Failure: The Olympics ‘inspire enormous amounts of it’

As athletes finished competing in the gymnastics individual floor final in Paris this week, all eyes turned to the scoreboard.

Most of us were unaware that United States gymnastics coaches had submitted an inquiry on behalf of Jordan Chiles — whose score placed her fifth in the competition. As a result of the inquiry, however, judges increased the start value or difficulty of her routine by one tenth of one point.

And it made all the difference.

We watched as Chiles — who had spent her career in the shadow of gymnastics great Simone Biles — won her first individual Olympic medal.

Celebration erupted. Chiles jumped up and down and into the arms of her coach and Biles. She cried tears of joy as her teammates and others celebrated, too.

For me, however, the moment was bittersweet.

Just feet from Chiles’ jubilation, Ana Barbosu of Romania had been celebrating a bronze medal victory — her country’s first gymnastics medal since 2012 — with the Romanian flag. Then she looked to the scoreboard and, with heartbreaking recognition , lowered the flag as she realized Chiles’ elevation had pushed her out of medal range. Tears followed.

Days after the event, Olympic officials continued to grapple over who rightfully deserved the medal as they ruled on appeals and wrangled over positions . After the U.S. inquiry was voided, it appeared that the bronze would be awarded to the Romanian gymnast.

But Barbosu‘s reaction is forever seared in my memory.

Whitney Fredette, the wife of U.S. men’s 3x3 basketball star Jimmer Fredette, summarized these kinds of moments best.

It is heartbreakingly hard, she wrote on Instagram , to watch “dreams come crashing down.”

Jimmer Fredette injured his inner thigh during his team’s second of seven games of pool play in Paris. The team — expected to be well-positioned to bring home a medal — finished with a 2-5 record and was eliminated. Jimmer Fredette spent the majority of his Olympic experience sidelined.

“There have been an insane amount of tears this week (mostly from me) mostly mourning what could have been instead of what was happening,” wrote Whitney Fredette. “We are all heartbroken for him, for this team, for what we had hoped would happen this week.”

And Fredette and Barbosu were not alone.

In Games that praise, honor and acclaim winners — there are always those who lose.

It is on this worldwide stage that “many athletes see their stories lose the plot,” wrote former gymnast Timothy Dalrymple in 2021 . “Injuries and circumstances intervene. Athletes who were expected to win, even dominate, come up short.”

The Olympics, he continued, “are all about failure. They certainly inspire enormous amounts of it.”

In Paris, more than 11,000 athletes participated in 32 sports and 329 events . Statistically speaking, the majority of those athletes will return home empty-handed. It is just the way it is. Victory would be empty if it was handed to everyone.

That doesn’t make it easier to watch dreams crumble.

With thousands of others, I stood just weeks ago on the banks of the Seine River during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Games .

There was a collective gasp when the boats carrying the Olympic athletic delegations emerged . The energy and excitement were tangible. Hope prevailed.

In the days that followed, we celebrated — and cried tears of joy — as the United States’ Kenneth Rooks claimed silver in the 3000-meter steeplechase final. Still, in the very same heat, a brutal fall by Ethiopian runner Lamecha Girma left most of us gasping.

One race. Two unexpected outcomes. One stunning victory. One tragic defeat.

Dalrymple knows something about that. His gymnastics career took him to Stanford University and the NCAA championship, before a devastating injury just shy of the 1996 gymnastics trials ended his career.

“What was the point? What was the purpose of those thousands of hours of training and hardship if it was only to end in injury and disappointment? Where was the meaning in that?” he wrote.

The reason we celebrate victory is that most stories — for athletes and really all of us — end in defeat.

Take Mozambique sprinter Steven Sabino, 18, and his false start — his only career false start — during the men’s 100-meter preliminary round. With his hands on his head and tears running down his cheeks, he walked off the track, facing disqualification and knowing he would return home without competing. ”I thought this was my opportunity to show the world that I am capable and unfortunately, it didn’t happen,” he said .

Or the United States 4x100 relay team of Christian Coleman, Kenny Bednarek, Kyree King and Fred Kerley, who bungled a handoff and were disqualified after crossing the finish line in seventh place. “It just didn’t happen, but we’re human beings, too,” Coleman told the media . “We’ve been through ups and downs in life. This is another one of those times where we’ve got to just keep our heads down and keep pushing.”

Or U.S. diver Alison Gibson, 25, who hit her heels on the diving board during the preliminary round of the women’s 3-meter springboard. Her performance was ultimately registered as a non-dive, resulting in the 0.0 score.

“I hope that anyone who is watching just was able to see what it looks like to get up and keep going even when things don’t go the way you want them to. It’s about the fight,” she said . “Obviously, today didn’t go the way I wanted it to, but I think you can learn and grow from every experience, and I truly hope that the next generation of athletes recognize that even in the worst moments you can keep fighting, you can walk courageously.”

Her words are powerful.

Failure comes with being human. Greatness is defined as we rise above it — or accept it.

Dalrymple says it is the striving that matters.

“The Olympic dream animates tens and perhaps hundreds of millions around the globe to pursue dreams they will never achieve — but in striving for those dreams, if they are lucky, they become more of who they were meant to be.”

Biles — who withdrew from Olympic competition in 2021 after suffering from a sudden onset of the “twisties,” or inability to track her position in the air during complicated gymnastics moves — was expected to win gold in the gymnastics individual floor final in Paris. But she stepped out of bounds — twice — and claimed silver instead.

With Chiles, she acknowledged the victory of longtime opponent Brazilian Rebeca Andrade with a bow that showed sportsmanship and humility.

“I think it was really important for that moment,” Biles told CNN . “Obviously, it was just me and Jordan being me and Jordan, but I know it was really special and it was very impactful for kids to see that. You win with grace, you lose with grace.”

Jimmer Fredette also displayed that grace.

“This is devastating for me as I have put two years into qualifying for the Olympics with this group who are my brothers,” Fredette wrote .

“I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. And something this has taught me is to enjoy the journey,” he said. “You never know what can happen once you reach your destination but if you don’t enjoy getting there — you are missing the point.”

By any measure the Olympic journey is difficult. Just reaching the destination — the result of consistency, deliberateness and talent — is the reward for most. It requires years of work and goals stacked upon goals. Simply said, the opportunity to compete against the best in the world in front of the world is a most important victory.

U.S. heptathlete Chari Hawkins, of Idaho, qualified for her first Olympics at age 33. But after running the 100-meter hurdles, she “no heighted” — missed three attempts in a row and received no points — in the high jump. The former Utah State athlete finished the heptathlon in 21st place in a field of 23. Of the two women who finished behind her, one dropped out of the event before it started and the other dropped out after five of the seven events.

But just as with Fredette, the ending does not define her story. While securing her spot on Team USA for the 2024 Paris Games, for example, Hawkins set four new personal records during the U.S. Olympic track and field trials.

After qualifying to compete in Paris, she told the Herald Journal , “At the Olympic Trials in 2016, I fell short. At the Olympic Trials in 2021, I thought it was my last chance of ever being able to call myself an Olympian and again, I fell short. There’s immense pride, accomplishment and a touch of disbelief. It’s a testament to decades of consistent hard work, overcoming setbacks and never giving up on myself.”

Dalrymple has asked numerous Olympic athletes about their experiences. “One thing they agree on was that it was never really about the Olympic Games themselves,” he wrote. “It was about the people they became in striving for excellence.

“It was, in large measure,” he said, “about what failure made them.”