Bearing the Olympic Flag
Posted on Feb 17, 2010 by Paul Schempp
More than 2,500 athletes proudly marched into BC Palace as part of the Opening Ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. With every athlete was a personal story. Each had walked a different path, faced different trials, and overcame unique challenges to earn their place in that honored parade. It is Olympic tradition that the athletes file into the stadium by country, with each national contingent led by one of their own bearing the nation’s flag. It is an honor to carry one’s flag at any time, but as an athlete representing their country at the Olympic Games it is a singular honor.
There was one athlete, a flag bearer, whose story I find as moving as it is inspirational. In these Games, she represents Iran. Granted; Iran is not a country one ever considers when counting the serious contenders in the Olympic Games, but Marjan Kalhor’s story is the stuff of Olympic dreams.
I can only imagine that Marjan Kalhor is precisely the type of athlete Peirre DeCoubertin had in mind when he resurrected the Games in modern times. DeCoubertin believed in the ancient tradition of a scared truce during the Games. He believed that the modern games would, through athletic competition, promote understanding across cultures, and therefore, decrease war and violence in the world. He also believed the Games offered an opportunity for athletic competition that celebrated triumph over struggle. In his own words: L’important dans la vie ce n’est point le triomphe, mais le combat, l’essentiel ce n’est pas d’avoir vaincu mais de s’être bien battu. (The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle, the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well).
Kalhor is proud to be an Olympic athlete, make no mistake about that. She is also proud to be a Muslim and Iranian. But in traditional Muslim cultures, women and men are not viewed with equality in all things—like sports. The traditional dress of Muslims prevent devout women from competing in swimming, gymnastics, and track. Women are not often offered sporting opportunities in Muslim society—Marjan is the first female Olympic skier to hail from a country that only began sending female athletes to the Olympics in 1996. While she has faced cultural obstacles, her home country has also posed some severe political challenges. For example, as her fellow citizens were embroiled in deadly protests over last summer’s Presidential election, Kalhor needed to turn a blind eye to concentrate on her training and Olympic preparations.
Marjan Kalhor is not in Vancouver because she is a woman, a Muslim or Iranian. She goes ‘to have fought well.’ She earned her way there as an athlete. She has won skiing medals in international competitions, and finished 60th in giant slalom at the 2009 World Championship at Val d’Isere, France. While she represents no serious threat to receive a medal, that really isn’t the point. Medals weren’t DeCoubertain’s point in founding the modern Games.
It is Marjan Kalhor herself who put it best in describing her purpose at these Games of 2010: "My chances of getting a medal are zero. I’m very happy that I’m going to compete, and something I’m very proud of is that I am attending the games as a Muslim Iranian. I can show the world that we Iranians have something to say — whatever you want, you will achieve.”
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