Bittersweet day for Iowa Olympic fans

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The timing of major Olympic events halfway around the world in Beijing has put news organizations in a difficult spot. Many times while covering a high school sporting event, I purposely avoid finding out the outcome of a big college or pro game I have recorded, so I can feel the suspense of not knowing the outcome as I watch it later. I know what it’s like to have that feeling unknowingly spoiled by someone, thinking they’re doing me a favor telling me. That’s especially prevalent now, in this technological age where everyone with Internet access on their smartphone or some other wireless device with instant access to information. Early Tuesday morning the entire state of Iowa seemingly sighed in relief as Shawn Johnson finally got her gold medal, in her last gymnastics routine of this Olympiad. I heard the news twice on different radio stations while getting ready for work, and again during a sportscast on KMA just before getting out of my car in our parking lot. Everyone was talking about it throughout the day. I guess I relate to the way Des Moines Register columnist John Carlson put it in his Wednesday column: “Her victory came a little after 6 in the morning here, and you had to be in a deep, dark hole not to have heard about it by 9.” Indeed, knowing that our publication time was some six hours after the event, and that many people wouldn’t have the paper in their hands until 12 hours after the medal ceremony, we made a decision to risk raising the ire of some evening television viewers by running the Associated Press description of the victory with an accompanying photo of Johnson’s performance. By mid-day, broadcast stations weren’t even bothering anymore with their typical warning — “look away, or turn down the sound if you don’t want to know ....” because it was the buzz about town no matter where you were in the state of Iowa that day. Well, that and the tragic fall by 100-meter hurdles favorite Lolo Jones of Des Moines, which happened about three hours after Johnson’s golden glory. Even though we knew the outcome, it was still emotional to watch both Iowans later that night on NBC. What really impressed me about these young people was how classy they remained in the face of defeat, which you don’t see so often anymore in athletics. After settling for silver medals three times in gymnastics competition, the the reigning world champion, Johnson, never let herself get caught up in the excuses others were talking about — the apparent fudging of age requirements by Chinese competitors, and some unusual scoring by the judges. She kept smiling, told people she was having the time of her life, and stayed on task. When she nailed that balance beam routine and bubbled with joy upon seeing her score hold up for the gold, we were all beaming along with her, let’s admit it. Even though I knew the outcome beforehand, I wouldn’t have missed it. That night, American men’s gymnast Jonathon Horton was likewise inspirational by adding a risky skill to his routine that pushed him to a silver medal in the horizontal bar.