Senior Seminar Revisited

In college I took this class about literary criticism and theory. The premise of the class is "this is what English grad students do for four to six years, so decide now if it's for you."

It sure as hell wasn't for me. But I am sure one of the many theories we bullshitted about for a semester can apply to the "Olympic Moments" NBC has decided define the Athens games.

And I'm pretty sure Reader Response theory is not one of them. According to NBC, the games are all about Michael Phelps, the American sweep in the 200 and 400 in track, Girl Power (softball, hoops, beach bootyball I mean volleyball), and Paul Hamm.

Lost in the shuffle is the amazing performance of Morocco's Hicham el-Guerrouj. Without a doubt he is the best middle distance runner, ever. He also never won a gold medal before. But then this year that speedy bastard goes out and wins the 1500 AND the 5000 meter runs. Does anyone out there appreciate just how fucking amazing this is? Cripes. That's hard enough to do in the shitty Midwest Athletic Conference that I was subjected to for four years in college. And this dude pulls it off in the Olympics. The range it takes to win these two events is unheard of, especially in the present day and age of athlete specialization.

Remember the hype Michael Johnson received in 1996 for winning the gold in the 200 and 400? Well, imagine if Johnson had never even won a gold medal prior to this (he won one in a relay in 1992), had been dominating the sport for over five years, and instead of winning the 200 and the 400, won the 100 and 400. Then you'd get an inkling of what el-Guerrouj accomplished in Athens. And not only that, his kick at the finish was by far and away the most exciting finish to a race I've seen this side of Billy Mills.

But do we hear anything about el-Guerrouj here in the Unites States?

Quick: think of distance running in Athens 2004 and tell me what image pops in your head.

I'm willing to bet it is a defrocked and freaked priest pushing Silva into the crowd in the men's marathon. As bizarre as that whole incident was, el-Guerrouj's is so much more enduring and much more difficult to duplicate than what happened in the men's marathon.

My Olympic moment is el-Guerrouj kissing the track after barely kicking his way to a gold medal in the 1500. But NBC calls the shots and Michael Phelps and Hammgate is what they'll be hanging their hat on for the next four years.