http://ocvarsity.freedomblogging.com/2009/01/07/cavic-shows-silver-can-be-better-than-gold/23136/ High school sports talk by the staff of the Orange County Register Fri, 14 Oct 2011 19:48:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://ocvarsity.freedomblogging.com/2009/01/07/cavic-shows-silver-can-be-better-than-gold/23136/#comment-19162 Boyd Philpot Fri, 09 Jan 2009 05:45:15 +0000 http://ocvarsity.freedomblogging.com/?p=23136#comment-19162 Any serious athlete with ambitious goals is going to compete to win. That seems to be hard wired into competitors. What does not come as easily is dealing with defeat. The closer you come and the bigger the event, the deeper the wound when you fall short. Getting second place to Michael Phelps by .01 of a second near the end of his march to 8 gold and his annointment as the "greatest swimmer of all time" has to rank right up there as tough losses go. Or does it? I think it was tougher for the people watching and cheering for the underdog who almost pulled off an upset for the ages. As for Michael Cavic, the participant, he swam a race for the ages (his masterpiece as he calls it). To be able to perform at the level he did in one of the greatest races of all time in any sport, he had to master all of his fears and the pressure of stepping up to a once in a lifetime kind of moment. To successfully do that is a high that most humans will never experience at that level. Perhaps that is why he is thrilled to have a silver medal that will always remind him of that wonderful day. His experience transcends the idea that "winning is the only thing". Any serious athlete with ambitious goals is going to compete to win. That seems to be hard wired into competitors. What does not come as easily is dealing with defeat. The closer you come and the bigger the event, the deeper the wound when you fall short. Getting second place to Michael Phelps by .01 of a second near the end of his march to 8 gold and his annointment as the “greatest swimmer of all time” has to rank right up there as tough losses go. Or does it? I think it was tougher for the people watching and cheering for the underdog who almost pulled off an upset for the ages. As for Michael Cavic, the participant, he swam a race for the ages (his masterpiece as he calls it). To be able to perform at the level he did in one of the greatest races of all time in any sport, he had to master all of his fears and the pressure of stepping up to a once in a lifetime kind of moment. To successfully do that is a high that most humans will never experience at that level. Perhaps that is why he is thrilled to have a silver medal that will always remind him of that wonderful day. His experience transcends the idea that “winning is the only thing”.

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