose that often. But in London 2012 when many were expecting them to get gold, they actually were dethroned and had to conform with a medal of less value. But the attitude they had in finding satisfaction on their performance, no sense of regrets, admitting defeat and congratulating their opponents is truly admirable. In my eyes Chen Yibing is still the "lord of the rings" and Yelena Isinbayeva is still the "queen of the pole vault".

We don't get to win everyday, and we ought to find satisfaction in doing our best.