Always meet your heroes
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Fencing meets aren’t like many other sporting events I’ve covered. There are fewer guards, fewer ropes and stanchions, fewer barriers separating the elite from the not-so-elite. The first time I met Mariel Zagunis, a two-time Olympic gold medalist with the sabre, she was laying on a trainer’s table reading a Malcolm Gladwell book in one of the cavernous halls at Navy Pier. As we talked, I noticed young fans’ eyes bug out as they realized they were walking by the Mariel Zagunis, but they never interrupted us.
A few years later, I was at a different fencing meet in a different concrete room, sitting with Ibtihaj Muhammad. She was a few months away from making history as the first American woman to compete — and win bronze — while wearing a hijab. Everyone there knew who she was, and what she was about to do. Still, fans kept a respectful distance.
Perhaps people know not to intrude on fencers because they literally carry sharp pointy weapons, and know how to use them. The more likely reason is fans following Olympic sports in non-Olympic years know a secret. Mariel’s and Ibti’s fans knew they would get a shot to talk to their heroes later. The smaller number of people screaming out their names allows for an intimacy between fan and athlete that LeBron James will never get to experience.
With both women, I watched as fans did get a moment with their heroes. Ibti and Mariel looked them in the eye, shook their hands and spent time talking to each person. Young fans walked away in awe, dreaming about following in their footsteps. Older fans, the one who had hoped for the U.S. to finally win gold in fencing and cried when Mariel did it, took a moment to thank her. I didn’t take a poll, but I doubt one of them regretted meeting their hero.
Because I have a job I’ve dreamed of having since I was 12, I’ve gotten to interview a few of my heroes. I’ve interviewed Shannon Miller, Dominique Dawes, Kristi Yamaguchi and Bonnie Blair. Every one of them has been kind and (more importantly) a great interview. There’s still one, though, that I have not been able to talk to.
Kim Zmeskal’s pictures hung all over my wall in the summer of 1992. I taped the Olympic Trials, and had her routines memorized by the time the Olympics rolled around. When she fell off the beam in Barcelona, I was gutted. Still, I stood by my girl Kim and cheered her on as she helped the U.S. bring home a team bronze.
She now runs a gymnastics gym in Texas with her husband, and has been at several gymnastics events I’ve covered to coach her athletes. Multiple people have offered to introduce her to me. I. Can’t. Do. It. I get so nervous that I can’t speak. I just shake my head vigorously at anyone kind enough to say, “Do you want to meet Kim?” and walk away.
I know better. I know she’s nice. I know that meeting Olympic heroes usually turns out well. But the thought of meeting her turns me into a cross between Chris Farley and the 12-year-old girl who danced around her bedroom to Zmeskal’s “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” floor exercise, trying to grab onto a modicum of her grace and power and graft it on to my own awkward body.
One day, I’ll do it. And one day, I hope you get that chance, too, to meet the Olympian whose name has been branded onto your brain since they won gold in Athens or got back up after falling down in Torino.
I asked for your questions. You didn’t disappoint.
Why isn’t flippy cup in the Olympics? — Adam Studzinski
To get to the Olympics, a sport has to prove it has broad, international appeal. Flippy cup, like football and bags (don’t call it cornhole), isn’t quite there yet. But keep working and it will get there.
When will Chicago bid again? — Brian Sandalow
Since Olympic bids are often driven by the mayors of the cities bidding, not anytime soon. Richard Daley, Chicago’s mayor behind the failed bid for the 2016 Olympics, is now happily retired. While Lori Lightfoot is a huge sports fan, I can’t see hosting an Olympics in her priorities.
Will the Olympics be canceled? Postponed? What about qualifying events? — paraphrased from a bunch of you
We covered the possibility of a cancellation due to coronavirus last week. Japan’s Olympic minister got everyone worried again this week by saying the Olympics could be postponed. Don’t put money on a postponement, either, because it would create a logistical nightmare for many reasons. Would the people who volunteered to work the games in late summer still be available in the early fall? Would hotels still be able to be completely devoted to the Olympics? When would the Paralympics, scheduled for August 25-September 6, happen? Would the NBA, WNBA, Premier League and Bundesliga still allow their athletes to compete if it messed with their seasons?
Qualifying events are a different story. Every berth in the Olympics is earned, and qualifying events are being canceled, and athletes aren’t traveling to events even when they’re still happening. The president of the IOC said athletes may have to be added at later date if coronavirus keeps people from traveling.
I was also asked what Sully’s favorite Olympic event is. It’s sleeping.
