I am a lowly Pilates instructor. I'm quite good at what I do, but naturally, I'm not perfect. No one is. Yet I enjoy the work, and I enjoy coaxing my body to levels of competence, and I love helping clients achieve their own fitness goals, whatever those may be.

At 50 years old, I'm proud of what I've accomplished, especially since I hardly did a speck of sport until my late 30's.

A friend of mine is another Pilates instructor. And he's also a two-time Olympic rower for Great Britain. I've had the incredible opportunity to train with him as we both practiced in preparation for Pilates certification exams.

I can't tell you what an amazing athlete this guy is. I would spot him for the most impossibly difficult equipment exercises, which he would execute nearly flawlessly. He then would hop off the machine, and say to me, "Okay, now you try it!"

My reaction was, "Holy cats, man, you're a 30-something-year-old Olympian, I'm just a 50-year old Pilates instructor! I can't possibly!"

His response? "Sure you can! Now get up there and try. I'm spotting for you now."

I was so blown away the first time this happened. But that's how he is in everything he does. He believes in himself, he believes in others, and he relentlessly and so positively encourages others to do their very best. It is the height of grace, and to me, the sign of a true elite athlete and elite human being.

I hope that Ms. Sey can find it in her to look for the "gold" in even the efforts of ordinary folks.

This missive reminds me of a piece posted on Slate a while ago from some ass who huffed and puffed about people who ran marathons slower than him and still had the temerity to pat themselves on the back for completing a marathon. The kicker was that the author was hardly elite - if I remember correctly he'd never even won a marathon. He simply set the bar for a "true" marathon at whatever his time happened to be.

Sound familiar, Jennifer? After a quick Google search it turns out that - oh my gosh, you never won even one Olympic medal! So what's to stop Shawn Johnson or Nastia Liukin from calling you an annoying, disgusting wannabe because - all those injuries and hours in the gym notwithstanding - you're not even a footnote in the biggest contest in the world?

Of course, you fully deserve to call yourself a (former) competitive gymnast. And so does anyone else who ever contested an organized competition. Olympic medalists are clearly better gymnists than you were, and you were certainly better than any high school benchwarmer could ever dream to be - but everyone in that group can lay claim to the title of "athlete". See how that works?

Oh, and have you actually met any "arm chair" fans who think they could have been Olympians if only they'd practiced more? Because the former swimmer you mentioned said nothing of the kind. You seem not to have realized it, but saying "I swam the 400 free in high school," is not the same thing as saying "I could have been an Olympic contender". And come to mention it, how do you know she wasn't an elite swimmer who just might have made it to the Olympics had she had the drive?

Why is it that Salon provides a haven/outlet for so many commentators who are obviously using their articles as a substitute for therapy? I thought Anne Lamott was the worst of the bunch, but congratulations Jennifer, you just vaulted into first place (pun intended).

Thanks for reminding me one again why I despise elite professional athletes, and elite professional athletics, and the entire profession of elite broadcast and print commentators on both - and especially for reminding me why I need fell not a moment of guilt for having zippo interest in their past, present or future.

Who says you have to be pleasant to be heard?

It's not completely clear what Jennifer Sey is trying to tell us, aside from the obvious, but it's awfully nice that she says it without hedging, hemming, hawing, or trying to be a nice girl about it — while not sacrificing any of the adequate degree of eloquence she brings.

One of Salon's strengths has always been its fearlessness in giving space to new voices, however impolitic, idiosyncratic, or just plain rough around the edges they may be. It's great to see that tradition continuing.

It's especially good because this year's Olympic games are so blandly cautious and (it seems to me inexcusably) nonconfrontational.

Let's hear more from the nasty girl.

It’s a tribute to the skill of the Olympic athletes that they make their sports look easy enough for an amateur to do without much trouble. There are armchair enthusiasts in every sport or skill. People who have never written a “serious” word, believe that they could, with a little effort, write the next bestseller and end up on Oprah. But it’s honestly not worth getting upset about.

I used to ride, though not at the national or Olympic-level. I knew plenty of dedicated riders whose families did not have the funds to give them an “elite” level of training. Some parents made sacrifices, such as re-mortgaging their house, so their daughters could compete at the top level. Most, including mine, didn’t. It’s not always lack of dedication and drive that stops an athlete from going as far as she wants, but lack of funds and their parents’ lack of desire to devote themselves 24-7 to their child’s sport. And who can really blame them? It’s not healthy to have one child as the center of the family’s focus (as Sey’s book attests). Frankly, I think it's healthier if the kid doesn't feel as if her parents have sacrificed "everything" so she can succeed. Every thing after that national competition must be an anticlimax.

Plus, I've heard stories about gymansts who win an Olympic medal and still feel like a failure. How sad, if it's true.