Pure, Unadulterated, Sport.

Never before have I heard of an athlete receiving more negative and berating comments regarding their physical appearance than I did last night at the pub while watching Francesca Schiavone become the first Italian to capture a grand slam championship. I'll spare you the details but none were kind, none fair, none deserved. Best of all, none of them mattered. Schiavone was clinical in her dispatching of heavily favored Australian Samantha Stosur not just in tennis, but aesthetics as well, in straight sets. She was tactical in her shot selection and her serve was on, Stosur simply could not match up. And when it was over, there stood Schiavone, grinning from ear to ear, beaming with jubilation and disbelief, eyes welling with tears, skirt covered in French clay, she genuinely looked like the happiest person on the earth and it was beautiful to watch. That ladies and gentlemen is why sport is beautiful.

Sport invites all to toil in its proving grounds, to bathe in it's glory, to sweat in its fields. It welcomes all, discriminates against none. If you want it, and will it, sport is fair with its rewards and equal in it's outcomes, win or lose. Last night was a magnificent example. A woman, arguably lacking the shiny outer coating of so many of her peers, stood on the podium alone, victorious, and loved the moment for all it was. One watching could feel her confidence, her pride, her accomplishment, her face said it all with every bead of sweat, tangled hair and smudge of clay and most importantly her fantastic smile. Schiavone championed above the rest because she deserved it, through and through. 

The attractive athlete often has access to greater media coverage, endorsement deals, glamour gigs, but at the end, if one is truly an athlete, the only goal is victory in sport. For every Kournikova there is a Schiavone, a worker, a fighter, willing to claw, scrap and wrestle for every inch of deserved success. In tennis the average peak age for a female player is between 19-24, Schiavone is 29. For twelve years she has put the axe to the grindstone, laboring with the resolve of a tectonic plate, never halting, always progressing. Last night was her pinnacle, her summit and she knew it and made every one of us know it. She was the underdog, the unknown and the long shot and yet for all the things that usually make us love someone, for her physical looks alone, no one was in her corner, only pointing, laughing, cackling. And when she won, they were quiet, selfish in their praise and acknowledgement. And it did not matter. 

Schiavone is small in stature, squatty and muscular, she lacks any natural advantages in the sport. Where as Michael Philps is scientifically built to swim with his massive feet, small torso and incredible wingspan and Usain Bolt is made to run, with incredible strides and muscle tone, Schiavone possesses nothing physically to give her a clear cut advantage in tennis. But if one watched intently, point for point, you would see it. That 'x' factor, that drive that only the elite athletes possess and all know of. She wanted it more than anyone else in the world and sport was fair, sport was just. 

 

Sport is broad, with countless avenues, all built to appeal to each and every one of us. Nearly every person in the world plays it, and loves it. Sport is a temple, a sacred forum where we can challenge ourselves as far as our minds and willpower allows. It holds no limits, no sanctions or reserves. What you put in, you WILL get out. If you doubt this, reexamine the price you are actually paying for the product you are expecting. You needn't check twice. Blond or brunette, short or tall, thin or wide, there is a place in this temple for anyone, you simply must find it. Sport makes us all beautiful. Those who develop the discipline, respect the journey, and relish the reward are those who will reap the spoils. You needn't win a gold medal, or the French Open, sport is what you make of it, it lets you set the bar, and you measure against it. Sport likes facts, results, goals and it absolutely does not care about whose they are. Schiavone knows this, thousands know this and sport ensures no one will tell them otherwise. It embraces commitment, abolishes idle, it champions obligation and dispels prejudice. Sport put Francesca on that stage last night, it gave her that cup, it evoked that incredible smile and it made damn sure that no one could take any of it from her ever. 

Bravo Schiavone, Bravo!  Congratulazioni lei lo guadagno!