Luuka Jones dejected after her run in the K1 final. Photo / Getty
Luuka Jones dejected after her run in the K1 final. Photo / Getty
OPINION:
Luuka Jones expressed sheer emotion on Tuesday night, fronting the media after placing sixth in the K1 women's canoe slalom in Tokyo. She was a hot medal contender, coming off the back of a silver medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
I will never know what itfeels like to miss out on an Olympic medal, but I sure know the feeling of walking off the court being absolutely broken; knowing you've given it your all, but you didn't get the result you hoped for.
After the shock realisation that she wasn't going to medal, she hugged the fellow athletes that would be standing on the podium.
Luuka Jones dejected after her run in the K1 final. Photo / Getty
In her post match interview with Sky Sport, she held back tears, sharing how disappointed she was.
But she then had a change of tune, and this sentence stuck with me. "You can't judge yourself on the outcomes of sport, you have to learn from things like this, and be better."
This attitude is rare for athletes of Jones' calibre. Even after five years of pushing herself to the absolute limits, she knows this result isn't the be all and end all. Resilience is an attribute we need to be encouraging throughout sport at all levels. We need to not make winning the only option because it only sets us up for failure, and results in a drop in participation due to negative experiences.
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To my parents and teammates' disgust, I was one of those of those kids who only cared about winning. Yes, it's rather shameful to look back on, smashing a basketball on the ground after losing the final at just 11 years of age, yelling at my shooters when they miss goals on the netball court, and sitting in the back seat of the car in tears after missing out on a final. But how pathetic was I? Surely I'm not alone when I say that I wish I saw this interview with Luuka Jones many years ago.
This is a topic that needs to be talked about in sport at all levels across the country. Each year we hear of incidents where players and even spectators become violent and officials are abused because of a game.
Luuka Jones in action. Photo / Getty
We are gambling with our emotions when it comes to sport. When we lose, the blame is heaped on someone else, rather than accepting that we've lost.
I was perplexed to see Jones take somewhat of a positive stance when she failed to medal. But she owned it, moved on and suited up in the C1 canoe slalom heats, advancing through to the semifinals.
If Jones can show resilience after having her dreams of winning another Olympic medal dashed, perhaps fellow New Zealanders can take a leaf out of her book.
