Olympians' qualities not reflected in the rest of the U.S.

By E.R. Bills

Special to the Star-Telegram

The London Olympic Games were a hit, and I enjoyed them. But I also found them disturbing.

On the one hand, I was proud of our athletes, their accomplishments and commitment, their courage and hard work.

On the other hand, however, I felt ashamed.

I was ashamed and frustrated that, as incredibly and admirably as our athletes performed, they didn't represent us. Not really. If the gold-winning U.S. women's gymnastics team was truly representative of "us," the U.S., they wouldn't even have medaled. These days, we're not first, second or third in any rankings of real consequence, much less champions of good causes or fair outcomes.

And the last thing a team representing us would have been is united or working together toward common goals. Petty dissension would have split their ranks. Some of the athletes would have demanded to see Gabby Douglas' birth certificate or accused Kyla Ross of being a Manchurian candidate planted to sabotage the team's chances.

If the U.S. men's 4x100-meter freestyle relay swim team was truly representative of us, it wouldn't have won silver in London. Bitterness and suspicion over accusations that Cullen Jones was only in the mix due to affirmative action probably would have crippled the team's efforts and made members doubt and/or resent one another rather than strive collectively toward positive results.

If the U.S. men's diving team was truly representative of us, David Boudia wouldn't have won gold in the 10-meter platform dive, and Troy Dumais and Kristian Ipsen wouldn't have earned bronzes in the 3-meter synchronized diving competition.

All three men were mentored by openly gay, HIV-positive Olympic diving legend Greg Louganis. You and I discourage homosexuality and would never concede that gay folks have anything of worth, value or decency to convey to the young people in our communities, much less the sports they participate in.

We'd prefer diving into the nearest Chick-fil-A to join the rest of the righteous, even if it meant losing.

Make no mistake. The 2012 U.S. Olympic Team was not representative of us; they were better than us.

Teamwork. Trust. Shared sacrifice. Ethnic diversity. Sexual tolerance. Unity in the face of challenge, adversity, competition, difficulty. A wildly diverse group working together without suspicion or derision. Immigrants and the descendants of immigrants -- champions assembled from the tired, poor and huddled masses (wretched refuse from a thousand teeming shores) sharing the toil and rewards without fear- and hatemongers demanding to see their papers or making it harder for them to participate in the process because of the color of their skin.

I had to stop myself when I began feeling pangs of pride as our Olympians excelled in London, because I knew it was a pleasant mirage, an aberration. My country no longer believes in greatness or teamwork. The current levels of ignorance and closed-mindedness that govern (and are encouraged by many of those who govern) this nation preclude it from golden accolades, particularly in terms of greatness and teamwork.

And what our athletes did in London was just a dream -- an Olympic dream. A dream our athletes work hard toward but many of us don't aspire to, much less condone.

While we sat there cheering our Olympians in London day after day, it never occurred to us that some of them represent the very same folks we're trying to take our country back from.

We're not "medaling" these days. We're meddling with the ideas and processes that made America great. And we're doing it for petty political points.

Unfortunately, there are no Olympic events for political expedience.

E.R. Bills is a writer from Aledo. erbillsthinks@gmail.com

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