Photo credit: Gregory Shamus from the Olympics official website
Our theme for the month of March is “I was wrong about.”
I have always loved the Olympics. I love the attention that is put on smaller sports and smaller countries. I remember watching Fiji win their first ever medal when Rugby sevens was introduced at the 2016 Rio Olympics. My favorite part of the Paris Olympics was the sudden-death Judo match between France and Japan for the gold in Team Judo. They literally spun a wheel to determine the weight class and it landed on men’s heavyweight, which the individual gold had already been won by France’s 6’8” Teddy Riner. The deciding match took over six minutes. Teddy was victorious again for his fifth career Olympic gold. It felt like a movie.
Growing up in snowy Michigan, I’ve always enjoyed the Winter Olympics just as much. Small upper peninsula towns always seem to have a few olympians to cheer for, and I think the ski and snowboard events are some of the most exciting to watch. That being said, the closer we got to the Milano Cortina opening ceremony, the more uneasy about the Olympics I felt.
I have not been feeling very patriotic recently. Two weeks of flag waving and national anthem singing didn’t sound very enjoyable. Leading up to the Olympics, I realized a part of me wanted the US to fail. I wanted global athletic humiliation to match our political humiliation. I wanted athletes to scorn the flag, refuse medals, and protest. I was looking forward to cheering against our country.
Instead, we got beautiful displays of camaraderie, perseverance, and everything that makes the Olympics great.
One of the first events I watched was Francesca Lollobrigida winning the first gold medal for the host nation Italy in the women’s 3000 meter speedskating in an upset over the Netherlands who have won every gold since 2010. She celebrated with her two-year-old son after setting an Olympic record. Italy went on to have their most successful winter Olympics ever.
My favorite thing about watching Alysa Liu compete was not her winning the US’s first gold medal in women’s singles since 2002, it was her celebrating with Ami Nakai of Japan who won bronze at her first Olympics. Alysa competed with so much joy it was hard to believe she retired from competitions four years ago from burnout. The friendships between the American figure skaters, dubbed the ‘blade angels’, and the support shown between countries was wonderful to see in a sport that often has tense rivalries.
By the end of the two weeks I was engrossed in the men’s and women’s hockey teams quest for two gold medals. The women’s team won five straight games without allowing a goal on the way to their gold medal. The men somehow defeated the Canadian super team for their first gold medal since the ‘Miracle on Ice’ events in 1980, but sadly they did everything in their power to ruin the good feelings after their win.
The Olympics reminded me of one of my favorite things I noticed from the protests in Minneapolis. The far right doesn’t have a monopoly on representing our country or our flag, and there is nothing more patriotic than recognizing your country’s faults and wanting better. Hopefully we will be better for 2028 Los Angeles.
Nathan Hilbrands (’21) graduated with degrees in geography and environmental health and conservation. He is currently working for the Allegan Conservation District as a watershed technician. He enjoys collecting National Geographic issues that he rarely looks at again, playing disc golf a lot without improving, and trying new board games.
