The 2016 Summer Olympics Games torch has been extinguished and has left a lasting impression on viewers around the world. Over the course of the two and a half weeks of events, the greatest athletes on the planet ran, swam, biked, kicked, jumped, spiked, golfed and more into Olympic lore. For a few fleeting moments, the world came together to celebrate accomplishment regardless of the athlete’s background or national representation.
Here’s a look at some of the lessons learned from the Rio games that will stick around long after the torch smolders go cold:
Winning isn’t everything.
In a story that went viral almost immediately, New Zealand’s Nikki Hamblin and USA’s Abbey D’Agostino tripped over each other, then stuck around to cheer each other across the finish line, in the women’s 5000-meter semifinal run. Both could have quit at any time and possibly even avoiding further injury but it wasn’t about winning – it was about finishing, together. Their story isn’t singular, either. Every Olympics games it seems a similar story emerges. There is a bond Olympians share that is grounded in hard work, determination and mutual respect. Winning a gold medal may be the ultimate goal but a moment like that one shows that being a good person matters more.
Athletes are human.
It’s easy to put Olympians on a pedestal. They are, after all, the most elite physical human forms on the planet. Underneath all that medal bling, though, they are human – flesh and blood. The world’s favorite swimming golden boy Michael Phelps showed an emotional side in this year’s games as he said good bye to the world stage. Phelps was a different person this time around, his fiancé and newborn baby watching from the stands, at times showing the toll it takes on an athlete to balance career and home life responsibilities.
Humankind is awesome.
In the words of the late poet Maya Angelou, “We are more alike than unalike.” Her voice speaking those words and the rest of the poem “Human Family” accompanied an Apple commercial spotlighting diversity. The Olympics certainly don’t make everything alright in the world and like a strong sports strategy, every athlete must win how he or she knows best. What the Olympics do well, however, is show that with all of their differences, humans are driven by the same things — pride in country, the desire to be better, the need to dream and achieve, and so much more. In tumultuous times, there’s universal reassurance in knowing that people are people with an undercurrent of sameness that unites.
Long after the crowds leave Rio, the lessons of the summer 2016 Olympic Games will remain to remind us of the best in human potential. No matter what the world looks like in another four years, the summer Olympics will once again usher in the greatest collective memory opportunities on Earth.
What were the highlights of the Rio Olympics for you?
