Photo by Gabe Famodu
Track and field is not a high profile sport that is easy to find on TV. A couple of meets a year make it on ESPN and they are usually hard to catch because of full-time work and school schedules. When the Summer Olympics roll around every four years, I get goosebumps just thinking about watching the track and field finals.
As a boy I was just like any other kid who loved sports, constantly watching football, baseball and basketball. However, when I was in high school I began running cross country and sprinted on the track team. Track took over as my favorite sport and I tried as hard as I could to find it on TV, but I was unable to find anything.
After taking state my junior year in 2012, the Summer Olympics took place in London. It gave me my first chance to watch the fastest people in the world compete on the biggest stage. I watched every event I could during the course of the Olympics that year and it was absolutely breathtaking. Watching Usain Bolt destroy the competition in the 100-meter gave me chills. It was inspiring to watch Oscar Pistorius run in the Olympics as a double amputee.
Watching the Olympics was also a good way for me to analyze the running form of the best athletes in the world, which was a gold mine of talent. You got to see how the best athletes ran and learn what you could do to make yourself better as well.
Watching the sprint races was the best part for me during both the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. It almost makes me sick watching how fast the sprinters can go and how far they can push the human body. The men’s 400-meter final fascinated me and made me sick to my stomach as well. They were running so fast, and yet it looked like they were doing it effortlessly. The talent displayed was incredible, and I couldn’t get enough of it.
After the 2012 Summer Olympics were finished, I began the long four years of waiting for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. After a lot of patient waiting, I was finally able to see the best of the best run again.
I watched in amazement as Usain Bolt won his third straight gold medal in the 100-meter. I watched as the 400-meter world record was finally broken by Wayde van Niekerk. When he set the new world record I was screaming in excitement as loud as I could.
The Summer Olympics gives me the chance to watch my favorite sport live on TV, and it is the best few days in a four-year period.
