the olympic question

i was watching the game last night between the US basketball team versus the defending gold medalist Argentina. It started to be a dun game to watch despite USA eating the argentine team alive with their defense and offense. After minutes of basketball, Manu Ginobili, the star of the Argentina team and also a proven asset of the San antonio Spurs fell to the ground and crawled to the side with an obvious sign of pain in his face. Then i remembered hearing a news not that long ago about Manu experiencing an injury to his ankle.(i heard that the swelling to his ankle stayed and ahs been bothering him ever since.) Despite the seemingly chaotic environment in the court as millions(including those watching the games through their t.v sets) watched Manu suffer another injury, i began to ask myself---is it really worth it?

To start things up, Yao ming, a chinese basketbal superstar who has been playing in the NBA for the Houston Rockets was pulled out in the middle of the season to prepare for the Olympics wherein he would be playing for the host country China. Even before Yao started to prepare for the olympics, he has reportedly been suffering from a knee injury and that he needed to rest. Despite that fact, China still continued to push its players to prepare and win in the games.

Second, Bogut (i forgot his name) playing for the Australian basketball team sprained his ankle during the games.(not sure if it was the left or the right ankle)..ahahah!!! ANDREW!.Andrew Bogut, that's his name i just remembered. He plays center, according to the internet he has just been signed to the Milwaukee Bucks for god knows how much.

Third and lastly, the reason why this blog came to be, Manu ginobili's incident.
Manu has been playing really good for the San Antonio Spurs, where he also helped in achieving the victory in the NBA finals.

Manu, together with the other NBA and national players of different countries who are in Beijing representing their nations in basketball are all putting something on the line. More than the effort and time they have given for practices and conditioning, these players are risking their selves and also their livelihood (if ever they get injured during the games).

The NBA players mentioned above form only a part of the whole "sacrifice aspect" of the Olympics. But is representing your country that important? that some of the worlds most successful athletes still continue to risk a lot...and i mean a lot for the sake of such cause?