Win or Lose, It’s All in the Details

At a certain level, excelling in sports becomes really detail-oriented. When I was younger, I was always amazed by ABC’s Wide World of Sports television program that showed the dramatized inside look at the lives of athletes, especially into the lives of Olympic athletes since I have been obsessed with the Olympics for as long as I can remember (I originally thought I would go as a soccer player. Kudos to the 1996 U.S. Olympic women’s soccer team for inspiring many!). It was awesome to me to see how the lives of these successful athletes were 24/7 about their sport and then to see how after a bunch of blood, sweat, and tears later, everything finally came together in the end and they were successful, at the very least in their own eyes.

The past two months I have been traveling all over the world training and racing my bike. I have reached that point where it feels like my life could be a fairly engaging documentary. One of my training partners and I actually had a conversation based on this fact a few weeks ago. We discussed how we get up early, we ride to the track with our backpacks packed with the day’s necessities, we have a discussion over who’s iPod contains the most motivating playlist, we put that iPod on the stereo system, we ride efforts to the point of nausea, we adjust equipment to try to get the most speed out of ourselves, we try out the new and supposedly most technologically-advanced and fastest equipment, we discuss video feedback of the efforts we just did, we push ourselves even harder on the next efforts, we play cheerleader for our training partners and teammates who are just about on the point of not being able to do any more, we head out of the road for more hours of training, we come back to housing in the late afternoon and eat ridiculous amounts of food, we stretch and try our best attempts at recovery technique some of which include unique inventions of tight pants or humidity, we sleep, and then we start the same process all over again the next day. Some days we crash, and doesn’t that add even more to the appeal of a documentary?

The most interesting part of the actual documentaries to me was what happens after all the training and after the competition. No matter if training goes well or not, if the athlete meets the goal during competition or not, there’s always a reevaluation period. There’s always a flurry of questions as to what went well or didn’t? What could have been better? What can be improved upon next time? When you get to the point where your sporting life seems like documentary material, finding answers to these details consumes more time and effort than I thought was possible from watching the documentaries.

These past two months I took part in two national team camps and competed in two World Cup competitions. The camps went fairly well but my performances at the World Cups were not what were expected. Turn on the cameras; there have been some serious periods of reevaluation. There have been consultations with many people, the stuff ABC eats up. I have had to question all my preparations all the way down to the most basic, even where I live. I’m at that level now. There are checkmarks next to 24/7 and the blood, sweat, and tears boxes. Is there a checkmark next to the successful box? Only time will tell. For now that depends on the details.

www.kimgeist.com

TV: Skating Gymnastics Spectacular & new ABC Superstars

Nastia Liukin, who dazzled American audiences with her near-flawless routines to capture the all-around gymnastics gold medal in the Beijing Olympics, headlines the Progressive Presents Skating and Gymnastics Spectacular, which will be broadcast nationally on NBC on Jan. 18, 2009, from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. EST (check local listings). The show was recorded Dec. 23, 2008, in The Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City, S.D.

Liukin, still glittering from her golden night in Beijing, performs in this event, along with newly crowned silver medalist and 2007 world champion Shawn Johnson and American national team gymnasts Alicia Sacramone and  Samantha Peszek.

Actress and singer/songwriter Raven Symone (That’s So Raven, Cheetah Girls) provides musical entertainment for the special show.

The cast of figure skaters is equally decorated and includes 2008 junior world silver medalist Caroline Zhang, four-time Canadian champion Joannie Rochette, world junior champion and U.S. silver medalist Rachael Flatt, and Olympic silver medalist Tanith Belbin.

This grand opening event is hosted by 1968 Olympic gold medalist Peggy Fleming, two-time Olympic gold medalist Bart Conner and nine-time Olympic medalist Nadia Comaneci.

What else is on tap for the tube?

According to Variety, ABC just announced it has ordered a celebrity-themed revival of Superstars, an all-around sports competition that featured famous athletes competing in different sporting events to determine the best athlete in the world.

Superstars originally premiered as part of ABC’s Wide World of Sports and has aired in several forms since 1973.

ABC’s revival of the series will pair eight celebrities with a professional athlete before the teams compete against each other in various sporting events including swimming, biking, running, kayaking and other head-to-head athletic challenges.

Each week a team will be eliminated until one team is ultimately crowned the winner.

Let’s hope some female athletes are cast in the new show, which is scheduled to air this summer.  Stay tuned for updates.