Olympic class and the lack thereof

Sunday and early Monday there were two examples of what the Olympic Games should be about, and one example of what they shouldn’t be about.

Sunday, Russia’s Natalia Paderina won the silver medal in the women’s 10-meter air pistol; Georgia’s Nino Salukvadze won the bronze. Their nations happen to be at war. But on the medal stand, the Georgian put her arm around the Russian, and as they posed for photographs, the Russian kissed the Georgian on the cheek.

Early Monday, Kosuke Kitajima broke American Brendan Hansen’s world record in the 100 breaststroke, and Hansen’s heart in the process. The loss meant Hansen will leave these Olympics without an individual medal, and as an Associated Press reporter put it, “he’ll go down as one of the major disappointments of the American team.”

Yet Hansen swam over to Kitajima to congratulate him, later saying, “You’ve got to tip your hat to somebody that does something like that in a pressure-packed race like that. That’s a hell of a swim, and he is a true champion.”

On the other hand, we have Alain Bernard, the swimmer who confidently predicted his French team would beat the Americans in the 400 freestyle relay; some news reports quoted him as saying they would “smash” the Americans.

When, instead, the U.S. beat the French by a whisper — thanks to American Jason Lezak’s chasing down Bernard in the final lap, Bernard clung to the wall, head down, and was the last to leave the pool. Beaten, braggadocio suddenly had nothing to say, and certainly not “congratulations.”