Many people follow the Olympics to see feats of physical greatness. It is not often you get to see acts of moral greatness, as well. On rare occasions, you see them both at once.
Aly Raisman is an 18-year-old gymnast who happens to live in a neighboring town to me. I don't know her, but now I will make a point of it.
She won the gold in the floor exercises event. Cool, right? She is a Jewish-American girl, and she chose the popular Jewish tune "Hava Nagila" for her routine. And she won! Then she took the podium and, as she accepted her medal, did what the organizers of the Olympics would not. She remembered the 11 Israeli victims of the 1972 massacre at the Munich Olympics.
She happens to have a younger sister the same age as one of my girls, who, like her, will be celebrating her Bat Mitzvah this year. I can't wait to meet them!
Sometimes it takes an 18-year-old to provide moral clarity. This champion was willing to speak, on the record, to say something that should not be controversial at all -- that a tragedy was tragic and deserves to be remembered, particularly by those on whose watch it happened.
ReplyDeleteI can only wish that the Olympics organizers -- led, no less, by an Olympic athlete who competed in 1972! -- will take note of this, and be humbled.
She was great. I just wish the IOC would redeem themselves with a minute of silence at closing... They probably won't.
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