If “quality of life” is measured by the options you have when you leave your front door every day, how should Minnesotans measure our sporting quality of life?
Here’s a hint: Forget about championships, and remind yourself how many options you have year-round in this underrated market.
Late Sunday night, a large group of journalists waited in the news conference room at Target Center to speak with Simone Biles and Suni Lee, the past two all-around Olympic gymnastics women’s gold medalists.
They had just taken the top two spots at the U.S. Olympic trials, the latest attention-getting event held in the Twin Cities. Both will compete in the Paris Olympics.
For four days, Minneapolis became the country’s gymnastics capital. On the first and third days, former Gopher Shane Wiskus thrilled the crowd while qualifying as an alternate for his second Olympics. On the fourth day, Lee, the daughter of Hmong immigrants who was raised and still lives in St. Paul, overcame three years of angst, illnesses and injuries to reassert herself as one of the best sports stories of the decade, here or anywhere.
Her competition in that realm is Biles, who overcame mental health challenges to reassert her status as the greatest gymnast ever.
These are international superstars who will command the world’s attention in Paris, and Minnesotans could buy a ticket and see them in person.
Such an opportunity is commonplace here, but shouldn’t be taken for granted.
