Taking part

Hey folks!

It's 11:10AM here in Austria, the weather is nice and I should actually be studying for two exams (contemporary history, statistics II) - in short, the perfect time and condition for another follow up of the Olympic Day celebrations on Wednesday.

As I wrote in my review, I was one of the guest speakers at this event, presenting the key facts of the YOG. Not an easy assignment, being given the fact that I had only 5 minutes to do so. (You know, when it comes to talking/presenting/writing, I keep with Mark Twain who allegedly once wrote: "I don't have time to write you a short note, so I'll write a long letter instead.") The other speakers were Peter Wittmann (president of the Austrian federations organization), Peter Seisenbacher (Olympic champion; I intend to write about him later), Hans Holdaus (director of the IMSB) and Paul Schauer (president of the Austrian Swimming Federation, vice-president of tie AOC). I'd like to write about the latter today.

In his role as the AOC's vice-president, it was Mr. Schauer's job and privilege to welcome the guests to the Olympic Day celebration. Below, there is an excerpt from his speech, quoted by memory. In advance, I guess I need to explain that the unofficial motto of the Olympic Games is "Dabei sein ist alles" - "It's all about taking part". The source of this slogan is disputed, nevertheless, it's widely used in German speaking countries.

"You know, when it comes to the Olympic Games, it's all about taking part. However, this quote is very often misinterpreted. People believe that it is all about taking part in the Games. However, it is rather about taking part in the Olympiad - the four years leading to the Games. It is about working hard on yourself and your skills in those four years in order to be a world class athlete."

I have to admit that I never thought about it in that much detail, however, when hearing Mr. Schauer's point of view, it was kind of a light bulb moment. Because if you think about it closely, he is absolutely right! Of course taking part in the Olympics is amazing - the greatest thing you can achieve as an athlete. However, what is even more important, is being in the middle of things during the Olympiad. It is in those four years that you can determine whether you are good enough for the Games or not. And instead of having one competition or maybe two weeks of competitions, you have to be on top of your game constantly, 24/7 for four years!

And I guess looking at it from this perspective, the whole philosophy of this saying become much more appealing.
"It's all about taking part in the Olympics" can be understood as a cheap excuse à la "At least I took part".
"It's all about taking part in the Olympiad" however is like saying: "Yes, I am taking part and I am on my way to Innsbruck/London/Sochi/Nanjing/Rio..." So what might appear as a semantic difference at first glance, is actually a huge difference in real life.