CHAMPION: first among all contestants or competitors.

Evan Lysacek brought home the gold medal to the United States in the Men's Figure Skating category of the 2010 Winter Olympics on Thursday evening. Not surprisingly, he was then thrust into the middle of a controversy, requiring him to defend his medal by the Russians who wanted to write new rules. Because he didn't attempt a quad, the controversial four-spin jump, he wasn't qualified to be named the Champion, they declared.

The quad has become a highly-touted maneuver accomplished gracefully by limited numbers of figure skaters over the past decade of competition. Lysacek has completed the quad on a number of occasions, but chose to eliminate it from his performance, concentrating instead on perfecting other maneuvers. According to Dick Button and Scott Hamilton, former gold medal winners and respected commentators on the sport, Lysacek won by skating a perfect performance which included grace, interpretation, costuming, athleticism, and great skill. From their perspective, as reported in an interview with Bob Costas of NBC Sports, this achievement more than qualified him for the gold and did not require the inclusion of a specific jump. It was his overall performance, they said, which impressed the judges.

I'm one of those who is interested in figure skating every four years. I used to be more attentive to the sport when we spent more time in Lake Placid, NY, the site of the 1932 and 1980 Olympics. It is also the site of one of the US Olympic Training Centers, so there is skating year round. We came to know some of the skaters "up front and personal" as regular spectators at their training events and competitions. The hard work and athletic training they undergo is grueling and impressive. By the time they get to the level of Olympic competition they have devoted a huge amount of their young lives to the sport. With all the athletic preparation there develops a philosophical perspective as well. Lysacek is one of the more articulate spokespersons for that aspect, and is redeeming himself with great skill on the international media circuit. The criticism of the Russians will not diminish his accomplishments in his mind or in the minds of those who listen to him. He is a champion in the best sense of the word.

The point of his championship is well worth noting: a person is acknowledged to be a champion by an overall performance, not because of one maneuver. The intrusiveness of the media into the personal lives of public figures can appear to deny this. A personal flaw can seem to destroy a champion's overall performance. The failure of a champion to perform as a person or group studying the champion deems necessary (even though they may not be experts in the field) can appear to scuttle that person's accomplishments. What a shame.

At one point in my life I was at an event where Archbishop Desmond Tutu said something which has stuck with me. To paraphrase it from my memory, he said "People in the Western World tend to break things down into small segments and focus upon them to make value statements about quality or lack of quality. We, however, who hold a more Eastern perspective, have learned to see things as a whole, and to evaluate them as a total entity rather than a gathering of small pieces." I may not have the exact words, but you get the point he was making.

I think it applies to this Olympic moment, but I think it applies to other moments in our lives as well.