Nerves

With the Olympic Games going on in Beijing at the moment I started to think a little bit about how each of those athletes would be dealing with their nerves. You would think that the entire Olympic Village would be a bundle of nervous energy for the first week.

Sure, I know that most of the athletes involved are professionals and deal with the prospect of major competition all the time, but the Olympics is still the biggest show on earth so the nerves would have to be tingling for everyone. Spare a thought for those who come from smaller nations or for the young athletes who have found themselves in the rarefied air for the first time and are asking themselves the big question – Am I good enough?

A few nights ago one of the young Columbian weightlifters by the name of Oscar Figueroa found himself in exactly that situation. I suspect he was in his first Olympics and the doubts must have been crowding in on him. It was still the snatch section of competition, his first lift and he set himself, tensed his shoulders and went to lift the weight, only to have his right hand fly off the bar as his thumb failed to lock his fingers in place. The weight hadn’t come off the floor, so he was able to try again, only for the same thing to happen.

Seven times, he attempted to lift the weight and seven times his hands refused to co-operate, slipping off the bar until he was eventually timed out of all 3 attempts. He was left to weep uncontrollably after he left the stage, out of the Olympic competition without even getting the bar off the floor.