Knowing how to lose can be as important as winning Miami Herald

She finished fifth. After advancing to the finals she was neither a factor nor a threat. So much for the home field advantage. It would be a stretch to suggest the weight of . billion Chinese was a factor in Du Li s disappointing performance Saturday but it wouldn t be entirely inaccurate. The host country has invested as much time and energy in its potential gold medal haul medal as it put into the gloriously executed Opening Ceremonies on Friday night. As one Chinese athlete reflecting on the Win Or Don t Bother attitude she shares with her peers recently told the New York Times It s only important to win the gold in the Olympics. If you win second or finish last it s the same. That sounds harsh but those are the stakes Chinese sports authorities have established. Traditionally host countries in the Olympics enjoy a dramatic performance bump and though the bump is more tangible with sports relying on subjective scoring systems gymnastics and boxing the roar of a hugely sup! portive crowd can provide the final decisive kick in a swimming or a running event. But there s a flip side too. The pressure on Chinese athletes expected to contend for a gold medal is unfathomable. Du Li will survive her sub par afternoon. Not only did she bring home the gold from the same event in she ll always have Athens but she returns to competition this week in the women s meter three position rifle. It s OK said Du Li. I scored to get to the final and I m satisfied with it. But as for the final I wasn t fully prepared for the pressure of competing at home. There were a few hundred fans in the stands Saturday at the Beijing Shooting Range Hall and while that may be a healthy turnout for an air rifle event it s not be confused with the crowd of that will cheer on China s Liu Xiang China s defending gold medal winner in the meter hurdles. In any case winner takes all is a dubious principle especially at the Olympic Games where the idea as it was originally conceived i! s to extract satisfaction from preparation and the noble effort. Furthermore there s something to be said for losing with dignity which brings us back to the athlete who won the first gold medal of the Beijing Games Katrina Emmons of the Czech Republic. Emmons met her husband American shooter Matt Emmons after he suffered the brief brain cramp that deprived him of taking home a second gold medal in Athens. Needing only a score of . to clinch a victory a score he could achieve with his eyes closed Emmons took aim at the target in lane . Wrong lane. Wrong target. Needing an Emmons scored a zero pushing him down from certain champion to eighth place also ran. All I had to do Emmons told reporters a few weeks ago was hit the damn target and I win. Despite the freakish mistake Emmons never came unmoored from the essential Olympic tenet that the point is in competing in trying your best. He accepted his fate with uncommon grace and poise and then we went to the beer garden at the shooting venue in Athens. Which is where he felt a tap on his shoulder! . A talented Czech shooter had what Emmons did and was impressed by his refusal to blame anybody for his mistake but himself. I thought wow she s talking to me Emmons recalled recently. And all she said was I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am for the cross firing and I thought you were the real winner. I wish you luck in the future. That was really meaningful especially from someone I really admired in the sport. Not so much her achievements but the way she played the game. And she was cute too. They were married last year. Saturday after Katrina edged Russia s Lioubov Galkina for the gold medal her husband the guy who won because he knew how to lose was the happiest sports fan in China. Complete Forecast Search Logout Member Center News Sports Entertainment Business Tropical Life Opinion Jobs Cars Real Estate Shopping Classifieds elnuevoherald.com Breaking News Miami Dade Broward Keys Florida Americas Nation World Politics Action Line Issues Ideas Neighborhoods Dolphi! ns Marlins Heat Panthers Colleges FIU FSU UM UF High Schools Golf Soccer Tennis Motor Sports Outdoors Movies Restaurants Nightlife Music TV Theater Dance Visual Arts Weekend Comics one killed Phelps opens Olympic swimming in IM prelims Spains Sanchez wins men s Olympic road race China tops men s gymnastics prelims US in finals Zagunis leads US sweep in fencing event More Most Popular Stories Dolphins find starting QB Pennington Dolphins find starting QB Pennington A healthy Pennington is Dolphins best option For Dolphins preseason opener does count Fleeing may go against suspect Gators eager for UM Canes Ojomo filling in at end Heat newcomer I can do a lot of things here Miss Universe the naked truth Lesbian avoids deportation to Jamaica News On The Go News by Mobile News by Email RSS feeds Podcasts Score alerts Knowing how to lose can be as important as winning Posted on Sat Aug. print email h first .text facebook toolbar no width height return false Facebook h first .text return false Digg h first .text delicious toolbar no width height retu! rn false del.icio.us AIM By JOHN MCGRATH McClatchy Newspapers BEIJING The first medal event of the Beijing Summer Games found Chinese favorite Du Li a year old student at the Shandong University of Technology enjoying the home field advantage in the women s meter air rifle. She finished fifth. After advancing to the finals she was neither a factor nor a threat. So much for the home field advantage. It would be a stretch to suggest the weight of . billion Chinese was a factor in Du Li s disappointing performance Saturday but it wouldn t be entirely inaccurate. The host country has invested as much time and energy in its potential gold medal haul medal as it put into the gloriously executed Opening Ceremonies on Friday night. As one Chinese athlete reflecting on the Win Or Don t Bother attitude she shares with her peers recently told the New York Times It s only important to win the gold in the Olympics. If you win second or finish last it s the same. That sounds harsh but th! ose are the stakes Chinese sports authorities have established. Traditionally host countries in the Olympics enjoy a dramatic performance bump and though the bump is more tangible with sports relying on subjective scoring systems gymnastics and boxing the roar of a hugely supportive crowd can provide the final decisive kick in a swimming or a running event. But there s a flip side too. The pressure on Chinese athletes expected to contend for a gold medal is unfathomable. Du Li will survive her sub par afternoon. Not only did she bring home the gold from the same event in she ll always have Athens but she returns to competition this week in the women s meter three position rifle. It s OK said Du Li. I scored to get to the final and I m satisfied with it. But as for the final I wasn t fully prepared for the pressure of competing at home. There were a few hundred fans in the stands Saturday at the Beijing Shooting Range Hall and while that may be a healthy turnout for an air rifle event it s not be confused with the crowd of that will cheer on Ch! ina s Liu Xiang China s defending gold medal winner in the meter hurdles. In any case winner takes all is a dubious principle especially at the Olympic Games where the idea as it was originally conceived is to extract satisfaction from preparation and the noble effort. Furthermore there s something to be said for losing with dignity which brings us back to the athlete who won the first gold medal of the Beijing Games Katrina Emmons of the Czech Republic. Emmons met her husband American shooter Matt Emmons after he suffered the brief brain cramp that deprived him of taking home a second gold medal in Athens. Needing only a score of . to clinch a victory a score he could achieve with his eyes closed Emmons took aim at the target in lane . Wrong lane. Wrong target. Needing an Emmons scored a zero pushing him down from certain champion to eighth place also ran. All I had to do Emmons told reporters a few weeks ago was hit the damn target and I win. Despite the freakish mistake ! Emmons never came unmoored from the essential Olympic tenet that the point is in competing in trying your best. He accepted his fate with uncommon grace and poise and then we went to the beer garden at the shooting venue in Athens. Which is where he felt a tap on his shoulder. A talented Czech shooter had what Emmons did and was impressed by his refusal to blame anybody for his mistake but himself. I thought wow she s talking to me Emmons recalled recently. And all she said was I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am for the cross firing and I thought you were the real winner. I wish you luck in the future. That was really meaningful especially from someone I really admired in the sport. Not so much her achievements but the way she played the game. And she was cute too. They were married last year. Saturday after Katrina edged Russia s Lioubov Galkina for the gold medal her husband the guy who won because he knew how to lose was the happiest sports fan in China. Join the discussion The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to sh! are information experiences and observations about what s in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively open debate on the issues of the day and ask that you refrain from personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Not a registered user It s Free Register here . Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts

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