A Word In Edgewise: For Every Dream There Is a Troll

Only the Olympian can count the costs of making their Olympic team, of competing, of reaching the podium in Bronze, Silver, or Gold. I can’t, and certainly neither can a Troll. Yet while there exists a Troll for every dream, Dreams and Dreamers make better copy.

Trolls hissed “coward” when Simone Biles withdrew from the All-Around Finals in 2021 at the Tokyo Olympics. In reality, she made a heroic life- and sanity-saving choice. Returning after months of self-scrutiny and training to compete in Paris, Trolls criticized her untidy hair as she sailed on to add four more medals.

A commentator-Troll speculated about American rugby star and two-time Olympian Ilona Maher, “I bet [she] has a 30% BMI.” 

Maher responded, “I think you were trying to roast me, but this is actually a fact. I do have a BMI of 30. Well, 29.3 to be exact.” The team won Bronze.

Trolls kept silent about U.S. shot put champ Ryan Crouser’s 320 pounds and Chinese woman’s weightlifter Li Wenwen’s 331 pounds. Perhaps Crouser’s massive 6’7” frame and Wenwen’s tendency to lift up her coach in victory (both Gold medalists) were daunting even at a distance.

The sheer exuberance and determination of the athletes generally overrode and negated Trolls’ nattering. Hampton Morris, 20, won Bronze in the men’s 61kg weightlifting event — the first U.S. weightlifter to medal since 1984. Coached by his father, Tripp, Morris trains at home in their garage in Marietta, Ga.

Nigerian participation was determined so late that cyclist Ese Ukpeseraye had to borrow an approved cycle from the German team for keirin and sprint events. She didn’t medal, but has won multiple Golds at African track cycling championships and felt she’d “set the ball rolling for cycling in Nigeria.”

Far from the fainting couch were two who competed while bearing future potential athletes: First-time Olympian Yaylagul Ramazanova of Azerbaijan felt her 6 1/2-months baby kick just before releasing her last arrow, scoring 10 to win that round. Egyptian Nada Hafez, at her third Olympics, was 7 months along with her “Little Olympian.”

Following an inquiry by the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee, officials stripped Jordan Chiles of her bronze medal in the women’s floor exercise final. They allocated it to Romania’s Ana B?rbosu, who moved to third place. Might double Bronzes have been a more even-handed solution? Officials, not the athletes, caused the stir.

In the 1936 Olympics, Japanese pole-vaulting friends Shuhei Nishida and Sueo Oe tied for Silver. Refusing a tie-breaker, officials awarded the Silver to Nishida and Bronze to Oe. Back in Japan, they had the medals halved and the pieces joined into two Silver/Bronze “Friendship Medals.”

Greco-Roman wrestler Mijaín López, after winning an unprecedented fifth consecutive Gold, paused in the ring, removed his shoes, and in a moving and historical gesture signaling his retirement at 41, walked away, leaving them on the mat.

Bookending the hoop-la of the Opening’s “Last Supper” foolishness, a Francophobe-Troll snarked at Closing that France couldn’t find enough French stars and borrowed Americans, overlooking that Tom Cruise’s leap from the Eiffel Tower and the appearance of Snoop Dog represented the handover of the Olympics from Paris to Los Angeles, U.S., in 2028.

Trolls will always be with us, but so will the strong of body and spirit. Mute the Couch Kvetcher’s mic and embrace the patient, those brave Dream-believers determined to finish the race. Follow your own Dream.