Not much of an Olympic athlete

Like the rest of the world, I've been engrossed by the winter Olympics these past two weeks. While watching, I realized that when I was a child, the Olympics were my only "interaction" with people from different countries. The Olympics helped shape my expectations about people from around the world.

Now that I'm older, I know that not everyone from Belarus is a gymnast, not everyone from Russia is an ice skater, and not everyone from Germany is a skiier.

Or maybe everyone in Germany does ski, though I suspect there is someone there like me, living in a snowy clime and growing up on the ocean but having zero interest in snow sports and refusing to eat seafood.

Some of us like to defy expectations.

Do you ever watch competitions and wonder if you can do what the athletes are doing? As I watch, I try to figure out the sport that would best suit me. 

Short-track speed skating, I learned, is out. The crowded racing conditions would be overwhelming. Plus those competitors appear to be on the shorter side. I think I would face a similar struggle in figure skating, especially partner skating. A six-foot-tall woman is likely not a male figure skater's first choice for a partner.

Long-track speed skating had some appeal, and competitors look to be a bit taller. I like that you get your own lane, and the race is based on your time and not on judges' scores. But I have practical concerns. I have enough problems as it is trying to buy pants. If I had the thighs of a speed skater--forget it! Perhaps all types of skating are out.

Skiing, then? I learned during my only foray into skiing that I don't like going fast. (This news is probably not a surprise to anyone.) Maybe cross-country skiing, then? Did anyone watch that race where the competitors who crossed the finish line immediately fell down in exhaustion?

I don't want to have to work that hard.

I guess the Oympics aren't for me. And that, along with the more obvious reason (lack of skill at all Olympic sports) is why I'm sitting and watching them from my couch rather than competing.