The opportunity to represent your country at the Olympic Games is earned, not given.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
When it applies to the Olympics and making a decision, I have to claim Australia as my country.
One must put things in perspective - I've been given a circumstance with very little time to catch form and try and get an Olympic quota for the country.
No one pretends anymore that the Olympics are just about sports. It's routine to talk about what effect holding the Games in this or that capital will have on the host country's international reputation, how a nation's prestige can be raised by its medal count.
The Olympics is an imperfect interregnum, the parade of nations a fantasy about a peace never won. It offers little relief from strife and no harbor from terror.
I'm so over the moon that I have the opportunity to represent my country at a third Olympic Games.
That's because the International Olympic Committee has a policy of never replacing medals.
The Olympics is about showing what you've done with your life, your dream as an athlete and sharing that with the world.
Every country when they have Olympics, a lot of people come out opposed.
The Olympic Games are for the world and all nations must be admitted to them.
You show up at the Olympics, and you're no longer you; you're an American Olympian. You're part of this greater whole, and the individual doesn't matter.