‘‘explain my orientation, etc’’.
honey, that means you don’t agree with me. and that’s fine.
by an elite athlete, i mean someone who’s competing at the level of the olympics, world championships, or other competitions at the top end of the sport. so for example, in my case, going to the world sprint championships, the national championships (yes, the nationals. in my case, even qualifying for the national championships meant i had to compete strongly against people like sue novarra-reber, who had 7 world sprint gold medals, connie paraskavin, and shiela young, which made getting to the nationals in my state a very top notch procedure, as that left ONE qualifying spot for all the rest of us girls to fight each other for).
by successful, i mean many things. i do not consider riders who have bad tempers, scream at people and act like jerks to be successful, whatever ribbons they may have, nor do i feel that crying at every horse show you don’t get first place at qualifies as good sportsmanship, although it’s not so much rude as pitiful.
success involves good sportsmanship and business dealings connected with the sport, such as selling horses honestly and representing them truthfully, and treating people decently.
i do feel many athletes lead well rounded lives overall, but i’d like to emphasize that at the peak of their careers, they MUST give up a great deal.
as tony meibock the speed skater told me, ‘‘this is my job, twenty four hours a day, to get ready for the olympics’’. but this period may only be 5-10 years of the person’s life. but yes, during that time, great sacrafices must be made.
as for perfectionism, the word has come to have a special meaning, specifically a negative one, to suggest the seeking of too much perfection, without practical orientation, and to the detriment of others. seeking perfection is like any personality trait - when it get out of balance or over exaggerated, it becomes a liability.
[This message has been edited by slc (edited 10-10-2000).]
) but I am tickled to see reference in magazines to Robert’s work with the riders with AIDS organization (which certainly isn’t a declaration of sexuality, but which is more of one than I remember seeing as a child), or speculation about whoever, or see an article about Hap Hansen referring to a male partner (which certainly might have been a farm owner, coulda been an investor, or coulda been a sweetie. I don’t know.)
