Skating on Thin Ice

If the Winter Olympics in Beijing have anything to teach us, it's that nothing is as it seems and that gold is as ephemeral as dreams. Watching Kamila Valieva float, leap and gyrate across the ice has been an other-worldly experience — but now her achievement hangs in the balance because of a doping scandal.

Meanwhile, U.S. figure skater Vincent Zhou has had to drop out of the men's short program because he tested positive for Covid. His heartbreak is captured in the following statement: "The enormity of the situation, the — just the pain of it all, is pretty insane."

Then there are those athletes who sustained injuries while competing — for example, 24-year-old American alpine skier Nina O'Brien who has a badly broken left leg and South Korean short track speed skater, Park Jang-hyuk, who injured his left hand as a result of a collision.

Of course, there are countless mesmerizing success stories, but it is the sagas of disappointment and intrigue that give us pause to ponder. What is it like to devote one's whole life to competing in the Olympics only to be disqualified on account of one's clothing — as in the case of the 5 women barred from the mixed team ski jumping event on account of their baggy clothing? How does one save face after a humiliating series of falls?

The Winter Olympics 2022 capture the fragility, uncertainty and incomprehensibility of the world in which we are living. They invite us to strive for excellence but not to define ourselves by what we accomplish — or fail to do! We, like the athletes, are on thin ice, with no guarantees of taking home the gold. What we do know, however, is that the effort is more important than the outcome, that letting go is safer than grasping on to disappointment, and that playing fair creates a winning team.