Olympic joys

I have not been watching the Olympics very closely, partly because they just started, but also because I don't have normal TV, don't subscribe to the right streaming services, and Olympic coverage in the US is horrible.* But today I saw the headline that Tunisia had won the gold in the men's 400m freestyle and I had to check it out, because if I love anything, it's seeing someone completely shock first world countries and get a medal when they don't. That may be awful of me, but I'm telling you, if you watch Ahmed Hafnaoui react to winning, you also will feel pure joy and be glad that he won.

It wasn't a feeling of, "Ha, down with western capitalism" or any kind of anti-my-country sentiment. I'm happy when our athletes win, but I'm not overly competitive, so I'm generally pretty happy for anyone who works hard and wins. It was just seeing how excited and happy he was, and knowing how much it must mean to him and his family and his country, it is just impossible to not be elated.

Also, because I knew he won, I was super vested in his performance when I watched the race. You would think that knowing the outcome, there would be no tension watching it, but no. I was seriously on the edge of my seat, thinking, "Come on! Come on, you can do it!" And then reminding myself that, yes, yes he could because he DID. But I was still kind of stressing out about the outcome. Which, I find hilarious. 

I am a little disappointed that I can't find any other footage--nothing of him talking to reporters, nothing of the medal ceremony (the US coverage is really just not great**). But, maybe it will pop up in the next few days. At any rate, I now have a new video to add to my "This makes me so happy" watchlist. And, so much congratulations to Hafnaoui. Thank you for sharing your joy with the world, and well done on your win. 

*People, we need to get our act together and fix all the other problems--poverty, inequality, racism, all the isms, etc. so that we can finally protest how bad the Olympics are. And, won't that be an amazing world, when the biggest problem we have is bad Olympic coverage? I SUPER want to live in that world. Let's make it happen!
**Interesting side note: I found video of the event broadcast in Arabic. I do not understand a lick of Arabic, but they were saying his name from start to finish--a LOT. The US coverage, he got hardly any mentions until he won. Which was interesting, and confirmed to me that someone needs to run with my idea for a thesis/dissertation: study how the Olympics are covered in the media in different countries, and figure out what that tells us about the world. I think it would be fascinating.