The topic was whether we agreed with Dr. Rhadi Ferguson, who believes that anyone who had an opportunity to go to the Olympics would take it or whether we believed Karo Parisyan who said he had never regretted not going to the Olympics.
(Disclaimer: We've known both Rhadi and Karo for years so nothing here should be taken as unbiased - but, of course, if you've ever read or listened to anything on my blog, you know that nothing here is ever unbiased!)
4 comments:
I agree on the point that not everyone would take a chance to compete in the Olympics. As Ronda said in a previous interview, she would've basically trained for something like 4 years for one day. For some people, that time and energy would be worth a shot at the Olympics. As a 20 yr old fellow Judoka, if I had the chance, I would probably do it for the experience, but I can totally see why someone wouldn't want to. That is a huge committment, and it rewally depends on how the person wants to spend their life.
Notice how Rhadi framed the issue by saying nobody who has the opportunity to "GO" to the Olympics turns it down? Hmm... could he be projecting? Rhadi could never have "WON" the Olympics. I always thought top level athletes always dreamed of WINNING the Olympics. But if he'd have said that, it would call attention to the fact that Rhadi was actually not a great judo player. He got his ass kicked at most of the international tournaments he competed in (except for the US Open). I'm not saying this to hate on him, it's just that he's saying Karo wasn't good enough to go...and believe me, Karo was a better judo player than Rhadi. Rhadi just didn't have much competition at the national level. P.S. Not everyone wants to compete at a tournament that's major purpose for existing is so NBC can sell ad space to Coca-Cola.
Great title for the book! I can't wait for it to get published and will hound, nag and cajole all of the athletes and coaches here at Welcome Mat in Kansas City to buy a copy. But, I am sure after a few of them read it, the book will sell itself.
Steve
Hey, Steve -
Thanks for the kind words. You're still 12 books ahead of us. We're hoping to get ours done before your 13th book is out.
(Yes, I am jealous)
Random -
I think Rhadi's point was that people make the decision not to TRAIN to make the Olympic team, no one makes the team and says, "No thanks, I'm busy that week."
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