Ilia Malinin’s meltdown proved the point: Winning Olympic gold isn’t supposed to be easy

And we should be thankful for that. Because even if we can’t fully explain it, seeing failure occasionally is the only way we can know what greatness truly looks like. Most people who have played sports competitively know what it’s like to choke. Maybe it was a missed free throw that lost the high school conference championship or a 5-foot putt that lipped out with $20 on the line in your weekly golf foursome or falling apart in the finals of your local club’s tennis tournament after serving for the match.Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement No matter how big or small the stakes in a larger sense, they’re huge to everyone in those...