Time magazine recently did a feature on 100 Athletes to Watch in the upcoming Olympics (Breaux is #75). He rules due to his totally nonchalant attitude when it comes to competing.
He says of his javelin career, "Dude, I throw a stick. Come on. I get paid a pretty good salary to throw a stick." I love it. No ego. None of that "I'm the best" crap you hear from a lot of pro athletes. Incidentally, he is the best. He holds the American record for 'throwing a stick'.
His 'just have fun with it' stance on competition reminds me of another Olympic athlete - skier Bode Miller. Bode didn't ski to win, he skied to have fun. He even authored a book titled Go Fast, Be Good, Have Fun.
A lot of people take exception to his style. He's been chastised by the media on more than one occasion. Before the 2006 winter Olympics he was interviewed by Newsweek. In that interview he explained what he thought the ideal games would be. Two and a half years later, I still remember it verbatim.
"For me the ideal Olympics would be to go in with all that pressure, all that attention and have performances that are literally tear-jerking, that make people put their heads down because they’re embarrassed at how emotional they’re getting, that make people want to try sports, talk to their kids, call their f---ing ex-wives—and come away with no medals. I think that would be epic. That would be the perfect thing."
Hell. Yeah. I was interviewed by Midwest Events magazine last month, and I wish I could have said something that poignant.
When the Olympics start next week, I won't be paying attention to the TV networks gold medal count ticker. I'll be watching the faces of the athletes when they cross the finish line. There's nothing I love more than that "Holy crap, I just raced in the Olympics" look of shock.
Here's footage of the 2004 women's marathon in Athens. Skip ahead to 8:40 to see what a third place finish looks like.
In tears.
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