Three golds and a bronze in previous Olympics makes you a legend who gets to carry your country's flag in your sixth and final Olympics.
Kamil’s Last Olympics
olympics
Atlanta 2022
We spent the weekend in Atlanta — it was, in short, an emotional roller coaster for the girls on L’s volleyball team.
The first day was excruciatingly tough. They lost their first game in straight sets, but it was even more discouraging because they were winning set 2 by 9 (14-5) before ending up losing 19-25. That means the opponents outscored them 20-5 at that point.
The second game didn’t start any better: they lost the first set 13-25. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a tough loss. It prepared them mentally for the loss in the second set 14-25.
By then, they were wasted — done. The third game went down just like the second game: 12-25 and 14-25.
Today, we parents all wondered how things would pan out. I was worried that they might not win a set the whole weekend. The teams at Atlanta were just much stronger, as a whole, than what they were used to. In addition, they were broken mentally. How would it go?
The first game started out just as we feared: they held it together but at 19-19, it seemed like they were falling apart. They pulled it back together, though, and took it into extra points, but they ended up losing 26-24. So close. Set two — would it continue? At one point, they were down 10-16, and I thought, “Well, there’s another one. And if they lose this set, I’m afraid the day is done.” But they kept fighting and ended up taking the set 25-22. They cheered like they’d won a medal.
In the third set, they were tied at 14 and L made a huge hit to put them within one point of winning their first game. But it wasn’t to be: the opponents tied it up. The next play, L made another monster kill and they had another game point. Again, they lost the next point. It kept going like this, but the finally managed to convert a set point, winning 21-19. It was as if they’d won gold in the Olympics.
The final game of the day followed the same pattern. They lost the first set 20-25 but tied it the second set after almost letting a 23-19 lead slip through their fingers: they won 25-24. And finally, in the third set, they dominated: 15-6.
No Fluke
A second gold proves it was no fluke.
Gold!
"The Olympics are always something of a marker in my life, as I’m sure they are for everyone." Thus I began yesterday, aware of a potential little twist: "Tomorrow," I thought, "the Olympics might become the marker in K's cousin's life."
I first heard about K's cousin, Kamil, as a ski jumper one day in the early 2000s when K and I were in Zakopane and she mentioned offhandedly that her uncle was probably there too, coming to take Kamil to ski jump practice. He was just a teen, and I found it terribly impressive, remembering how utterly terrifyingly steep the jump and hill under it seemed when I'd gone to a ski jump competition at the same slope some years before.
"He's been jumping on the big hill since he was about twelve," K clarified. At twelve, I thought it was impressive that I dared to ride my skateboard down a slightly steep street. I was utterly impressed.
But in a sense, it was a natural progression for Kamil. He started jumping in his backyard at age give when he cobbled together his own ramp. K and I were there during the spring of 2004 when it was under a blanket of crocus blossoms.
Just months later, he attended our wedding. By then, he was an up-and-coming national ski jumper. It was clear to everyone he was going to be competing on the international level shortly, but that day, he stole the show by reaching down and casually swiping the garter just from the grasp of my best friend, J, who literally dove for it.
During our family visit in 2010, we'd hoped to see Kamil. By then, he'd had some limited success on the world circuit, proving correct the initial speculation about his potential. We sat in his family's living room, his father, an audiophile extraordinaire, putting on record after record for us as we downed cup after cup of tea. Babcia reminisced about how Kamil used to jump off this old table, the chair that used to be in that corner.
Since then, he's gone from being a new-comer on the international scene to the reigning world champion and current World Cup points, entering today's ski jumping competition in Sochi as an odds-on favorite.
When he won, though, the excitement that rippled through the country and through our house as well.
Congratulations, Kamil!
Figures
The Olympics are always something of a marker in my life, as I'm sure they are for everyone. The regularity of it and the significance of it provide systematic path through one's life. What was I doing then? Where were those Olympics, and where was I?
Watching figure skating this evening, I found myself reminiscing about the figure skating of old, when compulsory figures were just that.
I think the removal of the compulsory figures makes the sport seem all flash. Granted, all the jumps and twirls demand incredible precision, but they're nothing compared to the compulsory figures. But in the want-it-now, can't-wait-or-concentrate age, we just don't have the time, patience, or concentration for it.