My winter Olympic memories go way back.  Black and white TV.  Skating was done outside.  Most winter events were outside.  I remember watching skaters do compulsory figure 8s, following a track on the ice.  I watched Peggy Fleming.  She was amazing.  I watched 13-year-old Stephanie Westerfield skate in the 1962 World Championship after the entire ’61 USA Olympic skating team was killed in a plane crash.  I watched Jean-Claude Killy ski.  He was fast!

In recent years I’ve come to love curling and snowboarding, certainly nothing I grew up with.

It was Jim McKay and the Wide World of Sports every Saturday afternoon that brought more than sports into our living rooms on television.  He gave us the Olympics.  “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” became a hallmark for sports, and the Olympics.

I was glued, and have been since childhood.  There have been so many wonderful Olympic events.  Hubby and I were in New York with friends in 1980.  They tried to get us tickets to the USA hockey game, but the day before our friend was at a game and reached up to catch a puck.  Ouch.  We watched that game on TV.  Yes, it was Miracle on Ice.

The Olympics have always had a profound effect on me.  It’s more than sports; it’s countries competing together in an air of unity.  It’s fierce competition, balanced with respect and friendship.  This should be a roadmap for the world.

For example, when USA played Denmark in men’s ice hockey this week, at the end of the game the Denmark players all shook hands with the referees.  Wow.

And the Scandinavian countries that are ruling the roost in the Olympics?  I’m not surprised.  Outdoors is their favorite place to be, unlike many Americans, especially children.  They outrank America in education because from childhood they are outside and physically active, which stimulates the brain and learning.  Win-Win for them!

Jennie