When I was a child, I played badminton for a couple of years. I liked playing but was never any good and did not play in competitions. However, like all members, I did participate in the annual badminton club championships. There were different categories, based on gender, age, and whether or not you played competitively.
One year, I was one of only two girls in my category. We played a match, I lost.
And then I got the silver medal for coming second in my category.
I sometimes think about that silver medal, still hiding somewhere in my mom’s attic. What if that silver medal falls into the hands of a descendant many generations from now? They will assume I was athletic, or at least a decent badminton player. Since I am one of the least athletic persons I know, I think that’s hilarious. While I enjoyed playing, I was really really bad.
If we look at the records and artifacts we have about our own ancestors, how many of those are the silver badminton medals? How many represent the flukes, the outliers, in our ancestors’ lives, and can give us a completely wrong impression of what they were like? Unusual events are more likely to be recorded, so there may be more than we realize.
International badminton match, 1976. Credits: Bert Verhoeff, collection Nationaal Archief (CC-0)
About Yvette Hoitink
As a child a participated in the South-Holland skating championship on natural ice. It was on Saturday Morning, so all good skaters were in training on artificial ice in The Hague, so only 4 girls participated. First was the 500 meters. I was 4th of 4. Then the 1000 meters. I was 1st.
As a result, like you, (due to some formula) I got the silver medal.
When I was 9 years old (57 years ago), I set a record that is held to this day. I ran the 75 yard dash in 8 seconds. That is a pretty good timing that remembering that we had 99 cent stinky standard running shoes of the day, ran on cinders and without starting blocks. Even so as it and the 100 were the feature events for those of us with a short time attention span. So it was never beaten and then about 15 years after it went metric, so the record stands by default.
And it looks pretty good in the family dna of second cousins as an NHL start. legitimate bandminton champion on one side and a Wimbledon player and prima dona ballerina on the other side.
But…..
My hopes were dashed the following summer as I grew 9 inches in height – all in my back and non in my legs…and so my running career was over