The diagnosis might be premature, but I suspect I’ve got a serious case of Olympic spirit.
The biggest symptom: an undeterred sense of hope.
Some might even argue it’s an unreasonable, irrational sense of hope. That’s sure how it feels when it comes to the U.S. men’s gymnastics team.
Watch my latest video commentary or continue reading below:
The Americans, as everyone knows by now, have been hit by not one but two major injuries. A week or so ago, Paul Hamm pulled out of the Olympics because of injury. Then last week, just days before the start of the Games, his twin, Morgan, did the same.
In the span of a few days, Team USA went from gold-medal hopeful to podium cast-off. The popular sentiment was that the Americans wouldn’t even have a chance to win a team medal of any color.
Tonight, we’ll find out.
The team finals in men’s gymnastics starts at 10 a.m. Beijing time on Tuesday, which means it will be in prime time in America tonight. The Americans made the finals by finishing fourth in the team preliminaries over the weekend. Led by former Oklahoma standout Jonathan Horton, they showed that contrary to popular belief, they aren’t dead yet.
In fact, I’m here to tell you that Team USA is going to win a medal tonight.
The Americans, all first-time Olympians, turned in a heck of a performance in the team preliminaries. It was a heck of a performance if you think about the nerves that each of them must have been going through. Heck, two of the guys didn’t even know they were going to be competing when they packed their bags for Beijing.
That’s pressure.
And Team USA delivered.
With the experience of the prelims under their belts, I have a feeling that they’re going to perform even better in the team finals. If the Americans win a medal, it would be an amazing turnaround. Just two years ago, they finished 13th at the world championships.
Thirteenth.
Finishing 13th in the team prelims at the Olympics wouldn’t have even been good enough to get them into the team finals.
This team has come a long way, and I suspect they’re going to take one more big step tonight. Maybe it is foolish to think so. Maybe it is completely irrational to believe that this group of Americans can bring home an Olympic medal.
My self-diagnosis: sometimes having a case of Olympic spirit isn’t so bad.
