By Phillip Whitten<\/p>\n
This is not a story about swimming.<\/p>\n
But it is<\/i> a tale about sportsmanship and what it means to be a role model. So read on.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re a sports fan, you\u2019ve probably heard of Latrell Sprewell. You\u2019ve probably also heard of Rafael Palmeiro. And Terrell Owens. All three are gifted, talented professional athletes. And all three have a major problem with their \u201c\u2019tude.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sprewell, of course, is the veteran NBA player \u2013 currently unemployed — who was suspended from the league for seven months in 1997-98 for choking his coach, P.J. Carlesimo. The reason? Carlesimo had yelled at him to make crisper passes. A year ago, Spree, then playing for the Minnesota Timberwolves, blew off the team\u2019s annual luncheon for business and civic leaders, asking: \u201cWhat have they (the Timberwolves) done for me?\u201d<\/p>\n
How about paying you $10 million a year, Spree? For playing a game!<\/p>\n
Most recently, Spree dismissed a $21 million, three year contract extension offered by the Timberwolves, saying he couldn\u2019t feed his family on such a wee stipend.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s Rafael Palmeiro. He of the 3,000 hits and 500 home runs \u2013 making him one of only four baseball players ever to achieve those dual milestones. You\u2019ll remember Rafi\u2019s finger-shaking performance before a Congressional committee back in March. Sure you do. That\u2019s when the Baltimore Orioles\u2019 slugger looked right into the camera\u2019s eye and stated: \u201cI have never used steroids. Period.\u201d<\/p>\n
Six weeks later, he tested positive for, of all things, stanozolol, an Old School steroid from the East German era. <\/p>\n
Palmeiro expressed bewilderment as to how the banned substance had made its way into his body, suggesting it may have been mixed with the vitamin B-12 shots a teammate had given him.<\/p>\n
Terrell Owens is so good at what he does, he doesn\u2019t even need a name. Just initials. Say \u201cT.O.\u201d to a football fan, and there\u2019s only one man who comes to mind: Terrell Owens, the multi-talented, wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles. Unfortunately, T.O. is as selfish and narcissistic as he is fast and resourceful.<\/p>\n
Known as a \u2018divider\u2019 in the locker room, T.O. recently took his act outside, publicly criticizing the Eagles management for not giving him the ball after he caught his 100th pass, and dissing the team\u2019s outstanding quarterback, Donovan McNab. <\/p>\n
That was too much, even for the Eagles\u2019 fans, and T.O. saw his stock plummet from \u201chero\u201d to \u201czero\u201d in just a few days. <\/p>\n
Even if you are a rabid sports fan, chances are you haven\u2019t heard of Erin Mirabella. Sure, if you follow Olympic cycling the name will ring a bell. But if you\u2019re that everyday Joe who reads the sports pages\u2026well, every day\u2026you may never have come across her name.<\/p>\n
Like the three pro athletes mentioned above, Erin is a superb athlete. But she\u2019s never choked her coach; never dismissed $7 million a year saying it wasn\u2019t enough to feed her family; never tested positive for steroids; and never blamed her coach or teammates for her own shortcomings. So you probably haven\u2019t read about her.<\/p>\n
What she has<\/i> managed to do is make the US Olympic team in cycling. Twice.<\/p>\n
In 2004, the 27 year-old finished fourth in the tactical 25-K points race in Athens. Fourth. Just one place out of the medals.<\/p>\n
Erin was disappointed, of course, in not finishing third. \u201cI was only three or four points out of a medal,\u201d she said. But she was not disappointed in her performance. Not in the least.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, I made a few mistakes, but all in all, I was very pleased with my performance,\u201d she said. \u201cI put it all out there and I did my best.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then, on the evening of the Closing Ceremonies in Athens, came a fateful phone call. The third place finisher, Colombia\u2019s Maria Luisa Calle-Williams, had tested positive for a banned stimulant, heptaminol, and was disqualified. Erin was the bronze medalist. <\/p>\n
Now it wasn\u2019t the IOC or the USOC or USA Cycling that called. No. Erin found out about her bronze medal through a German reporter who asked her for her reaction. <\/p>\n
Calle-Williams duly returned the bronze medal and eventually, it made its way to the Mirabella household. While on holiday in Breckenridge, Colorado, Erin\u2019s husband presented it to her in a ceremony attended by all the vacationers at the resort. A week later, USA Cycling performed a more formal ceremony at the cycling national championships.<\/p>\n
Erin spent much of the next year giving motivational speeches, especially to groups of young people, always bringing along her medal, which she would pass around among her audience. In her talks, she stressed the Olympic ideal, saying she was happy with her performance before she got the bronze. Giving the race her all was what mattered, and the medal changed nothing.<\/p>\n
She thought of herself as a role model, and cherished the feeling.<\/p>\n
But Calle-Williams continued to insist she had done nothing wrong. She had taken neo-saldina for a migraine headache, but it contained isometheptene, which was not a banned substance. So she appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Her appeal was rejected. She appealed again. Rejected again.<\/p>\n
Her third appeal was the charm, as she was able to demonstrate that isometheptene breaks down into heptaminol under laboratory conditions. <\/p>\n
Last month, the case was bumped to the IOC, which affirmed CAS\u2019s ruling. The bronze would go back to Calle-Williams.<\/p>\n
Once again, the IOC was slow in notifying USA Cycling. This time Erin learned of the decision when a friend saw the story on a cycling web site and called her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI called USA Cycling and they told me they had just heard the news,\u201d Erin said. \u201cThis was on a Wednesday. But when USA Cycling called the USOC, they were told that the USOC had heard nothing from the IOC. Finally, on Friday, the USOC was notified and we had a conference call \u2013 the USOC and me.\u201d<\/p>\n
She was ordered to return the medal within one week.<\/p>\n
Erin recalls; \u201cInitially everything was so confusing. Things seemed to be happening so fast, without warning. <\/p>\n
\u201cI went through a whole range of emotions, but ultimately I just wanted to do what was right. And what was right was to return the medal to Maria Luisa. I just needed a few days to absorb everything that had happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
These days Erin is happy and at peace. \u201cIt was fun to be the bronze medalist for a year,\u201d she says, but having the medal, or not having it doesn\u2019t change a thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople sometimes ask me if this whole affair ruined the Olympics for me. No, not at all. The Olympics was an awesome experience. My performance was awesome \u2013 everything I\u2019d hoped it would be. I am so thankful for the support of my family and friends, who helped me get through what was briefly a confusing several days. If I could rewrite the entire script, I wouldn\u2019t change a line.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs an Olympian, I\u2019m always conscious of the fact that people \u2013 especially young people \u2013 look on me as a role model. Sometimes I think you can be a better role model in the way you lose \u2013 the way you handle adversity — than in the way you win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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