His Yang, her Yin

I remember the sight of little slight figure of Kat Copeland sitting in the bow of her boat having won the Olympic Lightweight Sculls Final at the London Games. Her face said it all, she couldn't believe what she had achieved as the boat slowed to a stop and the pictures beautifully described the emotion.

Tonight I think that emotion, that moment in time when someone lays out their absolute joy, the face describing  everything that is special in human beings.

I refer to that sweetheart of modern track cycling Laura Trott as she realised her fiance, Jason Kenny had won the gold medal for the Keirin event. Tears of joy and happiness spread across her face in an uncontrollable emotional outburst of love for her man. He, displaying that taciturn demeanour all Northerners aspire, was her Yin to his Yang, total opposites yet fully immersed in the glory of each other's achievement. 

It's these deep outbursts of passion and emotion which make the Olympics so special.
We are privilege to see people at their best and at their most vulnerable, we can not comprehend the hours of pain and effort that goes into what is often only a few seconds to prove it was all worth it. The joy on winning, the tears when losing, the self recrimination if you didn't bring your best game to the race.
Sitting in the living room, the most athletic event is when we get up out of the chair to make a cup of tea so the dance of joy on the track belongs to a different animal, someone who rises out of bed with the milkman, who ignores the rain and the cold who stresses their body to breaking point and when it's broken, hopes the physio can put it back together again.
Of course these days it's become a job. A glamorous job, taking them to all parts of the globe to compete and train. It's all a far cry from Roger Banisters '4 minute mile' when all athletes were true amateurs, holding down real jobs throughout the day, catching public transport to the events and certainly not receiving any endorsements for their clothing nor the thousands of pounds for winning.
It's at these moments when, on reflection you see how the world has changed from a purely "personal achievement culture" to a money orientated one but there's no doubt that deep down, the sight of Laura Trots tears was worth even more than a gold medal.