Finding art in sports

I was never really a sporty person. It was always about the arts with me. Of course, you can still be incredibly physically active, even if you’re not sporty. I used to dedicate as many hours to dance as an athlete would to their training programme. The Olympics therefore, weren’t necessarily a big deal for me. I’d be more excited for the opening and closing ceremonies, because those would generally involve some dancing and singing, than I’d be for the sports events.

If I was going to watch any sport, it had to be artistic in some way or form. I’d therefore, generally watch gymnastics – rhythmic gymnastics in particular -, synchronised swimming, the springboard dives with all the fancy tumbling moves, and during the Winter Olympics, it would naturally be Figure Skating.

I was actually quite obsessed with Figure Skating. I used to try and watch as many competitions as possible, and would dance around my room trying moves in my roller blades (not a smart move, I can assure you). I think that is the only sport that I ever had any interest in possibly learning. But being from the smallest country in the Mediterranean region, we only had one ice rink open for just a few years, and it only opened when I was around 12 or 13, so it wasn’t a sport that I could really pick up. (We haven’t had an ice rink since.)

I still like watching figure skating, and occasionally watch some choreographies online. I don’t follow the competitions the way I used to in my youth, however.