Editorial: It's the taking part that counts

Mark Dawson, Editor of Wanganui Chronicle

They are calling it Woeful Wednesday - or maybe it should be Terrible Tuesday, depending if you are on NZ time or Brazilian time.

Either way, a number of Kiwi hopefuls have come a cropper at the Rio Olympics.

Mark Todd went down in flames in the showjumping, taking his medal prospects with him (and those of the New Zealand equestrian team); the Football Ferns have crashed out; the sevens team lost to Japan - and, oh lordy, Sonny Bill Williams got injured.

Well-fancied rowing pair Zoe Stevenson and Eve Macfarlane failed to make the final; our own Aramoho-Wanganui sculler Chris Harris, with doubles partner Robbie Manson, fell short of the semifinals; and the hockey teams are in trouble.

As you don the black armbands, remember one of the beauties of sport is its unpredictability (think Iceland beating England, or Leicester City claiming the English Premier League) - and that is something to rejoice in.

Remember also that the constant talking-up of our Olympic medal chances by the sports pundits has been unremittingly one-eyed. They haven't been busy checking out how the French women's soccer team is doing or how Spain's hockey team has been shaping up or even how the Czech rowers have been fairing.

If the Kiwi athletes are perfectly prepared, firing on all cylinders and full of optimism, isn't it just possible that athletes from the numerous other countries doing battle in Brazil are exactly the same?

To get to the Olympics is a magnificent achievement and, as someone once said: "It is the taking part ..."

Sport teaches us a lot of good lessons - focus, motivation, discipline, respect for rules, teamwork, the need to cinstantly strive to be better. But perhaps the most important lesson is that it, hopefully, teaches us how to face defeat with good grace and equanimity.

Anyway, by the time you read this New Zealand may well have chalked up a couple more medals. And, at least, no one can beat the All Blacks.