My paternal grandfather had qualified to represent the USA in the pole vault for the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, unfortunately Frank Arthur Smith I broke his leg at an exhibition in Portland and he was replaced by the alternate jumper. Harry Babcock of the USA won the event topping the height of 3.95 meters. My grandfather remains the only person in my family to have achieve the distinction of an Olympic athlete.
In 1979 my friend Lisa from Palm Beach had qualified for the USA women’s field hockey team. Her arduous training for the Moscow Games was for naught, for President Jimmie Carter pulled out of those Olympics in protest of the USSR’s 1979 Afghan invasion. A confirmed progressive she speaks badly of Carter as the president who ruined her chances to win a gold medal.
No one else I know has come close to competing in the Games.
I could have attended this year’s games in London. I had a place to stay on Moscow Road. Instead I’m sitting on a porch on the edge of Thailand’ Western Forest, where there is no live coverage on TV, since the household is addicted to Thai soap operas and nothing can cure them of that addiction.