There is a large I in amerIca. That I is our individuality. Our culture emphasizes the individual. Is this what we witnessed during the Olympics tonight? Both the men's and women's relay teams are made up of some of the fastest individuals in the world. But as a team both groups dropped their batons! Why would the US Olympic team put these individuals together without ample training as a team? Is there just an assumption that 4 great individuals make a great team? I think this was a lesson learned in Athens by the US Men's Basketball team. They were dominant NBA athletes. But they lost embarassingly by playing as individuals and not as a team.
American-
ReplyDeleteI feel you are right. The Americans assumed that they could put together the 4 fastest individuals and thought they could compete that way, without training. Although that was the case with the track and field teams, the basketball situation was a different story. I feel that in Athens, the USA team lost, not because they had a lot of players that were great individually, but because they didn't understand the importance of an Olympic Gold Medal. In Beijing, they still had a team of great indiviudal, one-on-one players, but this time, they played with a passion and determinination that showed. To all the other countries, the Olympic Gold Medal is the ulitmate goal in whatever sport they play. To the USA, there are other titles to win. But, now Team USA realized, that in order to be recognized worldwide, they must win the gold. And what happened... they did it!!!