Great Olympic Courage
David Lai has a personal blog. From time to time, I read his blog… he writes all sorts of things on there, from his personal rendezvous to his Dharmic adventures. Today I came across a very inspirational post. I would like to share this with everyone here as I feel that it is a must read article. It is about China’s Olympic hurdler named Liu Xiang who displayed heart-wrenching determination and courage. How do you feel about Liu Xiang? It moved to know he finished the game no matter what.
It goes back to the same old yet relevant adage, it’s not whether you win or not, but how you play the game.
Tsem Rinpoche
Great Olympic Courage
I have not been following the Olympics at all. However, I saw a post on this Olympic hurdler, Liu Xiang who was once a great champion but was unable to perform in the last Olympics due to his injury. His story was quite touching and one of the most memorable stories of this Olympics. He took great pains to prepare himself to win as he was a world champion. Unfortunately for this Olympics, he crashed on the first hurdle.
He tried to stand up but he couldn’t on his first try. He sat there disheartened and the whole world was watching this including millions of his countrymen. People could see the strain and disappointment written all over his face. When he finally got up and he dodged the wheelchair and volunteers as he hopped himself out of the stadium. He stopped at the exit of the stadium and something dawned on him.
He turned around and hopped onto the track and continued to hobble along the race. He kissed his final hurdle before he made it to the finishing line. This was the qualifying round and he couldn’t make it but his courage to face himself made the whole stadium cheer him and fellow hurdlers came to embrace him and lifted his hand in victory. Back home in China, many cheered his courage but there are a few who said that he faked the fall to avoid losing the race. But I think it was real and I think it was a beautiful and meaningful victory.
Source: http://www.davidlai.me/2012/08/07/great-olympic-courage/
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The three values of Olympism are excellence, friendship and respect. About coming together in the spirit of sportsmanship, the competition between countries from all over world. It wasn’t just the athletic ability, it was their moral courage competing in the Olympics as a once in a lifetime opportunity for them.
Olympic hurdler, Liu Xiang from China a sporting idol had won after China’s first ever male track and field Olympic gold medal. In the last Olympics due his recurring injury had forced not able to perform well. Despite crashing on the first hurdle he continued with much pain hopped onto the track, kissed his final hurdle before he made it to the finishing line. His courage and determination had won the heart of many in the stadium and back home. He had showed an example of good sportsmanship and being able to lose gracefully.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
Winning is not the sole purpose in the things we do. It is the process that counts. The process can make us a better person or worse. It is our choice.
Liu Xiang may not win in the game but how he respected his duty as a sportsman. Even though he was injured but he decided to finish the game. His passion and determination are very admirable.
We have to understand that we may have worked hard for the things that we want but we may not get what we wanted. The most important thing is not if we have gotten what we want but how we have done our best to achieve that. For everything we do in our life, we have to do it wholeheartedly so that we will not regret later.
To face million of spectators is no easy task when you are in action more over its Olympic. What a brave courage this Olympic hurdler, Liu Xiang,who was so determine to win a gold medal at these prestage event.The only Chinese ever to win a track-and-field gold medal, a former world-record holder and Olympic champion , making it a matter of national pride to compete in London Olympic 2012.He failed to clear the first hurdle in the heats.Due to his injuries yet he managed to go back to the track to finish his event.Thats was really couraging and inspiring of a true sportsmanship.The whole statium cheers him for his courage.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing.
Liu is one of China’s most successful athletes and is the only male athlete in history to have achieved the “triple crown” in the event of 110-metre hurdles: World Record Holder, World Champion and Olympic Champion.
In sports, it takes a lot of hard work and determination to stay on top. The period of glory is usually short lived. Not many athletes get to compete in multiple Olympic games which is held every 4 years let alone win Gold multiple times. That’s why despite injury, many would brave the pain and risk the injury to still give it their best shot.
The London Olympic would be Liu Xiang last Olympic game. Liu Xiang story is among many stories of courageous spirit in Olympic games. The Olympic games set the stage to inspire and motivate people to push beyond boundaries.
This shows a very good example that by not giving up and keeping to what we need to do no matter what difficulties we face is something that is correct. We should always do this so that we will not be despised by the world as quitters. Instead, the world would look at us like successors.
Dear Rinpoche, I never heard of this guy named Liu Xiang before. But his story is worth spreading, he did the best he could and he endured the pain on his leg just to bring China’s reputation up but yet they say he faked his own fall just because he doesn’t admit to lose. How would you feel if you are him? did the best for his country and got betrayed by his people.
Liu Xiang took a lot of courage to go back on track to finish the race. Hopefully it wasnt just an act but a sincere determination to finish what he had started. Took a lot of guts going out there in front of millions of people to do what he did.
Every now and then we come across some real life lessons when we read of such courage and post of those who we think has failed. I think Liu Xiang’s courage was an enlightening one and not fake because why would you fake such an embarrassing fall and disappoint so many? And I think it is more inspiring to see someone fall and lose it and then get up and continue. He obviously swallowed a whole lot of his ego, imagine the whole world is looking at you and it is live tele-casted on tv, there is really no where to hide and the whole word knows. So I think it is great courage of him to put his face aside and continued to do what he was meant to do instead of giving up. In doing so he won.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this post to us..
No matter how many times we fall down, just we don’t giving up and keep try do it all the best, those people around you, they will definitely can feel it and appreciate it much. It is nothing is impossible.
If it was fake, he must have practiced his acting skills rather than painfully practice for the Olympics. I rather see the positive light in others and be inspired by his courage to face himself and his ego.
After all, he must have perseverance and determination to have been a champion before.
What we should learn from him is we can’t win and be the best always. Things can get tough, however, quitting should not be an option for what we have started. Even though it may not be the best, at least do the best possible. There are people putting hopes on us and counting on us (similarity to dharma work).
Even though he was in pain, he still hobbled to the finishing end. He may have lost the race, but his effort to finish the race made him a winner. He did not give up or let his injury prevent him from finishing the race. Such strong determination! Liu Xiang, may you get well soon.
I like Liu Xiang’s never give up attitude. Strong determination people with the right attitude always inspires me to be consistent and do more. 🙂
It takes courage to walk back to finish the race. People who ar envious will say he faked it. What we do , how we do and when we do something is most likely to be commented on by someone else. So its a matter of do we believe truly and deeply for something or we will give up becos its easier to do so or becos someone else made a comment.
Reaction to Liu Xiang’s fall attracted;- Front page of a chinese major Newspaper, screaming a bold headline of outrage; Hosts and reporters noticeably turned emotional, sounded shaken and choked up; some shocking reactions inside China questioned morality behind his failure; the collapse created “heartbreak” in China and 1.3billion shed tears; but many don’t buy the heartbreak scene completely! I wonder what athlete with a “right sense of mind” would want such a disasterous disappointment to happen at this point of time at any cost?
Thank you Rinpoche and David for such an inspiring post.
I learn better of what is true sportsmen spirit and “Never Give Up”. Never give up doesn’t mean resulted us for the gold medal but the mind that make us the top of what we believe.
The result is important but the strong mind keep us move on consistently.
This mind not only for sportsmen but applicable to our live for whatever things that we do and in fact is one of the main key to success in our life journey.
I’m inspired and will truly admire Liu Xiang courage and believe.
Dear Rinpoche and David,
thanks for sharing this post. Living in Shanghai (where Liu Xiang is originally from), I see a lot of comments on Weibo (Chinese Twitter) about Liu Xiang’s fall. Some call the fall a fall while others refer to the fall as his failure.
When China witnessed his fall, the overwhelming response was one of support for him. They applauded him for trying despite his old injuries. But then came a press conference given by the national TV channel (CCTV) saying that they rehearsed for “the scenario when Liu Xiang falls” and the immediate reaction was one of outrage and negative comments hurled at LX, the Chinese Olympic Team and CCTV.
Regardless of the “side show”, one cannot deny that LX trained hard for his shot at redeeming himself after failing to live up to his country’s expectations at the 2008 Olympics, in front of his countrymen no less. It takes a lot of courage and determination to dedicate another 4 years of his life to gruelling training and he only needs to answer to his own conscience, not comments flung at him, be they positive or negative.
It’s the same for us Dharma students, I suppose. When we are among fellow Dharma practitioners, we get positive energy and support, and we feel good. But when we face people who do not agree with what we do and start criticising us, do we cringe and cry or join in the fray and fight? Why should their words affect us? As we can see from the public reaction to LX, opinions can change quickly and can be very different. If we live only in response to other people’s opinion of us, when do we even have time to really live?
My opinion: Liu Xiang is a hero because he believes in what he does. But he doesn’t need to listen to me.
Sean in Shanghai
Dear Sean,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this matter. I am sure opinions about Liu Xiang has polarized and I do believe that he would be strong enough to hear them out and get over it. Why? Well, he has no choice unless he decides to leave the country for good. Regardless of whether he faked the fall or whether it was genuine, it does not stop detractors and supporters from voicing their opinions. I guess, if they were to be silent, then he has truly become irrelevant to his own people. I guess that comes part and parcel of being a celebrity sportsman or any other public personality out there.
There’s just innumerable stories of how celebrities cope with fame and angry naysayers all over the world. One way is to keep doing what they do best and in Liu Xiang’s case, I am not sure if he would still be around for the next Olympics but there are plenty of other arenas he can move on to and his experience through it would shape the future success of whatever he would want to continue with. That’s how I see this.
刘翔是运动员的表标者！
运动员从来不会 ｓｅｔ 一条线各自己的！从来就不会认输！
我们应该向这些不停突破，不停跃进的运动员学习！不要在躲在我们的安全洞里，做懦夫！欺骗自己我很幸福快乐！
I guess Liu Xiang already knew his chances to win to be even qualified himself for the qualifying round. He did not make it in one of the last games he joined. But he can’t just quit in this way. Initially I think it’s cruel for him to make himself/his government to make him join the games. And he is not smart to join the games under such circumstances.
Liu Xiang became a hero for China and his countrymen after he won the gold medal of 2002 Olympic Games. He might not be portraying an image of a hero suppose to be – to win the games, but he at least tried it and made t to the end.
He faces himself and his limitation in front of the world and his countrymen. And many including me would not have the courage to face the consequences. Today I learn a lesson from Liu Xiang – losing is hard, facing our defeat/shortcoming is hard, letting go our ego is hard, but we win if we can face them.
Thank you David n rinpoche for sharing the story which answer my doubts I had last 1-2 weeks. Anyone can give up, it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that’s true strength.
Never give up and give all you can, It does not matter win or loose, you will gain the respect 🙂 Liu Xiang shows us the truly sportmenship. He is inspiring to many of us and he made his country proud 🙂 Thank you for sharing Rinpoche and David.
Salute on his courage to face himself and the failure on the track. he has successful win within and be a role model of many including myself. Jia you Liu Xiang, all the best! I’m sure you will succeed in whichever path that you choose to with this attitude.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this meaningful story.
Thanks Rinpoche and David for sharing this.
Yes, I believe that the real victory is to win the battle within yourself to achieve higher and better.
His action is touching my heart more than he won a gold metal in the competition. Thanks Liu Xiang for showing us the real spirit of Olympic and may you recover soon.
I always think athletes are ultra positive people, because everyone no matter how good you are you had to lose at some point before you got to the top. And being in the olympics is very special non one wants to miss out this event at all. I do not see why any athlete would want to make a show of failure.
Shelly on sept 20 at 635pm
That is very true in life no matter what we do we should complete eventhough the task is full of challange.
Lets assume that Liu Xiang did not fake it I believe it takes a lot of courage to go back to the track and finish the line knowing that you cant change your own destiny anyway.
Not many people can do that. We all have ego. For chinese, this is even worst because we need ‘face’.
So maybe we can take this as a true mistake and learn from Liu Xiang and his ability to let go his ego in front of the whole world.
Truly something big for us to learn.
Dear Sheryl,
That is a very good point that you mentioned and I read on the news that the Chinese press were notorious for giving tremendous coverage to those who won the gold medals but totally ignoring those that won the silver and bronze medals during the Olympics. I can’t imagine what they would say about Liu Xiang.