This may sound weird to some of you, but a Norweigan cross-country skiier made me cry today and reaffirmed my faith in mankind with some help from a group of the classiest mother fuckers that ever lived.
Let me elaborate....
Today i witnessed the 15Km Cross-Country Skiing event in the Olympics. Literally 1 meter into the race defending olympic gold medalist Frode Estil fell and a pile up occured, breaking one of his skis. Estil found himself with a broken ski, in last place...45 seconds behind the pack. This is where it starting reaffirming my faith in mankind. Some of the athletes involved in the pile up chose to stop right there, even with good skiis....but not Estil. With a new ski thanks to his coach, he started skiing in what compares to a sprint in running to catch up. Within a few minutes he had passed 70+ other skiiers to be back in the leaders pack. That's fucking dedication and a never say die attitude right there. In Olympic events even the most minor of mistakes can ruin a whole life's work in these tight groups of athletes. But essentially this guy gave the rest of the people a 45 second headstart and still did what he did. This is only half the story though. Little did Estil know but another inspiring feat was occuring at the head of the pack. Many of the athletes had seen the crash in the beginning since Estil started in the front of the pack. Well...a few of his teamates and even a few athletes from competing nations did something that I won't forget. 4 little known athletes that had a slim to no chance of medaling in the event sprinted to the head of the pack and took all 4 of the lanes. These 4 guys seemingly deliberatly slowed the pace down a lot to let Estil catch up to the pack. Other athletes could have passed them, but it seemed as though the whole group was on the same page. Once Estil made it back up to the pack, these 4 men backed off and let the leaders set their own pace for the rest of the race. Wow....i mean...that's just the best damn thing i've seen in so long. People will spend their entire lives training for a chance to race in the olympics and to have your race end before it starts is something that would be devastating to someone. The combination of Estil's unwavoring determination and the sportsmanship and respect shown by every other skiier out there showed me that people can still show goodness in this world, that people can make it through all the shit that's been swirling around lately. As i was watching the end of this race i was starting to get overwhelmed about all that i had just seen. I watched as a man who had fallen and been in last place at the beginning of this race slide into the finish line for the Silver Medal. I started to well up with tears of joy for this guy. I was so happy for him...and for mankind that i cried. it was an enlightening experience to say the least....one which i won't soon forget. Until next time....
Let me elaborate....
Today i witnessed the 15Km Cross-Country Skiing event in the Olympics. Literally 1 meter into the race defending olympic gold medalist Frode Estil fell and a pile up occured, breaking one of his skis. Estil found himself with a broken ski, in last place...45 seconds behind the pack. This is where it starting reaffirming my faith in mankind. Some of the athletes involved in the pile up chose to stop right there, even with good skiis....but not Estil. With a new ski thanks to his coach, he started skiing in what compares to a sprint in running to catch up. Within a few minutes he had passed 70+ other skiiers to be back in the leaders pack. That's fucking dedication and a never say die attitude right there. In Olympic events even the most minor of mistakes can ruin a whole life's work in these tight groups of athletes. But essentially this guy gave the rest of the people a 45 second headstart and still did what he did. This is only half the story though. Little did Estil know but another inspiring feat was occuring at the head of the pack. Many of the athletes had seen the crash in the beginning since Estil started in the front of the pack. Well...a few of his teamates and even a few athletes from competing nations did something that I won't forget. 4 little known athletes that had a slim to no chance of medaling in the event sprinted to the head of the pack and took all 4 of the lanes. These 4 guys seemingly deliberatly slowed the pace down a lot to let Estil catch up to the pack. Other athletes could have passed them, but it seemed as though the whole group was on the same page. Once Estil made it back up to the pack, these 4 men backed off and let the leaders set their own pace for the rest of the race. Wow....i mean...that's just the best damn thing i've seen in so long. People will spend their entire lives training for a chance to race in the olympics and to have your race end before it starts is something that would be devastating to someone. The combination of Estil's unwavoring determination and the sportsmanship and respect shown by every other skiier out there showed me that people can still show goodness in this world, that people can make it through all the shit that's been swirling around lately. As i was watching the end of this race i was starting to get overwhelmed about all that i had just seen. I watched as a man who had fallen and been in last place at the beginning of this race slide into the finish line for the Silver Medal. I started to well up with tears of joy for this guy. I was so happy for him...and for mankind that i cried. it was an enlightening experience to say the least....one which i won't soon forget. Until next time....
bigfloppy:
thanks man but im over next to 5 courners on pinney street, so you probly wort see him. hes eating the food we leave out for him but just not comming back in the apt. we can see all his tracks in the snow but even when we leave the back doors open for him to get in, he just doesnt.