The 2021 Tokyo Olympics are just around the corner and athletes everywhere are seeing the rewards and fruit of their years of sacrifice and hard work.
This is especially true in the individual sports – gymnastics, swimming and diving, and track and field come to mind immediately. As Americans, Track and field is a sport that has long held our fascination.
We love powerful athletes. We love fast athletes. We love the fact that the best can be measured by objective means.
There are no playing time issues. If you think you are better than someone else, then this can be proven by throwing farther, jumping higher, or running faster.
That is why what happened in the hammer throw competition at the U.S. Track and Field Trials is so awesome and so impressive.
DeAnna Price set an American record with her throw, which also happened to be the second-best in history.
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The throw was very impressive, and her excitement was genuine. It was obvious that it meant a lot to her – both the culmination of all those years of tireless work into a record-setting performance but also the opportunity to represent her country on the world’s stage at the Olympics.
We celebrate records. We celebrate dominating performances. We would normally celebrate DeAnna Price.
But we didn’t.
If I type in “U.S. Hammer Thrower” into the Google machine, I should expect to see the first page littered with references to the best American to ever compete in that sport, but that is not the case. Literally the first seven titles that showed up had the name of the third-place finisher at the Olympic Trials – not the DeAnna Price who set an American record.
For many of us, the only name we know when it comes to the hammer throw is Gwen Barry because she was the third-place finisher that turned her back on the American flag after qualifying to represent America at the Olympics.
Whether she was right or wrong in this action, whether she was misunderstood, whether you dislike some policies the U.S. has, or whether you are a fan of America’s history is not the point of today’s discussion.
This is about our mindset. We say we want a better world. We say we want people to be kind. We say we want less negativity. But how many of us can name or at least recognize the name of the third-place finisher but didn’t have a clue that DeAnna Price won the event while setting an American record.
I understand voicing concerns, protesting, or using a platform if you think it can make a difference. However, how about promoting an attitude of positivity? How about praising the virtues of goal setting, hard work, and perseverance? How about recognizing greatness?
If you watch the nightly news, jump on social media, or consume the 24-hour cable news feeds, you will be exposed to an insanely untrue ratio of bad news to good news. It is easy to think the world is horrible and that everything is bad.
Garbage in, garbage out.
If we consume negativity, we are more likely to be cynical and fixate on problems. If we consume positivity, we are more likely to have a can-do spirit and be solution focused.
If we want the world to be better, then we need to be better. We may need to adjust our mindset.
When a change is made in the starting lineup, we invariably talk about so-and-so getting benched, not so-and-so earning an opportunity. When a huge comeback occurs in a game, more often than not, we talk about the “choke job”, rather than all the great qualities required to come from behind and make up large deficits.
Sha’Carri Richardson was disqualified from the Olympic trials in the 100-meter dash after testing positive for marijuana. All anyone could talk about was how bad of a rule it was. But very little has been made of her taking responsibility for her actions.
Former president Lyndon Johnson once said that if he walked on water all the way across the Potomac River, somebody would be upset because they had a president that didn’t know how to swim.
We need to start seeing the positives in life. We need to catch people being good. Instead of fixating on the mess-ups that our children, athletes, or leaders are prone to commit because they are human, maybe we can start pointing out the good that they do.
Deanna Price is a name that we should recognize, not because others aren’t worth remembering, but because she is. Her story is inspiring. Her story should make us feel proud. Her story is positive.
Deanna Price set an American record and is arguably the best U.S. Hammer thrower of all-time. When we think of U.S. Hammer Throwers, she should be the first name we know.
Great things are rarely achieved through negativity, cynicism, or manipulation. Great things occur when people are inspired.
Deanna Price was inspiring. Her story should have been front page news. She deserved better from us.