11,000 trees, 200 kites and two sailors

By Hyon O’Brien

Lately the world has been shrouded with so many incidents of violence, but with the opening of the Olympic Games on August 5th in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil has offered us a refreshing change and a breather. The Olympics are never without controversies, from concerns over the host country’s ability to handle the logistics to issues of doping and corruption. Nevertheless, there is a nobility in this peaceful international competition that never fails to inspire.

Many good and inspiring stories have come to my attention. These games have made an effort to emphasize sustainability and environmental awareness. To that end each participant at the Rio Olympics was given a cartridge with a tree seed and soil, a total of 11,000. These will be planted and form the Athletes’ Forest in Deodoro after the Olympics, with 207 species of trees, one for each delegation. This is Brazil’s gentle reminder to the world that we need to pay attention to our environment and become good stewards of our Planet Earth.

Kipchoge Keino, a 76-year-old Kenyan two-time gold medalist, received the first Olympic Laurel Award recognizing his contribution to the Olympic movement and his charitable work with orphans. After Keino retired in 1973, he devoted his life to helping underprivileged children, founding an orphanage and schools in Kenya. He made a heartfelt speech during the opening ceremony focusing on the importance of education to prepare the next generation of citizens and leaders. After he spoke, as symbols of peace, 200 kites were flown instead of releasing doves. These kites were given to orphans in Kenya who had never held a kite in their hands. The Kenyan children wrote messages of peace on the kites, which were taken back to be given to children in Brazil.

Keino’s childhood story is a remarkable story of triumph over all odds. I felt a lump in my throat while reading that from age five he ran barefoot to school 16 miles every day till he finished his school years.

There was a beautiful story during the 1988 Olympics held in Korea. Canadian sailor Lawrence Lemieux was in second place in his race when he saw a nearby boat piloted by Singaporean sailors capsize, with the two men on board injured and unable to right their boat. Lemieux broke away from the racecourse and went to their aid lifting both men out of the water and delivering them to a patrol boat before heading back to his course. He ended up finishing 22nd from his original second-place position, thus demonstrating to the world that there is more to life than winning medals. In helping the capsized Singaporean crew, he won the battle of his soul, and conquered the most basic fundamental untamed part of human nature, the urge to win at all costs. Bravo!

As of this writing the American swimmer Michael Phelps has received 21 gold medals (it could be 25 by the time this gets published). In recent years, he has been in the media not for his swimming feats but for substance abuse and drunken driving. His friend, NFL star Ray Lewis, urged him to get help and gave him a book, The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren. While getting help in rehab, Phelps credits this book in setting him free from the identity crisis he suffered from for a long time. He knew himself only as a swimmer and it was not enough to give him a clear sense of purpose for his life. This book also helped Phelps to reconcile with his father with whom he was estranged since his parents divorced when he was nine. Michael Phelps has proclaimed how the book saved his life: “It’s turned me into believing there is a power greater than myself and there is a purpose for me on this planet… It helped me when I was in a place where I needed the most help.”

I am thankful that Phelps has a friend like Ray Lewis who stepped in to help him in his darkest hour pointing him in the right direction. I pray that all 11,000 athletes at the Rio Olympics may have purpose-driven lives beyond their individual pursuits of sports and glory.

As we celebrate the athletes of all sports competing at the Rio Olympics trying to achieve “higher, faster, stronger” records in each category of sports, it is my hope that the Olympic spirit may prevail over the fierce pursuit to seek national prestige and brag about medal totals. We understand that the Olympics are an international showcase of national achievement and it is tied up in nationalism, politics and finance. However, I hope that this international festival of sports will not be contaminated by too much commercialism and corporate greed. We can achieve that goal if we follow the example of Canadian sailor Lawrence Lemieux. For a beautiful brief moment, he was able to rise above nationalism and personal glory. The goal of the Olympic Movement, to build a peaceful and better world in a spirit of friendship and solidarity, was clearly manifested in that one act.

May we remember and treasure his deeds, and the sportsmanship as well as the skill of so many others, long after the Olympics no longer exist as a global event!

Hyon O’Brien is a former reference librarian now living in the United States. She can be reached at hyonobrien@gmail.com.