Our ability to take in adversity

One of the least appreciated, but most often experienced situation at the Olympics is defeat. Let's face it, there's only one Olympic champion, the one who gets the gold, right? After all is said and done and especially over a long period of time, silver and bronze don't account for much.

With great admiration and attention I was watching a dozen ice dancers last night that, to my untrained and ignorant eyes, all looked perfect, but yet only one couple took the coveted gold medal. How we deal with defeat is not just a daily Olympic occurrence every two years; it happens around us all the time, from our youngest years to the moment maturity and experience should shield us against almost anything. It happens in sports, at school, in business and in our relationships. Those of us who can, over and over, take a bad blow, dust themselves off and keep going, might after all be the real winners and the unsung gold medalists!