Only Human

The Beijing Olympics saw one of its more stunning moments on Monday, but not in the same vein as Phelps' eighth gold medals. When Liu Xiang - China's hurdle champion - failed to even make the first hurdle in his qualifying race, he left a nation, and myself, stunned.

When Liu pulled up limping in his second warm-up run, a murmur began to spread through our office, where everyone was clustered around the TV. The glances said it all. Was China's favourite sportsman, along with basketball player Yao Ming, injured, no way. However, after the starting gun went, and went again to signal a false start, and Liu pulled up limping again we all knew it was over.

He stripped of his number, and without saying or doing anything, walked straight past his starting block and out of the stadium. Outside no sound, and inside ushers stumbled to get out of the way, confused and perhaps just beginning to realise what had happened. And then to get a massive 48.6% of people saying in our poll that they think the track and field will be harmed by his pulling out, it is only one race. As a sportsman I have some idea of what it must have been like for Liu, and the word 'devastating' is the first one that comes to my mind. With a large proportion of Liu's fellow countrymen cheering him on, I half expected him to try run the race anyway, only to make his injury worse, or fall at the first hurdle. There is nothing anyone could have done, not because he is anything less than a great hurdler but, because he is only human.

Humans get injured, they make mistakes and they lose. Why then is it so stunning, so devastating for those of us watching? Yes it is sad, but this is sport.

Chinese shooter Du Li did not fail on the first day of the Olympics, nor did Yang Wei in 2004 when he didn't win the Men's Gymnastics all-round gold, they simply lost. And yes there is a significant difference. In sport you win some, you lose some, that's just the way it goes. To expect anything more is unfair.

Phelps' eight golds were due in part to his teammates, especially Jason Lezak who swam the race of his life on the last leg of the 200m freestyle relay to snatch the USA a come-from-behind victory. Something Phelps had no control over, even Lezak later admitted that he nearly gave up.

I fear that if too much pressure and expectations are piled on athletes, when things go wrong, as they often will, it could be too much to handle. You only have to look at Du crying to understand that.

Please don't think I am only referring to China as this is an international issue. During the women's, or should we say girls, gymnastics team final both a US and Chinese gymnast fell while doing their horizontal bar routines. When the US gymnast, Alicia Sacramone then fell again during her floor routine she understanably burst into tears. Was she crying because she had made a mistake in what may well be her one chance to get gold, or because a nation would blame her for losing the medal, even if only in their heads.

However, as she left the floor there was no coach waiting to help her down and give her the customary hug, and when she crumpled in a crying ball on the stairs no one patted on the back and told her yeah it was terrible, but it happens.

Sport is sport, and as a friend of mine likes to tell me, chance reigns supreme. There is a line I like from a movie, one day your ball hits the net and falls back onto your side, the next day it hits the net and lands on his, it is all chance.

Yes chance can be minimised through intense training, but it is still there, we are still human. One day your routine will be perfect, the next you will get distracted and fall. One day the sun shines and you win, the next it rains and you slip. One day you run the race of your life and easily win, the next you run the race of your life but your rival runs faster.

The New Zealand men's hockey team have played one of their best tournaments beating South Korea and nearly taking down Spain as well, they were looking good, until they drew with a Chinese team that hasn't yet won a game. The Chinese possibly played their best game of the tournament, and well done to them.

In the end sport is only a game, and the athletes are only human.

Source: China Daily