A Real Winner

I love how people show who they are through their eyes and face. When you can just see their beautiful spirit, kindness and joy.

A perfect example of this is U.S. Olympic Gold Medal Women’s Wrestling Champion Tamyra Mensah-Stock. She walked away with the prize in Tokyo and her backstory is amazing.

She had been in track and field and her sister talked her into wrestling. She spent time wrestling for her high school in Texas and took the Texas High School Girl’s Championship. Her Ghanian father died in a fatal car accident after attending one of her tournaments and she nearly quit wrestling. But she went on to wrestle for Wayland Baptist University and compete nationally. She won the WCWA (Women's Collegiate Wrestling Association) Nationals Champion in 2014 and 2017. Tamyra is just a solid winner all the way around, as an athlete and a human being.

When asked what she would do after she won the gold, she said she was giving her mother $30,000 to start a “food truck.”

When asked what is was like to represent her country…

"I love representing the U.S. I freaking love living there," the Olympic gold medalist said before pumping her fist, smiling, and pulling the stars and stripes tighter to her body.

Tamyra is a model winner and an example for girls throughout this country. And she stands in stark contrast to so many other “axe to grind” Olympians in her sheer joy, excitement and perseverance.

I used to love watching the Olympics as a kid and a young woman. But the U.S. Teams are no pleasure to watch nor a pleasure to root for, when they drop our flag, or turn their back during the national anthem or do the talk show circuit and all that comes out of their mouths is vitriol for the country that nurtured them and gave them the freedom to compete in the first place.

I mean how many women from Iran compete in the Olympics? And when they do, they generally defect.

One of the things a true winner does is thank everyone and every institution that helped them win. Including their country. But various athletes, even when they have won find it fashionable to bash the very country for which they played, the country that sponsored them.

For many people, like me, that’s starting to get old. You have a gripe? Show some class and don’t use your spotlight moment to whine. It’s why my husband won’t watch his beloved NFL anymore. He used to live for football season. Now he just otherwise engages himself as his “protest” is to not be counted among the viewers.

But back to Tamyra. Her entire countenance exudes a joyful spirit. Despite her losing her father. She held the flag closer to her body and said she just loved living in her country. She’s strong, she’s pretty, she’s happy and she’s a great role model to girls and young women. Are you listening Wheaties? How about you Mattel?

I pray every good thing for Tamyra. And I believe her bright future will inspire us long after the summer Olympics have become a memory. Team USA.

Photo credit: Olympics.org