Olympic Gold for Teamwork

Like millions of people world-wide, I’ve been watching the Olympics – not obsessively - but they are usually on in the background for a couple of hours in the evening when I write. But, I am watching the Olympics a bit differently than many. I watch the teamwork exhibited by the various athletes. I’m particularly impressed by the beach volleyball duo, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, and Michael Phelps and the other U.S. men swimmers.

With the volleyball champions, teamwork extends so far that, reportedly, during an annual vote for best athlete by athletes, Misty May refuses to vote at all. She apparently believes that it is the team that accomplishes the wins, despite the athletes voting her best athlete several times. And, Michael’s support to and from his team members has impressed me, too.

I could go on and on here, but I think the point is made. Despite individual glory, in key relays and team sports, the athletes are amazing. They use their individual strengths to the team’s best advantage. They enable other team members to be successful. They share the glory and they don’t hog the spotlight. If you’ve been watching, I imagine you can come up with many more characteristics of these successful athletes and their teams. I'd be happy if you'd share your thoughts in "comments" below. Are you watching, too?

About.com provides Olympics coverage at the individual sports sites, but also at an overall Olympics site. The writer of the Olympics blog currently lives in Beijing and is doing a terrific job talking about the culture and some of the day-to-day life happenings that you don’t often receive from the mass media.

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_{Image © Getty Images / Jamie Squire}

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