Faster, Higher, Stronger - Together

Like billions of people around the world, I love watching the Olympic Games. As a couch athlete, I dedicated many hours a day to the excellent TV coverage of the Paris 2024 Games. I love the stories behind the athletes - the years of sacrifice and dedication and the struggles and setbacks they overcame. Watching them compete and succeed with their coaches, parents and families in the audience is heartwarming. I am in awe of the world class speed, power, strength, balance, skill, tenacity, focus, and athletic grace on display in 32 different sports. Despite the pressure to perform against the very best, and with the world watching, I admire the athletes' humility, class and sportsmanship. Even wealthy professionals from the worlds of soccer, golf, tennis and basketball can be brought to tears on the Olympic stage. To be an Olympian and represent your country at the highest level is a tremendous life accomplishment.

The Latin motto of the Olympic Games is Citius, Altius, Fortius - Communiter - which translates into Faster, Higher, Stronger - Together. The International Olympic Committee added "communiter" in 2021 to recognize the unifying power of sport - timely in a world in desperate need of more unity. The Paris Games included 206 National Olympic Committees and over 10,000 athletes. People from diverse backgrounds and cultures coming together to represent, and for two-weeks at least, unite their countries, and maybe even the world. Olympians also inspire generations of children to be active and to dream big.

Each nation tends to focus on the events and results that feature their country's athletes but the Olympics provides countless inspirational moments. A 41-year old Cuban wrestler named Mijain Lopez won individual gold for an unprecedented 5th consecutive Olympics. This legendary athlete competed and won in Greco-Roman wrestling in the 130kg (heavyweight) division. He first competed in Athens in 2004 and did not medal. Over the next 20 years, he won Olympic gold five times in a row in a challenging, combative sport. The 100m women's track final was won by Julien Alfred from Saint Lucia - population 180,000 - and she became the "fastest woman in the world" and won her tiny island country's first medal of any colour, ever. Alfred went on to add a silver medal in the 200m sprint. Cindy Ngamba, originally from Cameroon but a refugee for the past 15 years, lost a close, heartbreaking bout in the 75kg boxing semi-finals, but won bronze and the first ever medal for the Refugee Olympic Team. 

Canada enjoyed their best medal total in a summer Olympics in decades. Our 9 gold medals and 27 medals overall was our best finish in a summer Olympics not marred by political boycott. Every one of the 317 Canadian athletes accomplished tremendous results just to be included in the Olympic Games, and the 81 Canadian "top 8" results in Paris were outstanding. Whether it was 17yr old Summer McIntosh winning three golds and a silver in the pool, the incredible hammer throw double gold by B.C.'s Camryn Rogers and Ethan Katzberg, the creative and athletic exploits of Vancouver breaker Phil "Wizard" Kim, or the absolutely clutch performance of the men's 4 X 100m relay team, there were many incredibly exciting moments for Team Canada.

At the same time, we have a ways to go as a sporting nation beyond our passion for ice hockey and the NHL. Can we cheer on athletes every four years and ignore them the rest of the time and expect success? Our 27 medals was a long way from the totals of countries like Australia (pop. 26 million), who won a remarkable 53 medals and 18 golds in Paris, or the Netherlands, with a population of 17 million, who won 15 gold and 34 medals. While Canada typically achieves greater results in the Winter Olympics, in Beijing in 2022, we won 26 medals but only 4 golds. This was far behind Norway (population 5.4 million) and their incredible 16 golds and 37 medals in Beijing.

Many nations, especially in Europe, have well established and well supported national and professional leagues and funded training programs for a diverse variety of sports - track, handball, water polo, volleyball, speed skating, cycling, rowing, rugby, etc. Canada is improving, and our national sport organizations, Sport Canada and the Own The Podium programs need to continue to work together to fund and support our national team athletes. To achieve success on the world stage, Canadian athletes should not struggle in anonymity in non-Olympic years. They need ongoing funding, access to training, and media coverage to compete and win at the highest level. This has to be done thoughtfully to create a culture of excellence that is also supportive of our athletes' well being - to fight and achieve your best is always more important than winning a medal. If we collectively tune out in the years in between the Olympic Games, can we really expect more than pretty good? 

Merci infiniment to Paris - what a show! Congratulations and thank you to all of the Olympians for your inspiration. Faster. Stronger. Higher. Together, Canada. 🇨🇦

A cycling race through the streets of Paris. Cycling is one of countless sports watched and enthusiastically supported in Europe.

p.s. It is important to note that 126 more athletes (& competition partners) will represent Team Canada at the Paralympic Games in Paris from August 28 to September 8, 2024. These Games will bring together 4400 incredible athletes from around the world and "transcend the boundaries of sport, offering a powerful platform to highlight the intersection of world class athleticism and disability, ignite societal progress, and champion the cause of inclusivity on and off the field of play."

Old Friends

Throughout our lives, we will meet, work, and interact with thousands of people. If we are fortunate, we may find love and form a partnership with another human being and bring new people into the world. There is no greater gift than being a member of a caring, loving, and connected family as it is the foundation for a healthy life. 

Of the thousands of other people we will meet, some will become respected and valued colleagues. Most will be acquaintances or people we know or used to know. In rare cases, we will have shared experiences at important times in our life’s journey that can create deep and lasting friendships. 

Friendship seems like a simple enough construct, but it is an uncommon and special thing. Friends are people that know you well and love you anyways. People you can go years without seeing and yet instantly connect with when you do meet again. People with whom laughter comes easily and you feel more alive when you are in their presence. 

Human relationships are complex and evolving. All families are imperfect. Most friendships do not last. If you have one or more people in your life who allow you to be yourself, who reach out when life gets hard, who celebrate your successes without jealousy or envy, whom you can sit with in silence, and with whom you can laugh uncontrollably at the world, and at each other, you have a friend. Never take this for granted for you are blessed.

Friends for Forty Years

Time

Suspect each moment, for it is a thief, tiptoeing away with more than it brings. 

John Updike

I have always been curious about the construct of time. Philosophers, poets, and physicists have grappled with the idea of time for centuries. There are mind-bending arguments that the passage or flow of time is a mirage, and all time is laid out in its entirety—a timescape, analogous to a landscape—with all past and future events located there together. Augustine of Hippo, a fifth-century philosopher (and patron saint of brewers 🍺), remarked that he knew well what time is - until somebody asked. Then he was at a loss for words. Albert Einstein wrote that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion. He also said that if you can't explain something simply, you don't understand it well enough and this rather aptly captures my relationship with time.  

Meeting up with old friends and falling into a comfortable rhythm of sharing and laughing at decades old stories is one of life's greatest gifts. It appears to make time momentarily stand still. I retired recently and some days were a grind, yet a decades-long career that I loved seems to have gone by in a blur. Getting older can bring wisdom and recognition that many of the things we worried about are not very important. Aging also brings the reality of death a little closer and grief resurfaces the notion of time. Our father died decades ago at age 61, and I remember thinking at the time that he was old. Our Mom lived an active, independent, and healthy life to 85, but she became ill and passed away in a week. I remember her telling us in the ICU that "it is happening too fast".  The harder we try to hold onto the sands of time, the quicker they seem to slip through our grasp. 

Our two children are adults now with professional careers, and both were married within the last couple of years. Their ceremonies were wonderful celebrations of happiness, life, and love. We gathered on warm, sunny days with friends and family and revelled in their joy. Preparing ‘father of the bride’ and ‘father of the groom’ speeches caused me to marvel at how time zooms by - poof - our little girl and little boy have moved away, have life partners, homes, and lives of their own.

As we age, we are often surprised by candid photos of ourselves, and struck by the strangeness of seeing an old person wearing our clothes. At the same time, when we see old photos of ourselves, we realize that we were unaware of how young and full of life we once were. I imagine twenty years from now we would give anything to be this exact age and looking and feeling as good as we do now. Perhaps as more sand escapes from the hourglass of life, the clearer we can see through it. 

It seems unwise to postpone our best life for later. We do not need a wedding or a funeral to celebrate life or to express our love and gratitude. There is not time for words left unsaid. I will do my best to keep moving, exploring and learning, and not let the old man in. Besides, I have a grandchild now, and I have several thousand corny grandpa jokes I want to share with him. There really is no better time than now.