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Nose for News by Sarah Stultz

I have fond memories of watching the Olympics when I was growing up.

Out of all of the Olympic sports, the ones I think that we were most interested in were ice skating and gymnastics.

I remember some late nights staying up to watch the outcome of the different competitions and how the athletes performed with such ease. I think many of us took for granted what real strength and skill these athletes have to compete at this level.

While I don’t watch as much as I used to, I still enjoy watching some over the couple weeks it takes place.

In addition to just watching how talented these athletes are, I love watching how the country becomes united behind them, rooting them on. It can also be touching to see the athletes show their national pride when the national anthem is played if they take home the gold.

This week I have loved seeing clips of USA women’s gymnasts Simone Biles and Suni Lee — of Minnesota — and particularly when the USA men’s gymnastics team took home bronze after not having won a medal in the team portion since 2008.

The team had placed fifth in qualifying.

Everyone was rooting for the team, and it all came down to Stephen Nedoroscik on the pommel horse.

Nedoroscik, as I later found out, was only on the team for his abilities in that one event. After waiting though his team’s entire rotation, then it was his turn.
He came through with a huge delivery, and his teammates — and the rest of the nation — went wild.

What a huge moment that will go down in the history books of the Olympics for this country.

I was thrilled for Nedoroscik, thrilled for his team and happy for the U.S. to see the drought on the men’s gymnastics scoreboard be lifted.

Whether you like sports or not — as we all know I’m not particularly fond of them — the Olympics can be enjoyable to all and teaches lessons along the way.

Now I’m looking forward to the women’s individual all-around competition on Thursday.

From a journalist’s view looking in, the Olympics provide some spectacular stories of triumph, of people who have overcome injuries and come back stronger or who have fought hard to represent their country.

At a time when unity is hard to find in this country, I hope we can all unite behind the athletes who have worked tremendously to compete there on the world stage.

Sarah Stultz is the managing editor of the Tribune. Her column appears every Wednesday.