‘The Olympic spirit is for all’

There’s now a lot of talk, including consultations, on how to improve the situation of sportsmen in the Philippines to get more medals. Some of them are genuine, others are spur of the moment, or opportunely riding on what’s trending. These, we hope, would yield some fruits. For these, I am grateful, on behalf of future beneficiaries.

But somehow, taking a cue from my own experience, I believe that what eventually propels individual athletes is their personal drive as well as making good sense of wins and losses, fateful twists, and tragic turns in the pursuit of sports. Skills, prowess, and energies can go up and down. Beyond these game factors are game lessons. And it is vital to make the best of these, not simply for the game, but profoundly for life and living.

Competing in the Olympics is for a handful, but the spirit of the Olympics is for all.

Not a few times have my sons heard me use swim strokes as a metaphor to meet deadlines in my years as a newspaper reporter. The importance of a single stroke was etched in my mind during my high school swimming days. “Focus on taking the next breath and making the next stroke to get to the other end of the pool,” I recounted to them. This was my mantra as I struggled almost daily to finish news reports and articles. Always, one sentence at a time.

How valuable this lesson is, I told the kids, when they must finish washing the dishes, doing the laundry, or making their beds. Always, one item at a time. Things will get done.

Paris broadcast commentators did not let go of this single lesson as they kept viewers abreast of the games: “All these champions know they can’t think of their past victories. They need to stay calm and focus on this next point. Nothing else.”

We, the exultant Filipinos, have heard a similar line from Caloy Yulo, too—many times.

In another vein, my daughter, Kippie, paid special attention to an observation related to gender.  Our Olympic gold medalists are in sports that are not commonly touted as the usual or ideal paths in relation to their gender, with Hidilyn in weightlifting and Yulo in gymnastics. They had issues with support, and there were doubters along the way. Yet here they are, champions! I texted back my agreement: “Their resolve and strong inner spirit guided them to their gold.”

Kippie, one of my seven sons, who later changed his pronoun from he to she, was a varsity player on the Ateneo de Manila volleyball team.

As I write this, there’s one Ateneo volleyball varsity teammate of Kippie, Richmond L. Crisostomo, who is a 2024 recipient of the Best Master’s Thesis in the Fundamental Research Category from the University of Montpellier, France. His cited work is entitled “Eco-evolutionary Dynamics from Estimation of Strain Abundance in the Human Gut Microbiome.”

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The award-giving body was the Societes des Ingenieurs et Scientifique de France Occitanie-Méditerranée (IESF-OM) and the Collegium D’Ingénierie des Grandes Ecoles du Languedoc-Roussillon (CODIGE). What his work is about requires another piece to explain. But first, we extend our congratulations.

I recently asked Richmond if he keeps exercising despite his busy academic schedule while pursuing a doctorate in Germany. He assured me that he will work hard to keep up with his exercise routine. The “Tita” in me reminded our budding exemplary scientist that muscular and neural memories work hand in hand.

To this, he agrees and is reminded of the Latin phrase “mens sana in corpore sano,” which means a healthy mind in a healthy body.

As Paris geared up for more concluding matches and the anticipated Olympic Closing ceremonies, Kippie, her flatmates, and officemates were already beginning to imagine the days when Paris returns to “normalcy.” They will surely miss the great vibe that now envelopes Paris. “Even the French are astounded. They say they’ve never seen Paris this happy,” Kippie says. (Read the first part of Paurom’s piece here).

Ruby is a depth communications practitioner who melds depth psychology approaches with media and public relations consultancy. She was a former president of the Carl Jung Circle Center (CJCC) and the course director of the CJCC-Depth Institute of Asia’s certificate course, “Kayamanan, Deep Stories of Self.” She was also a former features editor and human resource manager at the Philippine Daily Inquirer.