ceebeegee | (no subject)

I don't get the Tall Poppy Syndrome. I remember reading about this during the last Summer Games in Sydney--how Australians resented it if they felt you were holding yourself too high. What is too high--and how does that affect anyone else? It just reads as insecurity and envy to me--"you think you're so smart!" I guess I have more in common with Ayn Rand than I thought.

I'm musing on this because I'm thinking about the reaction Michael Phelps got when he announced his ambition to score 8 golds (and now is trying for 8 medals). Ambition is good--right? If we didn't strive to better ourselves, we'd stagnate--right? If Phelps had been arrogant in his pursuit of this goal, if he'd trash-talked or denigrated his opponents, that would be objectionable but he didn't do that--he simply announced this was what he was trying to do, and then set about trying to do it. How can anyone have a problem with this? And why would they try to stand in his way (other than, of course, his opponents in the water who are trying to swim faster)? I just don't get it. If it offends you somehow, then let it challenge you to be a better swimmer. But to try to squash ambition--it's pathetic.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Marion Jones encountered the same problems when she announced that her ambition was to win 5 gold medals in the 2000 Olympics. She came away with 3 golds and 2 bronzes, and people still gave her grief because they weren't all gold, forgetting that she saved the US's chances of a medal in one of the relays (she was in two) because she was the anchor leg and was able to make up the time that her three teammates lost.

Marion Jones is a rock star. I love her, and hope she does well these Games. I would be pissing in my pants if I'd won even one medal, much less three gold and two bronze.