The Un-Olympic Spirit

Jenn Stuczynski should be totally thrilled and extremely proud in the aftermath of her silver medal performance in the women's pole vault. She "lost" the gold medal to world-record holder Yelena Isinbayeva. Considering she's pole vaulted for all of four years, and that she was competing against a dominant, umpteen world record-breaking champion, she did really really great.

However, if you caught NBC's short coverage of the event, then you saw her coach Rick Suhr verbally berate her immediately after winning the silver medal. You could see how visibly dejected Stuczynski was after her coach's negative remarks.

I was stunned that someone would choose that moment to deliver those words to an athlete who had worked so hard and performed so wonderfully. Unconscionable. Jenn Stuczynski should find herself a new coach. And, if my kid were a pole vaulter, I would never consider sending them to his pole vaulting school or academy. His behavior was reprehensible and his "win the gold or you're a worthless piece of sh!t" attitude runs counter to everything the games should be about.