Sports Betting Articles
The Importance Of Medals In The Olympic Games
By: Marlie Parsons
The ultimate symbols of excellence in sports are the gold, silver and bronze medals won in the Olympic Games by the world's best athletes. These are the men and women who, over the ages, have striven to be stronger, run faster and jump higher, in pursuit of the Olympic ideal, "citius, altius, fortius" (faster, higher, stronger).
Every country has its heroes, and many of those who are held up as the best examples of both physical and mental achievement are people who have demonstrated their excellence in Olympic competitions.
Because sports heroes are held in such high esteem, when one of these athletic figures is found to have broken the rules, it is viewed in the public eye as more of a scandal than if the transgressor had been a lesser mortal. The Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson comes to mind as an example. Mr. Johnson won an Olympic gold medal and two bronze ones and in the process received the accolade as being the fastest human being in the world. Later, when it was revealed he had been using illegal performance enhancing drugs, his medals were rescinded and his fate was relegated to shame. When someone reaches the ultimate height, it becomes a very high place from which to fall down to the ground.
On a brighter note, it must be realized that most Olympic heroes enjoy a happier fate. For example, it was in Rome in 1960 that a boxer named Cassius Marcellus Clay won an Olympic gold medal in the light heavyweight division. Later, after he changed his name to Muhammad Ali, he was lauded by Ring magazine as the greatest heavyweight of all time, having won the world boxing championship three times.
Another example of excellence is Michael Jordan, who was on two US basketball teams that won gold medals in the 1984 and 1992 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles and Barcelona. Jordan was named by ESPN as the greatest North American athlete of the 20th century.
Ask any Canadian over the age of 50 to name their country's best athletes and they will surely include Nancy Greene, who represented Canada in the 1960, 1964 and 1968 Winter Olympics, winning the gold medal in giant slalom and silver medal in the slalom event in Grenoble in 1968. Nancy Greene was named Canada's Female Athlete of the Century.
After the flags have been folded and the flame extinguished following the closing ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Summer Games in Beijing, those athletes who won gold medals will have joined the ranks of the fastest, highest and strongest sporting accomplishments in the world.
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