Olympians Come Together (and occasionally Fall Apart) at one of the most emotionally-charged Games in years

He say, “I know you, you know me”
One thing I can tell you is you got to be free

Come together, right now
Over me

– Come Together, The Beatles

Setting our Ono Sideboards and our Toe-Jam Footballs aside, it has been as spectacular a start to a Winter Olympics as any I can recently remember. Maybe not in US medal counts just yet (just give that time, we did send a wealth of athletes to Milan-Cortina) but in the ever-intense thrill of victory and agony of defeat that a worldwide competition brings. Bringing a level of fascination and concern to sports I didn’t know I cared about, and to countries I still know less about than I ought to. You are witness to these (mostly) young athletes trying to perform in front of the world stage at something they have done a million times prior, just not with a few million of us watching. It’s all rife with exultation and tears, spurred on by emotion and skill and competition and…

Politics. Sadly, still politics. Understandably, still politics. Amazingly, still politics. World politics, city politics, even family politics in a place or two. Athletes have had this rare stage and opportunity to tell the world about what is going on at home since the time the games began. It goes a lot further back, but if you only look back over the last 120 years or so, you will find stories of protest and statement at multiple Olympic Games dating back to the early 1900’s. While those trying to make their voices heard were often punished or reviled when they spoke up in the moment, they also often brought needed attention to countries and communities who were underserved or even under attack. Years later, they are often respected and honored for the stands the took.

Recognizing this, the IOC continues to try to legislate space for athletes voices in times and spaces the committee delineates, and for some, that’s still not enough. There are even athletes who will not compete due to their inability to share their voice as they see fit, and others who receive threats simply for sharing their own very human opinion of how things are going back home. There are countries not allowed to participate due to their current place on the world stage, and athletes from those countries who have given so much of their lives to be able to join in these games as to come without a flag at their back or an anthem for their win. For some it means so much to them they will come “without a country”. For some, what is happening at home is so dire as to not compete at all unless they can share that with the world. Could the stakes feel any higher?

As you watch all this high drama, and cheer on your country, or its athletes, or even just whoever you find the most compelling in each competition, remember the human whose heart is beating inside that uniform. Who may have traveled to Italy from somewhere war-torn, underprivileged, or on what seems to be the brink of something tragic. Try to give them grace for the emotion that is bubbling over in their most vulnerable moments, whether that is sharing their tears and fears for their fellow countrymen, or even just their remorse for something foolish they have done. The emotions they must be going through at such a singular moment are high. The come from near and far. So near, that there are over 30 Coloradans giving it their all for Team USA right damned now, and they are just as human as those of us watching raptly.

The whole idea of the games, from their earliest incarnations in Greece, and also in these modern games, were to foster unity and understanding between people from disparate places and backgrounds. To see the commonalities in us all through competition. To come together, all play by the same set of rules, and just see what that might feel like. It feels like we could use more of all of that these days. To come together before we all seemingly fall apart.