Respect

Yesterday evening we stumbled across the Olympic pairs figure skating on TV, where the couples were going through the free programme part of the competition. In a classic piece of sporting drama, Zhang Dan (of China) landed badly after a big aerial move, apparently doing some serious damage to her leg. After some four minutes of uncertainty the couple resumed their routine and, thanks to an impressive bit of skating and the new scoring regime which did not heavily penalise them for the fall, they managed to secure a silver medal.

Today there is a great deal of controversy about the whole event. How can athletes that botch their routine so badly only be penalised a single point? Was it fair that they were allowed four minutes of recovery time before resuming? In most other events, if an athlete crashes and burns on their single attempt then tough, that's it. A downhill skier who falls is not given a second chance. This is top level competition, not some school sports day.

However, for me this controversy is not the real story. Forget for a moment the arguments over the scoring and whether Zhang and Zhang should have been given a silver medal for a routine that had a four minute break in the middle. What I will remember is that a young Chinese girl took an injury that would have benched any professional footballer for a couple of weeks at the least, got up and finished the job she started, despite the fact that if she had another fall on the injured leg it could have ended her career. Sheer guts and determination. Surely this is what the Olympic spirit is all about. Do, or do not. There is no try.