Saw this article (click above to read) recently - gave me pause for thought on the notion of "sportsmanship", "winning" and "fierceness". Seems these two high school runners, who competed for different teams, were so far out in front that at the finish line of the race, they threw down paper/rocks/scissors to determine the winner.
Noble? Or flaunting and mocking the competition behind them?
I recall reading how Steve Prefonataine, an Olympic athlete and World record holder at several distnces over 3000m, had made a guest appearance at a local grade school. He ran with the kids in a mocked up school yard race; running along side the group of kids, Pre sprinted at the end to cross the line first, defeating the grade schoolers and crushing the spirit of one young boy who clearly idolized him.
When asked why he would do that to such a young fan, who would have remembered forever the moment where he "defeated" the great Steve Prefontaine, Pre dryly noted without any hesitation, that he didn't let "...anyone beat him, ever".
Look at yesterdays posting on "sports parents and rants", and compare that to Pre's attitude. I would like to think that I would have let the young grade schooler take the "victory" - but perhaps that killer instinct is what separates the amateur from the elite/Olympian. I know that when I race - be it a local 5km or at the World Championships representing Canada - I have to admit I go in with a "take no prisoners" approach. I want to win - not to the point where I would cheat, say, by cutting the course, or, god forbid, taking performance enhancing drugs. But, I train as hard as my aging body and mind allows, and lay it all on the line. I have always admired Pre - I try to attack off the front like he did in every race, but sometimes have to settle for a "sit and kick" race plan (a reflection of my age as much as much as my running style) - and have little time for people who quit in a race when it gets hard, or they aren't winning, or whatever.
As Pre used to say, "To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift".
Or as I like to say, "quitters suck".
If I was in first place at a race and had the chance to do something noble i.e., allow a young kid with cancer to take 1st (why that kid would be up front in a position to take 1st is a different story - but go with the hypothetical here, k?), would "letting" the kid take 1st - when the kid would know they did not win per se but were gifted the victory - be noble or condescending?
Does playing paper/rock/scissors seem any different?
Ask yourself, what would you do?
Johnny Boy
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