high emotions

"When you give people chances and allow them to learn from their mistake, great things happen"

-Eric Lamaze-

Eric Lamaze has taken the gold in show jumping this morning! After a more-than-rocky path towards the Olympics he made a perfect run, defeating the Swedish Rolf-Goran Bengtsson in a jump-off.

The commentators were wondering how long it'll take before a movie is made about it...

Lamaze has a very atypical background for show jumping... mom was in jail for drug-trafficking and dad was in the wind, so he was raised by his grand-mother who had a drinking problem... He started jumping at 15yo and showed talent right from the start. But his rocky past bit him in the ass in 96, just before Atlanta's Olympics, when he tested positive for cocaine and was banned from competition for 4 years, later reduced to 7 months.

In 2000, before Sydney, he was tested positive for ephedrae and banned again.. turned out the ephedrae was in mislabeled legit cold medication and the banned was overturned, but Lamaze had fell into cocaine again and he was cut from the Olympic team on the eve of the Opening Ceremony.

After this blow, he decided to clean up his act, and focused on jumping... with a golden result in Beijing.

It shows that, no matter how shitty your past was, when you decide to pass over it and focus on your strengths, nothing can stop you.

I've rarely been so moved to hear our National Anthem...

Next horsy fix... Spruce Meadow, September 3-7... :)