The Olympic bug

Growing up, I loved watching the Olympics (hell, I still do). I remember watching the track and field events from the ’92 games in Barcelona. But every two years, the Olympics provided me with inspiration to try new sports. I’m sure my parents were thrilled.

First, it was ice skating. I had a huge poster of Nancy Kerrigan that I got from a book fair in kindergarten (the perks of my mom working at my school) and dreams almost as big to be her (pre-Tonya Harding knee whacking fiasco). My parents obliging enrolled Leslie and me in skating lessons. We were even living in Colorado Springs at the time, the training home of many American Olympians. I managed to learn to skate backwards before we moved.

Nancy+kerrigan+skating
Source
Then, it was gymnastics. I first caught the gymnastics bug when a friend in the second grade had her birthday part at a gymnastics gym (I have a rather specific memory at times). A few months later, the Magnificent Seven stole America’s hearts at the ’96 Atlanta games (we had just moved to Alabama), so Leslie and I just had to try gymnastics. My dreams of being coached to Olympic gold by Bela Karolyi were crushed when I broke my right foot tripping over a shoe at a McDonald’s play place. Really. That is not a lie. I wasn’t in a hard cast, just a walking cast, so I could still go to class.

 

Source

I also managed to pick up soccer.

Was anyone else inspired to by the Olympics to try new sports?

 

Related Posts