Fotoecke » m not fast. I am not brave.

RIO DE JANEIRO -- U.S. mens gymnastics coach Mark Williams watched the womens team in awe.It was only the opening night of competition, the team qualifications. But Williams later called it one of the best gymnastics meets Ive ever watched.It was a statement of national pride. And at the same time, speaking minutes after the U.S. mens team finished fifth in team finals for the second consecutive Olympic Games, it was an expression of envy.How can the men get what the women -- one night later, gold medalists for the second straight Olympics -- now possess as almost their brand? And, because this is what we do in our country, what in heavens name is wrong with the mens program.Im open to suggestions, Williams said.The men lost because they uncharacteristically stumbled on three occasions they normally would not -- two performers on floor and a third on high bar.Weve got to figure it out so guys arent flustered by anything and its just a day at the office, he said. Watching the womens team last night was so impressive. It was amazing. We want to be like that.The U.S. mens team is as likeable a bunch of elite athletes as youre ever going to find. They are unabashedly spirited and optimistic, personified by Sam Mikulaks infectious cheerleading and urging himself and his teammates to put on a show.After Monday nights team final, the five were as stand-up as could be, facing reporters for every last question, including Danell Leyva, who committed the final error of the night when he lost his grip on high bar. And all stood solidly behind Leyva, consoling him in the moment and later emphasizing the teams responsibility for falling from second place in qualifications to fifth, two nights later.It would be easy to be skeptical at Mikulak suggesting that the chest-pounding spirit that fueled a late rally should have accompanied the team as it took the floor. Just as you can wonder if they have a so-called killer instinct when you hear Alex Naddour say, We always say we want to get a medal, we want to be out on the podium, but we want to go out there and put our hearts out there and thats what we did.Leyva unabashedly raved about Simone Biles last week, calling the 19-year-old a huge role model of mine, honestly.Like huge, he said. Ive been trying to emulate the way she goes about her gymnastics. She enjoys it. The last two years just watching her really helped me enjoy my gymnastics more.Williams said after watching the women in qualifications, I was hoping that we would come out and be on fire as well. Theres got to be that energy, he said. Simone is just so comfortable out on the floor. It would be great to have that. Paul Hamm sort of had that spark where he led the team in 2004 and kind of put the team on his back, and that certainly helps. It makes everyone feel comfortable.Talking about the womens team, Anthony Hernandez, the father of Laurie, one of its gold-medal winning members, said the women embrace pressure and clearly its a recurring theme.This is easy for them, Hernandez said. I dont mean it lightly, but Martha [Karolyi], shes always on top of things. Shes always having mock competitions at the ranch, so these young ladies are battle-tested. So when they come out here, yeah, sure, theres anxiety, but theyre used to the wars.The women also work with a sports psychology coach whom Biles and Hernandez have praised for helping them deal with the stress and pressure of competition.The same coach, Robert Andrews, worked with the men before the 2012 Olympics, but he said not everyone bought into what he was trying to teach, which included overcoming injuries. And in an interview with ESPN.com on Monday, he lashed out at USA Gymnastics, blaming selfishness for the mens current deficiencies.The sad thing for me was USA Gymnastics paid my way to London, gave me tickets and I never got to see the team while I was in London, Andrews said this week in an interview with ESPN.coms Alyssa Roenigk. Certain individuals in the system wouldnt give me access to the team and it backfired. Poor decisions were made by one or two people at USA Gymnastics that affected their confidence and belief, and it shook that whole system and those guys went onto that floor fragile because of those decisions.Andrews, now working with the Houston Texans, blamed one or two people within the program who wanted to control things and have all the glory and said, This is how weve always done it, and they wanted to make the Olympics about them.This is going to piss some people off that Im saying this, but Im OK with that, Andrews continued. It was wrong. Their decisions backfired and those guys went onto the floor [at the 2012 Games] confused and distracted, and the result showed. It took me months to get over that. What we could have done with that team in London and if we had the chance to build upon that in 2016 -- I had guys calling me three years later asking me to come back to the program.There are other, pragmatic reasons for why the U.S. men are not better. And a pretty good source in one of the greatest male gymnasts in history believes it is not fair to compare them to the women.The [U.S. women] can go out and have a terrible meet tonight and theyll still likely win the team competition, Bart Conner, a two-time gold medalist in the all-around and team competition at the 1984 Olympics, said Tuesday afternoon before the womens final. An important distinction to realize in this period of time is that there is a very big difference in mens and womens gymnastics.With the large emigration of Eastern European coaches to the U.S. some 30 years ago, womens programs in countries like Belarus, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Romania, the homeland of Conners wife Nadia Comaneci, as well as China, were decimated, Conner reminded us. And they still have not recovered.Its a double-edged sword because weve benefited from their expertise, Conner said. The U.S. women have never been better and the rest of the world has never been worse. Romania doesnt even have a full team. The Belarus team is made up of gymnasts from California who have never been to Belarus.The U.S. women are magnificent and unbeatable. But its more competitive in mens competition. The top six to eight programs are all magnificent. One or two mistakes in the mens competition and youre off the podium.Conner also pointed out the inherent difference between male and female gymnasts. While women are typically in their teens with lives relatively uncomplicated, the men are often dealing with post-college careers and some, such as Alex Naddour, have wives and children.There are also fewer boys than girls who pursue the sport in the U.S. because of fewer collegiate opportunities for males. In 2015, there were 63 womens Division I programs to just 15 mens programs.There probably needs to be a complete review on how to improve performance or results [for the U.S. national team], Connor said. I think they need to do a little soul-searching to find out how to get a little better. But I dont think theres need for a dramatic overhaul. Theyre pretty close. ... Its not in a state of catastrophe.Williams praised Martha Karolyi, the 73-year-old Hungarian-Romanian national team coordinator for the womens program, for getting it right. Martha and husband Bela defected to the U.S. from Romania in 1981, and they have trained nine Olympic champions.By getting it right, Martha Kraolyi is the one voice for the womens programs and there is cohesion in their program that does not exist with the men.Its difficult because we have so many different places theyre coming from, Williams said. But there should be a very strong voice that makes it so that everyone is doing what theyre told to do and that doesnt always happen.Martha Karolyi was asked on Tuesday if she still intends to retire as womens national team coordinator, and she said yes. She was then half-jokingly asked if the U.S. mens program had contacted her, and she laughed and said, No, no. They didnt. I dont know what happened with their program. Theyre very strong gymnasts. .... I think somewhere the consistency is lacking.With 32 years marking the most recent mens team gold medal, clearly something has to change. Takkarist McKinley Falcons Jersey . Now, with Game 6 set for Fenway Park and an 8:07 p.m. ET first pitch, the Detroit Tigers face the unenviable task of having to beat the Boston Red Sox twice, on the road, to advance to the World Series. Custom Atlanta Falcons Jerseys . - Goaltender Philippe Desrosiers of the Rimouski Oceanic has broken a shutout record that was only three months old in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. http://www.falconsrookiestore.com/Falcons-Deion-Sanders-Jersey/ .Y. - Free agent outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, fresh off winning the World Series with Boston, reached agreement with the rival New York Yankees on a seven-year contract worth about $153 million, a person familiar with the negotiations said Tuesday night. John Cominsky Jersey . 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Ive tried all of the recommended tips and mental tricks, as well as fitness gadgets and apps to make solo running for long distances better.Only one thing has done the trick: virtual runs.I joined two virtual running groups on Facebook because of my love for Harry Potter --?Nerd Herd Running, with money going to the nonprofit Stupid Cancer, and the Hogwarts Running Club, who donates to a different organization every race. When I ran the Dementors Kiss 5K with the Hogwarts Running Club, we raised $45,000 for Miles for Cystic Fibrosis. I liked the idea that the money I spent fueling my running habit also had a larger purpose.Virtual races are runs of a predetermined length that can take place at any location of your choosing during a particular week. You pay the race registration fee and receive a runners bib in your email. Certain running groups require that you submit a proof of time, and after a couple of weeks, you receive a finishers medal.These races dont require travel, so theyre easier on the wallet. And best of all, there are no long lines at the porta-potty.For me, these runs are the perfect combination of nerd culture and running community. Running is one of those activities I never thought I would do. I abhorred physical exercise as a child. I was sedentary in my early 20s from a combination of depression and self-loathing. I wanted to be invisible.One phone call changed my life.It was my 27th birthday, and I needed serious convincing that I should live another year. My childhood friend Jillian called. Buried under the floral comforter in my bedroom, iPhone on speaker, I told her that I am not sure I wanted to continue living.She persuaded me to make a list of all the things I couldnt do, but that I dream of doing. On my list was a completing a marathon.Jill suggested we start small, with a princess-themed 5K. We registered, trained and finished the race together. From there we took on 10Ks and half-marathons and multiple-day challenges.Ive been running, off and on, ever since. Exercise is my version of Defense Against the Dark Arts.?I let my imagination loose on these runs.***Its 5 a.m. when my earbuds go in, and the fusion of sight and sound begins a seamless transition to the Harry Potter Universe. My mind fills in the gaps of my elaborate fantasy. Everyday sights and sounds, with theeir metronomic regularity, transform into rhythmic spectacle.dddddddddddd.My environment becomes animated -- lampposts change into floating candles, illuminating my path. The local YMCA, which towers above the rest of the landscape, morphs into the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, strong dramatic architecture silhouetted against an enchanted navy sky.For the first half of my run, I evade the dark forces. Halfway through, my left heel is sore, and my right knee threatens to be uncooperative.I stop.Thats when the Dementors show up. In the Harry Potter Universe, theyre mystical figures shrouded in black gossamer cloth, and they thrive on despair. Their main purpose is to suck the happiness and good memories out of the people that they come across.In my mind theyre always hovering on the periphery, waiting time until I let my guard down. Doubt doesnt take long to blossom once its taken root -- I know that from near fatal bouts with depression. Those brushes with the spectral always left me listless and unmotivated, wracked with nightmares and harboring the belief that I was devoid of talent.I have to keep running. I make it past a large tree Ive dubbed the Whomping Willow before I was forced to stop again. Up ahead I see a Boggart, a shape-shifting creature that takes on the form of the thing you fear most.The resurrected corpse looks like me, but smells like betrayal -- wet, decaying flesh giving way due to neglect. Brain slightly atrophied, cloaked in anger, frustration and fear. She utters sharp, mean statements: I am not fast. I am not brave. I am a failure.My run has a new sense of urgency, to prove the other me wrong, to conquer the things that threaten to drown me if I ever give myself permission to think about them.I am the protagonist. I cant outrun this variant of myself. I have to face her. I surrender to the run; I stop obsessing about the time.I pull the terrible memories and places out of myself and leave them on the pavement. In this alternate universe, I could be gifted and hardworking, and villains were always vanquished, even though all enchantments come with a price. I dont have to be fast -- I just have to finish.Monsters, after all, can be defeated. I know I deserve to cultivate hope, to have peace. I understand it is my right to be happy. My creativity allows me to believe in the incredible, to not be limited by the bounds of my own experience. I know, at the end of all of this, that I can endure.Latria Graham is a writer, editor and cultural critic. She is currently living in South Carolina. Follow her @LGRaconteur ' ' '