What's in a medal?

(Ensayo/Essay. Note: On 21st October, the CAS ruled the final standings of the All Around event at the Olympics 2004 to remain unchanged. Paul Hamm remains the sole gold medal winner of the event and All Around Olympic champion.)

The Games of the XXVIII Olympiad in Athens, Greece have gone into oblivion save for some important things here and there. As stated in the official Games’ website,

“These Games broke many records. Athens hosted 11,099 athletes, the largest number ever and also the most women athletes ever. Representatives of 202 countries took part, more than any other sport event. The Olympic flame traveled for the first time to all continents. Shot Put was held in Olympia and women competed there for the first time.”

Great games, indeed. Who can forget Michael Phelps on a world record-setting swimming rampage? We won’t forget the South African swimming team coming out of nowhere and winning the gold in the 4x100 freestyle relay. Can anyone forget Puerto Rico taking the U. S. basketball team to the ISB (International School of Basketball)?

These Games were stamped with a record-breaking zone from day one. It added for an incredibly thrilling Olympiad that showed the caliber of the 21st century athlete and the results of the rigors of training and discipline, but this Olympiad was also filled with not so thrilling moments.

Can we forget the final stretch towards Panathinaiko Stadium and the hopes for Brazilian gold in the men’s marathon being robbed by a lunatic? What about the record-breaking doping scandals and athletes being stripped of medals and kicked out of the Games? Not a pretty picture considering that a trip to the Olympics, besides being a top athlete’s hard earned wage, is a privilege too.

Sadly enough, we’ve also had back to back scandalous Olympics that once promised to be entirely otherwise. Just a couple of years ago, the Winter Games in Salt Lake City reached its peak not out of Olympic joy but right out of the opposite. On the last day of figure skating, eyes were fixed on TVs all over the world to see the high profile final and then, one judge screwed up the numbers! The effects of her actions reverberated like tornados across Midwestern America.

It’s interesting that Athens can be called Salt Lake City’s déjà vu. The president of the IOC claims they are quite distinct situations, but the scandal (he would rather called it controversy), once more, was caused by judging ineptitude. Of course, the judges get a pretty hard slap on the hand, but the spotlight remains on the athletes with the wrong medal on their necks.

Sometimes, Olympic Committees and Federations can solve the problems in a way that satisfies all parties, like in Salt Lake City and even if it’s not the very best of resolutions. At other times they just, plain and dumb, drop the ball, as in Athens. Sometimes (and there is precedent), the athlete intervenes when awarded a medal incorrectly and corrects the mishap. Sportsmanship is served and the athlete grows in estimation before his or her peers not to say the world’s sports-loving community.

Isn’t that what the games should be about? Sportsmanship? Why, yes. But the dreams of Olympic glory are sometimes too recurrent for some athletes and sportsmanship may be laid down at the sacrificial altar of Olympic glory.

The American Paul Hamm, the men’s gold medalist in the Gymnastics All-Around event, proved just that. We can all rightfully blame the judges, but Sportsmanship still belongs to the sportsmen. Mr. Hamm is not even willing to share a gold medal (the USOC did consider it at one point) with whom, had the judges been able to put their act together, would have been, at least, the by-the-numbers gold medalist, the South Korean Yang Tae Young. A very, very sad case of mistaken medal identities that could have been avoided.

At the Olympics, a silver medal (Mr. Hamm’s rightful award) is not bad at all, but don’t make the mistake, my friend, of thinking it’s Olympic glory. While the podium with its 1st, 2nd and 3rd steps signaled Olympic glory not too long ago, nowadays Olympic glory seems to have shifted towards the gold rush.

The glory, however, has come at a high price for Mr. Hamm. The South Korean Olympic Committee has taken the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, always the last resort when disputes among athletes remain unsettled, and it will be heard by the end of this month. I’ll go right ahead and say it is likely the Court will dictate a duplicate gold medal for Mr. Young; something Mr. Hamm is opposed to. What he might not be seriously considering is that the Court may rule that he be stripped of the gold medal in exchange for the silver. No one in the world will be surprised or outraged (except the USOC, of course) because that is what should have happened on the floor the day the All-Around event took place.

Both Mr. Young and Mr. Hamm have left Athens with a common sour experience. So much for Olympic glory. The failure of the organizations in charge, the FIG and the IOC (which in particular moved swiftly towards a resolution at Salt Lake City) to deal with their crass management of this Olympic scandal will be dealt with in time… sometime. Perhaps, the anti-doping entities of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games should submit judges to the same screening athletes undergo. Meanwhile, Mr. Hamm wants to dodge the bullet, and he has reason to dodge it, but the truth is that (on Olympic principle) he can’t. All eyes are on him not on the Koreans or the regulating bodies with jurisdiction.

It is good that values like sportsmanship and magnanimity exist in the field of Athletics as in all other areas of life. In a situation like his, Mr. Hamm would do well to assail himself of these high values and still retain a medal. The former are worth much more than ten gold medals combined; yet, I am afraid those are not the priorities when it comes to the medal count and Olympic glory. Besides, as the situation gets farther removed from the its Olympic scenario, timing starts working against Mr. Hamm.

The South Koreans do have a case against the Americans, as did the Canadians against the Russians in Salt Lake City two years ago. That’s why they have pushed the envelope so far.

Mr. Hamm’s athletic capabilities are not in question here. His comeback in the All-Around event was nothing short of miraculous. He can take credit for being among the best athletes who participated in Athens, but he knows, however reluctantly, that in one particular event he came out on top while not being the very best. It simply prompts the questions, Is Olympic gold really about glory? Or sometimes, like a wolf, does greed come in sheep’s clothing?

Anastasia

(Poema escrito en Semana Santa, 2004. Poem written on Holy Week, 2004.)
I will see the Sun after the long end of this night.
My eyes that only see tonight
what seems to be forever darkness.
My skin that slowly yielded
to the cold threat of Time.
My thoughts that are suspended…
My heart that has stopped…
Yet I await the long end of this night.
I await this Sun’s bright rays to waken me.
Then my spirit thawed
Forever I will see the Sun in the long beginning
of the Morning.
cspellot2004

Ya sólo duermo, Dios

(Soneto/sonnet)

Ya sólo duermo, Dios, y hace tiempo que no hablamos.
Camino en mi sueño contigo a mis espaldas.
Llevo el pecho abierto y bien no sé cuán cerca estamos
De un corazón también abierto y seco, sin faldas.

Mis ojos abiertos y mis pasos inciertos
Te buscan a tientas bajo las nubes negras.
¡Cuán cerca estamos, Dios, en este mundo de desiertos!
Nosotros los desiertos que Tú, oasis, siempre alegras.

No te importa ir en pos de una veleta, viento eres.
Yo sigo fiel a mi sendero sin horizonte,
Mi paso le dice al otro al pasar, “Lento mueres.”

Y Tú, aún en mi sueño, sigues fiel a tu sendero,
Que ondulando se pierde entre espinos y las rocas…
Hallas lo perdido y dices, “Darte vida quiero.”
cspellot2004

Now or death!

(Short story/cuento)

There he was, chilling, when a man came rushing ’round the corner and said panting, “You gotta come. It’s a matter of now or death!” He didn’t give it a thought; he never did when someone else needed help. Focused so intently on the man’s words, everything around him went instantly into slow motion. They both rushed back around the corner. There was a car flipped upside down. It was beginning flare. The increasing flames warned the few bystanders “Keep your distance”. Someone among them had managed to call 911.

“There’s a baby in the back seat,” the man said to him. He was almost certain about what this was all about and said, starting an internal monologue that flavored of denial, “This is just great! One minute I’m cool and the next I’m ‘bout to burn. Oh God! You know I’m not cut out for this kind of thing. In fact, you know I’m actually pretty chicken shit.” Little did he know that many of the bystanders were actually thinking along those lines.

The baby’s cries were getting louder. The car’s tires were on fire now sending darkness into the night sky. A nanosecond went by and within his mind, “How can so much light create so much darkness?” There was no one to be found in the front seats. The windows were rolled down and the seatbelts unfastened. What in the world could have happened?

He thought of a fire extinguisher and turned to the man who had brought him there, but, all of a sudden, he was nowhere to be found. He suddenly realized that the man could have had something to do with the accident, but how could he be certain? The light brought him back. “Anybody has a fire extinguisher?” he asked out loud. No one answered; the car had become a huge nightlight, but the fire had not gotten into the interior of the car yet. Everybody assumed the car was a bomb waiting to explode any second now. They were right and that’s why everybody stayed at bay. The baby’s cries were still being heard quite clearly. The sirens of the Emergency Response Team brought a gleam of hope to all as they were heard in the distance.

As the car burned faster, the baby’s cries elongated in desperation, or was it asphyxia? He hesitated, “Will they get here on time?” He rushed to the car only to jump back. The heat wave coming from the car had hit him hard. He approached the car in a crouching position, got inside it through the front passenger window and started unfastening the baby in what was a very horrendous, and never anticipated, first encounter with a car seat. The speed of his thoughts had rendered the convention of time meaningless. He fought against despair, both his and the baby’s. He fought against fear. Right there, in an upside down car, he fought the hounds of hell and one of them managed to bite him.

When his right arm caught fire, everything transpiring inside his head came to a halt. However, time has gone on, as usual, ignoring the precariousness of the human state.

The pain was to blame when he woke up. He had his right arm wrapped from his fingers all the way up to his shoulder. His head felt like someone was pulling his hair in a constant yanking motion. It was wrapped as well; all third degree burns. After coming to grips with reality, he knew were he was.

As if performing a miracle, he managed to call the nurse and, when she came in, begged her to put him out of his misery. She went out and before a minute had gone by came back with some heavy drug inside a syringe. He didn’t feel the sting of the needle piercing his flesh, but felt the pressure of the drug in the area of the shot. As it spread through his body, images strolled through his mind. The man, the corner, the car, the light, the sirens, the baby… the hounds of hell.

Muttered words came out of his mouth, “The baby?” “The baby’s fine,” said the nurse. “Who else?” was all he could add. The nurse knew better than to keep answering questions, so she let her silence do the talking for a bit. “Let’s get some rest now, honey. It’ll do you good,” she concluded softly. At this, he understood that whoever else was in that car couldn't have possibly made it save by a miracle.

The strolling images were fading past the line between awareness and dream and it seemed that everything was thrown suddenly into a perennial slow motion.

As usual, time went on... The car never exploded... And he dreamed...
cspellot2004

On the gift of parenthood

(Essay/ensayo)

Parenthood raises the level of awe married couples have by virtue of their relationship. Marriage is a wonder in and of itself. The fact that two sinful people decide not to live for themselves anymore but for each other is really admirable, and whether they realize it or not, the type of relationship couples have points to a reality beyond love expressed in human terms. A commitment made “till death do us part” and held until that happens cannot be explained unless God’s grace and love are taken as part of such commitment. The Church has shown great wisdom in holding matrimony as a sacrament. For a couple to ponder about the good, the bad and the ugly as they grow old together will never cease to make them laugh, make them cry and above all amaze them, even if children are not part of it.

However, if the stork decides to pay the couple a visit, the ride they started on their wedding day will simply become more exciting. Married life is wonderful, married life with children is even more, because children bring so much into a marriage. Was there joy before them? There is more with them. Now mom and dad not only have each other to learn from, share, laugh and cry with; they have one or more little ones with whom to do that also. Growing old is a matter of course in life; parenthood makes it well worth it. A child falls nothing short of a miracle continually unfolding before our eyes and if no attention is paid we will simply miss it only to regret it later. And parenthood is one calling where regrets become harder to let go as time goes by.

Many young couples who are having marital problems wrongly assume that becoming parents will solve such problems. Bringing children into a troubled home may serve to buy some short-term peace for a couple; in the long run, children themselves unfortunately end up becoming the victims of problems many parents where not able to solve responsibly when they knew they had the chance. Marriage is wonderful, not easy, and the same applies to parenthood. Children increase responsibilities and considerably shorten the time mommy and daddy had for themselves prior to their arrival; they also get sick and are quite expensive. However, children are a gift of God, not a gift we give to ourselves. We simply don’t have such creativity. With them God gives us one of the greatest blessings anybody can experience, sleepless nights and tears included.

I am not puzzled by the lack of a day in our calendar celebrating marriage. In fact, there should not be any as marriage is to be celebrated it every day. It is nothing but the long run extension of the wedding day. Unfortunately, grown ups can mess up their lives and get divorced, although I don’t endorse nor recommend they do so. Yet, parenthood intensifies a healthy marriage relationship, it makes what is strong, stronger. When we pay tribute to our parents on Mother’s or Father’s Day, we celebrate, or at least we should, not only the issue of motherhood or fatherhood, but also that upon which fatherhood and motherhood are built – marriage. The actual relationship might or might not be there, but those days still celebrate it. In such homage a husband does not only say that the mother of his children is a loving and caring mother, he also says that she is a loving and caring wife to him, and so says the wife too.

Parenthood is God’s gift to Mankind; after all, it is He who has been a Father for eternity. God the Father can take the credit for being the mastermind behind the wonder of parenthood. He, who has given us such great blessings in our children, deserves undivided worship for giving us the greatest blessing in His Son Christ Jesus. The words of Paul the apostle to the Romans give us such a witness, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” Every good bestowed on a marriage is to be enjoyed. Of all, children should be enjoyed the most. That in itself is an act of thanksgiving.
cspellot2004