The Winter Olympics has begun. I’m a fan of sport and enjoy watching most any. I have to remind myself that each of us has a different definition of sport. Having watched the Olympics over quite a few decades, I never fail to be in awe of what the athletes are doing today.
I enjoy watching biathlon, the crazy combination of cross country skiing and shooting. It has its roots in Scandinavia and may be representative of hunting while on skis. Who knows. I find it compelling to watch. Watching them skate on skis is beautiful. I learned to cross country ski as a mature adult and never achieved the skating technique. I didn’t work at it so no surprise. Just imagine target shooting after you’ve been racing on skis. It’s like a set up for failure.
Any alpine skiing events are thrilling to watch, either men’s or women’s. As a young kid living in Vermont, I skied along with my family. I basically got off the lift and did my own version of the downhill. It’s one of my regrets that I didn’t continue skiing. Snowboarding would have been fun to try. Snowboard cross would have been my event.
Though I enjoyed ice skating throughout my youth, I never had any delusions that I could have been a figure skater. Hockey would have been my choice. Skating fast and hitting things hard is more my speed. Ice dancing is one of my favorite things to watch, it’s so graceful and there is such a connection between the partners. But I also love the speed skating. The short track stuff is intense but I prefer the classic version.
Mixed feelings about the sliding sports: bobsled, luge, and skeleton. As a kid I loved watching the bobsled competition, waiting for an epic crash. I just don’t get the luge and skeleton. Those people have a death wish. And there’s two-person luge! It’s like a double stack burger on a flexible flyer! I mean, seriously!
And there’s curling. It’s amusing. I do watch.
Stories Are For Eternity 