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A Piece Of My Mind: The Olympics

The Olympics are compelling.  They're available on every media platform.  It’s the thrill of victory, agony of defeat, and, of course, the U.S. medal count.

Without a professional skier’s eye, one downhill flight looks much like the next.  So it’s not the performances on snow and ice that keep me watching. It's the performers, their resilience and what it tells us about the human spirit.  The woman with a thrice-injured body risking it again on the bony skeleton sled; or the male figure skater who completes the short form after painfully slamming into the rink-side:  “My personal story has always been about perseverance,” Jeremy Abbott said, “and getting up when I fall.”

The old show song reminds us, "You gotta have heart.”  Every Olympian does. But the ones I’ll remember are not the medalists, but rather the ones who, win or lose, showed courage that informs my life.

Claude Offenbacher was a reporter and host at KLCC from 1999-2012. He currently volunteers as front desk support and PSA writer.