Fluid Objectivity

Well, most of us have filled up our empty hours with our eyes glued to the TV watching the Olympics. I have heard from more than one commentator that he or she disapproves of the "harsh criticism" given by the judges or coaches. Specifically, I would like to reference the American pole-vaulter Jenn Stuczynski "scandal" in which immediately following her silver medal finish, her coach spoke to her in an "almost rude" and "definitely not encouraging" fashion.

Granted, it is great to win the silver medal, but when did it become the commentator's job to determine whether the coach is doing his job right? Perhaps in training Stuczynski had prepared to do a much higher jump than she performed. maybe her skills were higher than she demonstrated. Who knows. Either way, it is her coach's job to either give her positive or negative reinforcement as he sees necessary. When you reach that high of a stage, the difference between receiving a gold medal, a silver medal, or a bronze medal is not significant except for the fame and glory that come with them. The most important thing (or at least what ought to be the most important thing) is whether the athlete performed to the best of his or her ability. If she could have done better, more power to the coach for telling her how. Unless this is the end of her career, as it was with Laura Wilkinson, the platform diver from the US, then she always has the potential to get better. Also, if the athletes do not receive the harshest criticism at this stage of their game (from the judges and coaches), then when are they going to get it?

And what is up with these track stars changing coaches at a whim? Honestly, if a young athlete (say, in their teens) changed coaches as often as Jeremy Wariner or hired their own personal coach as Dara Torres did, then they would never have the most important part of an athletic mindset - developing relationships and purposes in life! If you want to be the best athlete in the world, the first thing you have to learn is trust, then determination, then a pursuit of excellence. These athletes have gotten too cocky and I am glad to see some of them fail miserably. I am also glad to see a coach who tells his athlete when she could have done better. Stop babying and glorifying these athletes and treat them as human beings.

I have to grant that the commentators this year have never been viewed as reliable sources for making specific analyses of crucial situations, but have instead often made broad assumptions and generalizations about anything they think they have knowledge about. Oh well, at least these games have been fun to watch.