11. Today’s sport: «Is it important to win or to participate?»

I am watching the Olympic Games on TV, and enjoying the performance of extraordinary athletes, some of whom display not only the dedication and effort of many hours of training during their short lives, which has allowed them to reach Paris, but also a camaraderie and chivalry out of the ordinary. The genuine hugs, as well as the enthusiasm and joy they show for the victory of a teammate, express what they feel. Unfortunately, I have already heard a commentator say several times: “you come here to win,” and that has motivated me to write these lines.

Every time I hear that the only important thing is to win, I ask myself: what does this person know about sport? Regardless of the specialty, all participants know that there will be only one winner, and any of them, let’s say for example the runners, know the best time that their opponents have recorded, so they are very clear about how difficult it will be to match them and even less beat them. So, what are they doing there? Do they not think?

I clarify that I played sports when I was young in Europe. At the school where I studied, I was part of several sports teams, and in at least one of them, team handball, we were champions of the province and participated in regional championships. I also participated individually in the children’s and youth chess championships of the city, winning on several occasions. If I mention this it is because we learned to win and lose, playing fair, always congratulating the opponent, and analyzing our mistakes after the game to try to correct them in the future; and never, any coach told us to push or hit the opponents during the game. Although we wanted to win, that behavior was not acceptable. What I am telling you happened 60 years ago, and I still often share with some of my teammates who live in other countries.

I stopped watching American football on television when I repeatedly heard commentators – former distinguished players of that sport – make remarks about deliberate hits by one player on another of the opposing team, who was playing very well, to slow him down or even get him out of the game. I never seemed to hear any strong criticism of this way of acting, it was as if it were part of the game. Invariably, I wondered how many tens of thousands of young people were watching the game, and what it was teaching them to see professional players acting in this way confirmed by the experts.

We live in an age where it is not unusual to see some parents of players on a school team shout obscenities at the referee, or even enter the field threateningly, and even, on occasion, get into a fight with the parents of the opposing team. Likewise, if we go to a stadium to watch a game between two professional teams, some of the comments you hear in the stands are from people who seem to firmly believe that the important thing is to win no matter what.

The phrase: “The important thing in sport is not to win but to participate,” is attributed to Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the modern Olympic Games restorer. Judging by what I see and hear on TV and from some Olympic commentators, it seems to be increasingly difficult to really understand what this phrase tells us, and it is certainly no consolation for the loser. I recently saw a scene, in a race, of two runners, one who had fallen, and the other who tripped over him and fell as well. Rather than getting angry, the two runners helped each other up and finished the race together. I also recently read again, this time on Facebook, the following about the action of a runner, which perhaps helps to understand that the important thing is not always to win.

In 2012, in a race in Spain, the athlete Abel Mutai, representing Kenya, was only a few meters from the finish line, but he got confused by the signage and stopped thinking he had already completed the race.

The Spanish athlete, Ivan Fernandez, was right behind him and realizing what was happening, he started shouting at the Kenyan to keep running; but Mutai didn’t know Spanish and didn’t understand. So the Spaniard pushed him to victory.

A journalist asked Ivan: «Why did you do that?» Ivan replied…

«My dream is that one day we can have a kind of community life.»

– The journalist insisted, «But why did you let the Kenyan win?»

Ivan answered – «I didn’t let him win, he was going to win.»

– The journalist insisted, «But you could have won!»

– Ivan looked at him and replied, «But what would be the merit of my victory? What would be the honor of that medal?» What would my mother think of that?»

In addition to the honor of representing our country, what Coubertin is also implicitly telling us is that any sportsperson, gymnast, swimmer or athlete who spends thousands of hours of their life diligently practicing, striving to improve themselves every day, overcoming his weaknesses little by little and improving his technique, although when he participates in a competition he will try to win, when he arrives at the competition, regardless of the result, he is already a winner!

Frankly, no matter what some commentators tell us, regardless of the money, visibility or medals they may get, the values ​​that any of the participants in the Olympics must have acquired by virtue of their training – dedication, concentration, effort, self-confidence, consistency, improvement… – are transferable to any other activity in which they decide to get involved. It is not difficult to understand that a good musician, researcher, artist… must share the aforementioned characteristics.

One last comment on not finishing first. I firmly believe that if the non-winners made all the effort possible in the competition, that is, if they gave their best, they would feel satisfied and accept not having come first.