by Calvin Robinson

Created on: August 19, 2008   Last Updated: October 26, 2008

The Olympics have always been one of my favorite events. As a child I used to listen to the majestic theme song as the prime time telecast came on. I recall seeing the best of the best compete in amateur athletics. It seems there was always a compelling story to tickle my imagination and push me to try harder to be my best in whatever I did myself. These were role models that shaped my being. I even welcomed the addition of professional athletes, because this meant there was no doubt that the competitors really were the best of the best. I only recall two bad tastes in my mouth as I feasted on this epic occasion that only came around every four years in my youth.

The first bad taste came in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City when several American sprinters laughed, joked and disrespected the American flag as they were presented their medals for sprinting victories. I was glad when their medals were stripped from them because my feeling was the best of the best included being the best sportsman also.

The second bad taste came in the 1972 Munich games when the horror of all horrors happened and terrorists captured and killed much of the Israeli team. I had found it very cool that every four years all nations could put aside their differences and become sportsmen that got along while showing their best side in attitude, performance, and etiquette. This traumatic event spoiled the Olympic spirit of those games and the only thing that pulled me through was the resolve to let the games go on even if on a somber note. Mark Spitz winning 7 gold medals while setting 7 world records was an unbelievable event but would be forever overshadowed by the terrorists horrible act. That act shaped my feelings about the lack of humanity in terrorists and the belief that we can only defeat terrorism by not being terrified.

The terrible events of 1972 calloused me to other events that paled in comparison and the steroid scandals went unnoticed by me to a large degree though it did disgust me. I enjoyed most Olympics tremendously after that and came to realize that my single most enjoyable event in the games is also the shortest event. That event only takes a little over nine seconds to complete from start to finish. This event is the 100 meter dash when the title of worlds fastest human is issued.

I found myself enjoying the Beijing Olympics of 2008 tremendously because of the heroics of the dolphin-esque Michael Phelps as he shattered Mark Spitz's 1972 feat by winning 8 gold medals,

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