Alisa Camplin

Notice to my Aussie friends (and to the rest of you, too): I love Alisa Camplin.

I was enormously inspired and touched by her performance and personality 4 years ago at the 2002 Winter Olympics. And then last night I was thrilled to see her again already, carrying the Aussie flag in the parade of athletes during the opening ceremonies. She was smiling and waving the flag, reminding me of 2002 and looking absolutely adorable.

Here’s something I said in my blog/journal 4 years ago, somewhat paraphrasing the Olympic website story about her and commenting about how she inspired me:

“Aussie Alisa Camplin had never won any significant international event, and without snow in sunny Australia, she trains for the women's freestyle skiing aerials in a leech-infested lake. But Camplin nailed both of her triple twisting, double back flips, and the Olympic Winter Games had one of its most surprising gold medallists ever.”

She, like so many people who inspire me, would not be stopped. She flew in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds and came out a winner.

It wasn’t so much that she won the gold medal, but that certainly added something to the story. It still would have been a remarkably inspiring story for me if she had come in 5th place – or 15th. But she did win gold. Despite everything, she beat the other women who had all the advantages, who had everything going for them.

I thoroughly love overcoming stories.

So, I'm eager to see what Alisa does this year. I don’t care if she wins a medal or not. All I care is that she shows up, competes, and radiates that incredible smile. That’s enough for her to be a winner in my book.

But it would be a special treat if she won a medal, too.

Namaste,
Michael