Last week I talked about some Pee Wee league coaches telling their players to purposely hit opponents harder and target specific players. Now, just one week later, we find that a similar incident happened, but this time it's from the Olympics.

It appears that Simon Cho of the US short-track speed skating team sabotaged Canadian team member Olivier Jean's skates on direct order from his Korean coach. Cho says that in his culture, when an elder tells you to do something, you do it without question. Cho admits that what he did was wrong but that he was intimidated and scared to do the right thing. However, Cho felt that now is a good time to set the record clear and come clean to what he had done no matter what the consequences. Cho also issued and apology to Jean who accepted.

Cheating at any level is bad, but cheating in the Olympics? It's downright despicable. To show how serious of an offense this is, this is what the Olympic Committee had to say about Cho's actions, " The conduct at issue is repugnant and antithetical to the values of the Olympic Movement and inconsistent with Team USA's commitment to fair play." 

When Jesus saw selling going on in His sanctuary, He flipped tables. That's the same sort of passion we should have against cheating. If your coach is telling you to cheat, then you know that it's not about competition anymore, it's about pride, and we all know what goes before pride. Again, I encourage all of you involved in sports to always see the bigger picture. Do you really want to win that bad? How far would you go to win? Thankfully I've never taken the games that seriously and I've learned many lessons in defeat. I'm blessed to say that I know the agony that stems from a loss and the joy that comes from success. Both are invaluable. 

Happy Sabbath! And NO CHEATING :)