{"id":3933,"date":"2016-08-24T10:02:40","date_gmt":"2016-08-24T16:02:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/richyrocks.com\/?p=3933"},"modified":"2016-08-24T10:02:40","modified_gmt":"2016-08-24T16:02:40","slug":"an-intriguing-and-glorious-olympic-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/an-intriguing-and-glorious-olympic-moment\/","title":{"rendered":"an intriguing and glorious olympic moment"},"content":{"rendered":"

watching the olympics\u00a0and rooting for the united states is not the same experience as watching the olympics and rooting for mexico. lord knows i carry both countries in my heart, and it’s obvious\u00a0as an olympic gymnast’s dick that my statement is not controversial in the least.<\/p>\n

\"obvious
it’s that obvious. (emmauel dunand\/getty images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

the u.s. won more medals in the first ten minutes of the rio olympics than mexico won\u00a0in\u00a0the full fortnight. that might be hyperbole. mexico as a nation will not reach michael phelps’ gold medal total in my lifetime. that’s probably not hyperbole.<\/p>\n

last friday afternoon presented\u00a0a media moment that embodied\u00a0the mexican-american\/american-mexican dichotomy in olympic viewing. the final few kilometers of the women’s 20 kilometer walk coincided with the semi-final men’s basketball game between the u.s. and spain.<\/p>\n

\"deandrewhen they cut away from basketball to show race-walking<\/em><\/h6>\n

i have always felt awkward about mexico’s olympic relationship with the walk. 10 of mexico’s 67 medals all-time have come in race-walk events. the first olympics i watched from\u00a0mexico was atlanta 1996. mexican athletes won 1 \u00a0medal. \u00a0in the face of the 101 medals the u.s. won in that olympiad, mexico’s lone bronze in the men’s 20k walk was not much to brag<\/a> about to the folks back home.<\/p>\n

it’s absolutely not a knock on the athletes who make the rigid\u00a0commitment to dedicate huge chunks of their lives to a sport for a potential, unpromised moment of olympic glory. walkers are authentic\u00a0athletes whose efforts merit\u00a0respect and recognition.<\/p>\n

but aesthetically, walking is\u00a0a weird looking sport with rules that generate controversial disqualifications. the unintentional stanky leg that competitors start doing as fatigue sets in provokes a queasy kind of feeling in\u00a0observers and while\u00a0the chance to watch\u00a0hips swaying and asses bouncing in a bikini bottom for 2 to 3\u00a0hours might attract some tv audience, sorry 20 kilometer walk, u are no beach volleyball.<\/p>\n

\"racewalkis that race-walking technique? or the stanky leg?<\/em><\/h6>\n

so when the only channel (out of 8 channels\u00a0of\u00a0olympic coverage) showing the men’s basketball semi-final went split-screen with the women’s 20k walk (which was already on every other channel), i was frustrated.<\/p>\n

quickly my frustration ceded, and i was\u00a0torn. lupita gonzalez was in the mix, even leading; and there were only a couple kilometers left to walk. \u00a0did i mention 67 medals all-time<\/span>? spread over 23 olympics? \u00a0every medal is a big dang deal in mexico. \u00a0snap –all my emotion was behind lupita.<\/p>\n

\"lupita
lupita leading the 20k walk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

lupita’s silver was the first of a few medals collected by mexican athletes last\u00a0weekend in rio. but it was a miserable two weeks that led up to the final weekend of triumph. \u00a0there was a collective exasperation that the red, white and green\u00a0might come home empty-handed.<\/p>\n

\"lupita
lupita showing off<\/a> her silver medal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

used to<\/a> the shenanigans of compayito<\/strong> and ponchito<\/strong>\u00a0during olympic\u00a0broadcasts on free networks televisa<\/strong> and tv azteca<\/strong>, the mexican public had to tough it out without jokes during this olympiad. \u00a0the games were only on cable sports and public tv networks that offered no comedic distraction from the lack of medal production.<\/p>\n

\"compayitoel compayito was not in rio.<\/em><\/h6>\n

it’s probably unnecessary to even mention that the u.s. men\u00b4s basketball team disposed of spain in the semi-final before walloping serbia to claim the gold medal. basketball is\u00a0an aesthetically beautiful sport that has millions of fans around the world. it creates way more media hubub than race-walking.<\/p>\n

i could give u a mini-bio on maybe every player who has\u00a0suited up for the u.s. men’s basketball team since 1984, but i didn’t know anything about\u00a0lupita’s toluca<\/strong><\/a> connection before watching her finish the race. she studied at the uaem and trained here in preparation for her olympic performance. \u00a0it makes the moment that much more pertinent\u00a0for t-towners like myself.<\/p>\n

\"lupita
lupita gonzalez reppin<\/a> uaem at the olympics.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

and when\u00a0mexico’s first woman\u00a0medalist in a walking event, still in the throes of post-race euphoria emphasized to a tv reporter that she never wanted to be a race-walker; that she \u00a0settled on the walk\u00a0after efforts\u00a0in boxing and the 400m didn’t work out: that was a crucial\u00a0glimpse behind the curtain. a mystical\u00a0affirmation of those serendipitous\u00a015 minutes that took me from screaming at the tv for pre-empting the basketball semi-final to shouting through\u00a0the tv screen at lupita gonzalez to walk faster.<\/p>\n