Tick, Tick, Tick: Athletes’ Grueling Wait for an Olympic Moment
The New York Times
The Olympics are a harsh taskmaster, subjecting athletes to years of anticipation and then offering them a fleeting moment to shine — or not.
TOKYO — The Olympics, for all their charm, are a rather cruel setup. They are a four-year time bomb. The world’s best athletes are assigned a date and a time to perform. They prepare, often in solitude and anonymity, for a single moment on the calendar. It gets closer with each tick of the clock. As the countdown approaches zero, a sea of strangers expecting to be entertained turns its collective gaze in their direction, eager to dole out pass-fail grades. Reputations are made or broken. Lives are changed.More Related News