A Winter Olympics Glimpse Into Greatness

Over two weeks and three weekends, the Beijing Winter Olympics will fill our hearts and television screens with plenty of excitement. For my household, much of it will take place on the Olympic figure skating ice.

Mixing colorful costumes and loud music with a mixture of elegance and athleticism, there’s bound to be plenty of thrills along with a few spills and disappointments, but enough flash and panache to make it all seem worthwhile. 

Thanks to the 13-hour time difference between Beijing and the U.S. east coast, we’ve tuned in to watch figure skating following our nightly dinner – during prime time – and the just-completed team competition kept us up past our bedtime the past few nights. Sometimes, we watched on our living room TV and other times on my iPhone while laying in bed. Learning about the human side of many of the Olympic figure skaters who are competing as well as gaining an appreciation for what drives them to excel on ice has been fascinating. 

Sunday night (Monday morning in Beijing), during the final day of the team skating event, we had the pleasure of watching 15-year-old Russian phenom Kamila Valieva become the first woman to land a quadruple jump in Olympics competition. She landed a quadruple Salchow as her opening element during her free skate program performed to Ravel’s “Bolero.” 

While making history, the Moscow resident Valieva helped lead the Russian Olympic Committee team to a gold medal in the team competition by finishing first in both the short program and the free skate.

“I believe that I am coping with this pressure,” Valieva said afterward. “And sometimes it even pushes me forward. It helps me.”

The images of the five-foot-three-inch Valieva lifting her arms above her head as she spun, accented by her blurred red gloves, seemed effortless. Yet, it’s obvious she’s put a lot of time and dedication into perfecting each element – each quadruple jump – of her routine. To her credit, Valieva proved human – and not just a jumping machine – after she fell to the ice when she attempted her third and final quadruple jump. She shook off the mistake, put it behind her, and continued her program. Her score was more than 30 points higher than second-place finisher Kaori Sakamoto of Japan. 

It’s nice to learn from newspaper reports that Valieva sometimes giggles during her interviews with Olympic media. The other day, she entered the media area following her short program clutching a stuffed animal. Remember, she’s just 15. However, it’s been her dream to be an Olympic champion since she was about three years-old. 

After practicing gymnastics, figure skating and ballet as a child, Valieva liked figure skating the best. She once said that “gliding on the ice and the speed are awesome.”

With Valieva’s goal of becoming an Olympic figure skating champion coming into the spotlight, no doubt she will draw plenty of attention next week when the women’s individual competition takes place. It won’t surprise me if Valieva wins the gold medal and stands on the top step of the medal podium at Capital Indoor Stadium. Winning gold seems to be a Russian tradition among women’s figure skaters – and to her credit, Valieva exudes a winning combo of brains and brawn.

In her own words: “I believe that my next dream will come true, too.”

Screenshot photo courtesy of NBC Olympics video.

To watch highlights of Valieva’s team competition performance: https://youtu.be/hda3vvmqQHQ

On sports: Zeina Nassar is fighting for her dream

Zeina Nassar didn’t change for the rules. She helped change the rules.

The German-born boxer of Lebanese parents lives in Berlin, where she has been training diligently for the 2020 Olympics while keeping up with her university studies. However, Zeina’s far from being your stereotypical 21-year-old college student. That’s because as a Muslim, who is devout to her faith, she wears a headscarf – a hijab – both in public and in the boxing ring. And that’s where things get tricky and complicated.

“I don’t want to be reduced to my looks, or my hijab,” says Nassar, in a Nike-produced video posted on her Instagram profile (@zeina.boxer). “It really doesn’t matter which religion I practice. In the end, what matters to me is my sport.”

Fascinated by both the discipline and elegance of the sport of boxing, the 2018 German champion says, “We live in a time where everything should be possible, and you have to fight to make changes in society.”

In an interview with Material magazine, Nassar said she was looked upon as “an absolute misfit” in the ring when she began boxing. However, she said, “I didn’t let that discourage me. It’s those fallacies I want to tackle and, hopefully, someday, get rid of for good. I believe that everyone should have the right to do whatever it is he or she pleases to do. Simple as that.

“Personally, I feel empowered through boxing. Even though I have had to face all kinds of unfairness, I never held back from doing what I believed in just because it may have crossed someone else’s opinion or expectation of what I could or could not do.”

When Nassar first participated in a boxing competition in 2013, according to regulations, she was not allowed to compete in a hijab. She remembers she often had the feeling she needed to prove herself twice as hard as the others.

“My first coach fought for the boxing regulation to be changed in Germany,” Nassar recalls. “And since then, all women are allowed to compete in boxing.

“Back then, I really had no idea what I started, but today I’m more and more aware that I am a role model for a lot of kids and adults. When I was 13, I didn’t even think about whether I would be allowed, wearing a hijab, or not. For me, it was just normal, same as for all the other kids. I had a dream and wanted to do it.”

Now, Nassar is featured in Nike’s new “Dream Crazier” ad campaign, which launched worldwide via social media on Sunday. The Nike swoosh is prominantly displayed on Nassar’s hijab that she wears when she competes.

Just last week, Nassar scored a huge victory outside of the boxing ring. That’s because the International Boxing Association rewrote the rules, allowing women all over the world to box while wearing hijabs. No longer will Nassar’s hijab be an obstacle for her in the ring.

“It’s a huge win for me and for women across the world,” she wrote on Instagram. Her fighting spirit lives on.

“My ongoing contribution to the world is that I want to continue to inspire people,” Nassar told Material magazine. “I want to encourage people, especially women, to not take ‘no’ for an answer. I want women to feel strong, brave, independent, victorious. I want women to see me and say ‘Hey, if she can do it, so can I.’ Every day, I receive messages of people telling me how much I’ve helped them with conquering fears and doubts. It gives me so much pride, hope and happiness. It fuels my own motivation to fight. Not only in the ring. Not only for myself. But for all of us.”

Photos: Courtesy of Zeina-Nassar.com, Nike.com.

Pink Martini: The "little orchestra" that's bringing joy to the world in these troubled times

Pink Martini / The "little orchestra" that's inclusive, full of warmth and
represents many human experiences.

Pink Martini is an internationally acclaimed "little orchestra" from Portland, Oregon, founded by a couple of Harvard classmates, pianist Thomas Lauderdale and vocalist China Forbes, that mixes glamour and sophisticated easy-listening music. Since 1994, the band that the Washington Post once called "utterly cosmopolitan yet utterly unpretentious," have amassed an impressive repertoire of festive songs drawn from around the globe, including many timeless classics and a few rarely heard chestnuts.

A typical Pink Martini show -- and I speak from experience have seen the band perform nine times over the past decade in a variety of California settings -- is both multilingual and multicultural, and at holiday time it's also multi-denominational. Above all, it's inclusive -- full of warmth -- and represents many human experiences.

Through the energy and creativity of their music, Pink Martini brings joy to the world in these troubled times -- something which should make all of us feel grateful and appreciative.

"We're very much an American band," said Lauderdale, "but we spend a lot of time abroad and therefore, have the incredible diplomatic opportunity to represent a broader, more inclusive America... the America which remains the most heterogeneously populated country in the world... composed of people of every country, every language, every religion."

Pink Martini has performed on concert stages and with symphony orchestras throughout Europe and Asia, as well as in Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, Northern Africa, Australia, New Zealand, South America and North America. I have seen them perform both as a "little orchestra" as well as in concert with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. When his schedule allows, NPR "All Things Considered" host Ari Shapiro, also a Portland native, joins Pink Martini as a guest vocalist.

Pink Martini's 'Joy to the World'

Last Monday in Livermore, about 30 miles inland from Oakland, my wife and I saw our most recent Pink Martini show. It was part of a two-week "Joy to the World" bus tour through northern and coastal California towns, including Arcata, Davis, Monterey, Redding, and Santa Barbara.

On this night, the 12-member band delighted their audience at the Livermore Valley Performing Arts Center's 507-seat Bankhead Theater by performing from their expansive catalog of pop, jazz, classical and holiday songs that were beautifully sung in Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, German, Turkish, Armenian, Spanish, Italian, French, Romanian, Croatian, Chinese, Japanese and, oh yes, English, too. There was a nice mixture of charm, elegance and humor throughout the band's two-hour performance.

In a recent interview with the Santa Barbara Independent, co-lead vocalist Storm Large said: "Every language expresses love, pain, joy or grief, in whatever song I'm singing, in whatever language, it's just a matter of being honest in the feeling I'm expressing." This was plainly evident when Large sang the very serious Romanian folk tune "Pâna când nu te iubeam" ("Until I Loved You") as well as a long-time favorite of mine, the spine-tingling Croatian song "Eu plavu zoru" ("At Blue Dawn"), accompanied by violinist Nicholas Crosa.

Pink Martini performs their "Joy to the World" holiday
show in Livermore, California on Dec. 7.

Among the sacred and secular holiday songs which Pink Martini performed in Livermore were: "Little Drummer Boy," "We Three Kings," "A Snowglobe Christmas," "Talj, Talj," "La Vergine Degli Angeli," "O Holy Night," and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."

"Christmas music is so inherently joyful for me, as well as for the audience," said Large. "People just have so many good feelings around the holidays. It's a marvelous reason to sing."

Pink Martini's unique vision can be attributed to its inclusiveness of language, culture, and religion, musically. The band wants anyone and everyone to feel welcome at its shows and, if they are so encouraged, to jump up and dance. And many did dance in Livermore. The evening was complete  with an encore performance of the band's signature tune "Brazil" in which many in the audience at Large's urging formed a conga line while others danced at their seats and in the aisles.

If you think about it, said Large, "It's really the perfect recipe for 'Peace on Earth and Good Will' we hear about so often during the holidays, but sadly have witnessed quite the opposite in the world of late."

Note ~ Hear Pink Martini's "Joy to the World: A Holiday Spectacular" that's airing this month via NPR:

http://www.npr.org/2015/12/09/458905971/pink-martinis-joy-to-the-world-a-holiday-spectacular