It’s interesting, normally an event that over-celebrates people’s accomplishments by measuring their physical attributes wouldn’t speak to me.
It’s emotional growth and transformation; journeys of the heart and mind that capture my attention; that intrigue, engage and deepen me.
Yet, the Olympics are captivating.
It’s that mental discipline and resilience, that digging deep inside oneself to reach and perhaps even surpass personal potential, that is so dazzling. It’s the beauty of the movement of the body, so gracious, so powerful.
It’s the collaborative spirit.
And many other layers to it, too.
We now know there have been dark sides to the Olympics. The potential for abuse with youngsters, vulnerably cut off from their families and society, isolated — the potential for exploitation is rife.
Then there were the infamous 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Nazism was present. It was there that an image of a united and strong Germany was militantly promoted while unashamedly displaying racism. Hate did find its way to leech out.
In the pantheon of Olympic greats, though, there is no shortage of inspirational stories and personas.
One such person is the Armenian Shavarsh Karapetyan, a 10-time world record breaker in finswimming. He became well known in the USSR for his acts of heroism in saving people’s lives. It’s as though he was a true life superman.
In the 1970s, he was walking by Yerevan Lake when shouts alerted him to an emergency. Instantaneously, he dove in, as a trolley bus, packed with passengers, was sinking to the bottom. Visibility in the water was near zero. With his legs, he smashed the back window of the bus, and proceeded, one by one, to bring people from the bus, swimming to the shore and dropping them off by his waiting brother with whom he’s been running when their jog was disrupted by the screams from the lake.
Karapetyan brought 46 people to shore. Twenty survived.
While Karapetyan also survived, this was only after he too lost consciousness and was left fighting for his own life in the hospital for the next 45 days.
Ultimately, he survived, but was never able to practice his sport again. Aside from his obvious physical prowess, what a testament to a true hero’s soul.
Then there are those special souls endowed with true principle and courage, independent individuals who have been brave at the championships or Olympics themselves, in standing against waves of anti-Semitism or hate; sometimes, unfairly, forfeiting their sporting career as a result.
Take Iranian Judoka Saeid Mollei. He refused to boycott Israel at the Tokyo 2019 World Championships. Consequently, he was exiled from his home of Iran. This is a true hero who chooses to do what is right even at great cost. Saeid Mollei is courage looking us in the eye.
Remarkably, when he won silver in Tokyo, he dedicated his medal to Israel: “Thank you to Israel for all the good energy — this medal is dedicated to you as well and I hope Israel is happy with this medal. Todah!”
For Israel, this record Olympics 2021 was something precious. Two golds and two bronzes. Which is extraordinary in and of itself for such a small country. I felt so proud to see the Star of David gliding through the air. I felt stirrings of the heart and so very proud as soon as that first recognizable musical note of our beautiful and emotional Hatikvah melody was played.
But it was more than that.
It hearkened back to the Munich Massacre at the 1972 Olympics, when our Israeli athletes were taken hostage and gunned down by Palestinian terrorists disguised as athletes — a group called Black September.
Returning to the Olympics as a Jew is an act of faith and affirmation. It’s been many cycles of Olympics since then, each one with respectable Israeli teams.
Israel had won gold medal before 2021. Now, four medals? This was a new momentum. It seemed like every few days another Israeli was winning a medal. It was incredible.
Let’s be honest, we are the people of the book, not of the body.
Yet, this pride for Israel, an act of reclaiming the Olympics for Jewish pride instead of terror, even if these two Olympics were not directly linked, and even if it was something more subtle ricocheting across decades in time, felt especially poignant and meaningful.
Copyright © 2021 by the Intermountain Jewish News
