An Olympian

Toni Rivero is now the only medal hopes for the Philippines. She will be competing this morning in the 57 kg weight class. This weight class is considered one of the most competitive Taekwondo divisions ever in Olympic history. She needs to win four matches to have a chance for a medal. Her opponent is from Serbia and she lost a close fight to her in Europe during an Olympic pre-qualifying match. If she wins she will possibly face the gold medal favorite from Korea if she makes it past her opponent from the UAE. I know this world tells us that winning is everything. I've heard over and over that Micheal Phelps is the greatest Olympian of all time. This may be true if you measure him by medal count but maybe the greatest Olympian was never crowned as a champion. Maybe the greatest was a runner than kept running after the race was all but decided. Or a marathoner that kept running even though nobody still lined the course. Maybe it was the German long jumper who helped Jesse Owens to win the gold medal in the long jump in 1936 while Adolph Hitler looked on. Maybe it's not how they did but what they overcame. I remember in 1996 watching I believe an English track runner by the name of Linford Christie who could not finish the 200m race because of a torn muscle but despite the efforts of officials to stop him wanted to finish anyway. I remember his father ran on the track and helped him to finish. I'm not saying that winning is not important it is always important to do your best and to try and be the best you can be. All you have to do is look at American Lolo Jones who led in the 100m hurdles until she tripped over one of the last hurdles and saw her medal hopes dashed. Her charm positive attitude and the character in which she handled herself was nothing but pure class and that makes her number one in my book. So Toni win or lose just makes us proud and show the world that you will give it all you have and no matter the result show us the character of a champion.