Sportsmanship on full display at the Olympics

As many parents will tell you teaching good sportsmanship to young athletes faces many challenges in this SportsCenter driven culture.  The attention give to selfish, and immature athletes such as Many Ramirez, Barry Bonds, Ron Artest, and Chris Henry fall far short of showcasing role model behavior.

This is in stark contrast to the refreshing scenes coming from the Beijing Olympics where sportsmanship can be readily seen from both the winners and those suffering “the agony of defeat.”

Amid great applause, Dara Torres demonstrated tremendous class when she asked an official to hold up her heat when Therese Alshammar needed to change out suits after a rip happened right before the 50m semifinal event.  Torres was very quick to congratulate Britta Steffen of Germany when Torres fell just short of gold by one hundredth of a second in the 50m Freestyle.

Dana Torres is 41 and should be mature enough to show sportsmanship, you say.  Then look at Shawn Johnson (age 16) and Nastia Liukin (age 18) openly cheering for each other when a strong performance from one would knock the other from gold medal status.

“I am really happy for her,” Liukin said of Johnson.

They are teammates you might argue and should cheer each other on.   Then also take note of Cheng Fei of China, along with the Chinese coaches, warmly congratulating Johnson and Liukin after their strong performances on the balance beam.

In track and field, Lolo Jones was in anguish after seeing her gold medal run evaporate when she clipped the second to last hurdle and finished seventh.  As she was explaining her mishap she stopped the interview to hug and congratulate silver medalist Sally Mclellan of Australia.

“Good job, sweetie,” was Jones’ message to Mclellan.

What other great examples of sportsmanship have you seen at this year’s Olympics?  Please tell us by commenting below or submit a story of your own.