As the stakes in sports have risen higher and higher, sportsmanship has struggled to keep up. From the top — is LeBron James primarily the world’s greatest basketball player or the world’s greatest sneaker salesman? — to the bottom — parents and coaches push young players for long-shot dreams of college scholarships — there’s less space for authentic demonstrations of character. Winning, and all that follows, has become a very big deal.
Long ago, there was an ideal of athletes who would humbly do their best and salute competitors for doing the same. If it was partly myth, it was at least comforting compared with the alternative. In the Olympics just past, a boxer made an obscene gesture to judges after a controversial decision; a wrestling coach refused to leave the ring, and stripped to his underwear in protest after a loss; American soccer goalie Hope Solo called the other team “cowards’’ after a defeat; and four American swimmers went on a Boys Gone Wild spree one night in Rio. In the aftermath, swimmer Ryan Lochte said he “over-exaggerated” reports of being robbed at gunpoint.
But of course, many athletes performed well and conducted themselves similarly in Rio. Every Olympics offers stories that inspire, but with so many high achievers to choose from — both men and women — who could possibly stand out?
A case could be made for two women who struggled to finish their event. As has been recounted widely, Dartmouth grad Abbey D’Agostino and Nikki Hamblin of New Zealand caught the attention of millions around the world when Hamblin fell to the ground and tripped up D’Agostino in the 5,000-meter track race. D’Agostino stopped and helped Hamblin get up, an unusual gesture in such a moment. When they resumed running, D’Agostino’s injuries from the fall made it difficult for her to continue, and she eventually stumbled. Hamblin then helped her up, and they both finished, albeit far behind the medal winners.
Afterward Hamblin said, “I’m so grateful for Abbey doing that for me. That girl is the Olympic spirit right there.” The International Olympic Committee and the International Play Fair Committee agreed, and latter awarded them well-deserved special awards for exemplary sportsmanship.
It may be too much to expect top athletes to be exemplars in all things. After all, training to run faster or jump higher makes one run faster or jump higher; it does not in itself create a better person. Only good actions do, as Hamblin and D’Agostino stirringly demonstrated in Rio. They may well be remembered long after many medal winners are forgotten — a victory for those who value things other than gold.