tennis, life and a few things in between

Beijing is calling!  Susan Rapp, the former Olympic silver medalist in 1984 is now Susan von der Lippe, mother of 2, at age 42 is trying to qualify for her fourth Olympic! WOW !! You go girl!!  Refreshing and romantic.

A little sad note that she had to sit out in 1980 when she’s 15 (who’s to dispute that she won’t win a gold medal that year?), because US decided to boycott the Moscow game.  Now there are thunders about boycotting Beijing game, but not a single nation is considering to withheld its athletes.  Smart move.  In consideration to the athletes: they only have so much youth and limited time span to shine, only every four years!  And most Olympic sports aren’t money-generating venue, except, well the late comer like tennis and basketball – ice hockey players aren’t being paid as much as other major leaguers.  They do deserve the moment in the lime light, pls don’t take that away.  Carter wasn’t a smart president anyway.  He got elected only because of Nixon, IMHO.  And what did Carter administration achieve for withholding their hard trained athletes?  More gold medals to the Russians.  A gold medal is a gold medal.

Sport is sport, pls don’t let the politics erode its spirit.  The hard training athletes inevitably speak different language, grow up in a different culture, but they can compete together abide by the same rule of the game.  That is a huge acomplishment, and it what the Olympic spirit is.  They might not be able to communicate orally, but they speak to each other directly thought the love and understanding of the sport they compete.

Just so this weekend I saw a little program showcasing a 12-year old Korean American violinist performing at Carnegie Hall.  She is a short cross eyed pre-teen at Juilliard.  It was the familiar Haydn piece she was playing drew me to the TV first – Steve practiced it often while I was living with them in Beijing.  What made me stay to watch was her enjoyment and composure, so radiant that I would take her as Julia Fisher or Sophie-Mutter, virtuoso, mature, has deep understanding and appreciation for music.  Later, the presenter also invited her two chamber music mates, a 11-year old pianist, and a 13-year old cellist who’s been in the US for only six months.  They all played without a sheet – all in their tiny heads!!!  The presenter who first accompanied the Korean as the pianist, a 6-footer man joked to the tiny pianist that she perhaps doesn’t trust his page turning ability.

Isn’t music like sport, it nurture and cultivate the players from the world over who speak different tongues and fashion different cultures?  Why can we please leave the politics out?  Just let them play and compete, and us to enjoy the beauty of the music/game?  And please don’t rerate the slow runners – each one has its own ability and circumstance, China is coming up and catching up.

Oh, one more thought: can we exclude the professional players from the game?  Olympic is to showcase the best, but does the professional needs this venue to twinkle every four year when they have ESPN year round?