Today is the last day of the Olympics. Like many of my friends, I’ve been temporarily obsessed. As long as I can remember, this fixation has afflicted me every two years in alternating seasons. In thinking about why it feels so special for so many, I’ve landed on the fleeting nature of the thing.
To be caught up in the excitement with the whole world feels rare and unifying. I know you can watch these sports year round. But outside of occasionally and very loosely following the world of track and specifically distance running, I don’t. But for a few weeks every 2 – 4 years, I become obsessed with alpine skiing and artistic swimming. (In high school, I had a news article about Apolo Ohno taped to my bedroom wall for years.)
For the past couple weeks, I’ve turned on my television in the morning, navigated to whatever sport sounded the most interesting in the moment, and left it on mute all day. While moving back and forth between work or chores, I would occasionally look up and see that table tennis had turned into handball. I’d watch for a couple minutes and then get back to the task at hand.
It’s low stakes. I can be as involved as I want to be. It’s fleeting. I can cry over an Olympic commercial with someone’s parents one day and forget what sport they compete in the next. It’s exciting. I love watching a close game. I love seeing the upsets. I love seeing the triumphs.
But perhaps the most charming thing is the fact that it opens up conversation so easily. What have you been watching? Did you see this event? Wait, you have to watch this video. Oh I know, she’s my favorite!
Because we’ve been “watching” on mute, my partner and I have taken to commenting on what we see as if we’re announcers. One of our favorite bits is seeing if we can guess when the gymnasts are about to dismount. He is much better at this than I am. We will occasionally get caught up in something and then ask lots of clarifying questions, knowing the answer is only a single remote click away, but choosing to make up our own ideas instead.
It’s been a little moment of connection as we both move around the apartment and move about our days. I’ll miss it. But I know in two years, we’ll get to do this all over again. So here’s to the ceremony. Here’s to the athletes. And here’s to the Olympic moments that have brightened our days for the past few weeks.
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