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Rio Olympics (4) / Tattoos
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Rio Olympics (4) / Tattoos
There were many athletes who had been spotlighted this year but in Track & Field, Jamaican athlete Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps of United States swimmer and Simone Biles had the most spotlights.
Usain Bolt was dubbed the ‘fastest man on earth’. In this Olympics he once again achieved gold in 100m and 200m sprint and as he was awards the Gold medal, he did his signature “Lightning Bolt Gesture” which was unique for him.
Michael Phelps had earned 28 medals total in his career. Out of 28, 23 are Gold. During this year, he yet once again earned numerous Gold medals in many forms of swimming competition. For Phelps this was his final career swim as competitor and it is said that his life also had many bad moments in his life.
After becoming famous at a young age, he started to drink and party hard – which got him arrested for drunk driving and the punishments that followed. Many people had worried about his future.
I remember seeing a short clip of a video of his coach shedding tears worrying about him. But this time, he was much more mature as a swimmer. Despite being 31 and being mature, his image as a good swimmer had been smeared with bad habits. How hard was it for him to beat the younger competitors by retuning his body as a fine swimmer and to be the one to represent United States?
I think to retune his attitude and all, his mother and the coach that had been with him since his youth, many of his friends and families encouragement was there. I think the biggest influence by far was his fiancée. Despite not being married yet, seeing her cheer for her future husband along with his mother and a 5 month baby was something very touching to see. Since many of the spectators are shouting and screaming so much, the baby has a muffler to protect his hearing. Seeing the baby sometimes sleeps soundly in his mother’s breast, it shows that the muffler is a good idea. I believe that Michael Phelp’s wife gave him the trust and love as a woman.
My wife and I agree, she is a graceful woman, and my wife said that she is the exemplary of a good wife over and over again. The reason why I write this is because if a young man is wondering lost, who he meets is the most important thing. Especially a person, who is mature, is attentive and has a huge heart to care without any regards in the gender alike. I noticed something I did not catch from previous Michael Phelps swimming. I noticed there are not too many athletes doing the Track and Field or Swimming athletes who have tattoos (as they are mostly exposed and lightly dressed). I remember there we way less athletes who had tattoos during the London Olympics four years ago.
Many of the western European athletes had tattoos. Some had most of their top tattooed, on the body, drawings of animal or plant; some even had their tattoo hidden on the inside of the arm. Some others had a tattoo in their neck or near their buttocks – so many designs. Since the Bible states not to tattoo I think of something as a Christian of many things. Since many young adults are influenced heavily by the Olympics athletes, I wondered if there would be an explosively rise on the tattooing in young adults.
But in the cute, American gymnastics team, I did not see any of the athletes having tattoo. 2 of them were African American and 3 White athletes had combined to earn Gold and, in individuals athlete Simone Biles was in first place. I learned that she had a very hard upbringing. Since her biological mother could not raise her, her grandmother and grandfather had raised her to be a national athlete which made it more evident.I have never seen an athlete who was more outstanding than her.
Recently I saw in the news that amongst the young adults in Korea, there was a rise in popularity in tattoos. Apparently there are over 1million people who have tattoos in Korea.
Tattoos used to be the mark of gangs who threatened innocent people, to show off their ranks, had become so familiar to common people. How the world had changed so much! I do not know how people think people who do tattoo. But there are many reasons, some from curiosity, some to commemorate a loved one, or an important event. Some even to show off to be more noticeable to the public – in Korea where the problem of gangsters are rampant, they do it to instill fear to others, or show off their color. In the bible (in Leviticus 19:28) the Jews were prohibited from tattooing because this was the habits of the gentiles. In Ancient Asia, the act of tattooing was to memorize the dead, to get protected from evil spirits. I wonder, what people think especially those who have tattoos, especially those who represent their country for the Olympics…
(August 31, 2016) |
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The Strange Acorn Tree 
Rio Olympics (4) / Tattoos