Winners and losers alike

Miho Takagi’s medals, ending in gold, look like a manga success story. I watched her last-place race at 15 on television as well. Being fast at both sprint and middle distance is hard to take in, but it is remarkable. Curling making the playoffs is a repeat of four years ago, and that too looks like a drama. Figure skating and nordic combined are complicated, so I will leave them this time.

I do not much like “if you try, you will be rewarded.” I think many people try and are not. But if you want to achieve something, trying is almost the only option a living thing has. What the medalists show is the hope that if you try, a drama might happen. What the athletes who go out show is how to behave when it hurts, and what to do next.