Mary Gustafson, McKnight's Staff Writer

It’s easy to get swept up in the Olympic spirit only to grow weary of the endless, sappy, slow motion highlight reels by the time the closing ceremony rolls around.

If you’re predicting a case of early-onset Olympic fatigue but still want to root for the good ol’ USA, then cheer on the 25th Annual West Virginia Geriatric Olympics.

The International Geri Olympic Games are the result of a partnership between West Virginia State University and Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. WVSU professor Ted Muilenburg, Ph.D., who had spent a sabbatical in Prague earlier in his career, started the games. Until 2008, approximately 20 teams from all over West Virginia competed just against each other. But that year a U.S. team took the competition abroad— and brought home the gold medal — against the Czech team.

In West Virginia, one nursing home has dominated the competition, and that is the team from Cedar Ridge Nursing and Rehabilitation, a 118-bed facility in Sissonville.

Becky Harding, formerly an LPN at Cedar Ridge, currently is the community’s activities director and coach of the team, which has about nine residents.  Harding helps them prepare for events such as wheelchair races, basketball (using Nerf balls), obstacle courses, relays, golf, Wii bowling, bowling, horseshoes (using plastic horseshoes), a triathlon, marksmanship (using BB guns), candle blowing (the challenge is to blow out all of the candles on a birthday cake in one breath) and others.

Any resident who wants to participate can join the team — even team members with Alzheimer’s made the trip to Prague. As a safety precaution, the ratio of caregivers/helpers for trips is about 1:1.

Chip Palmer R.N., a nursing supervisor at Cedar Ridge, accompanied the 2008 team from Cedar Ridge to Prague.

“They’re very excited about being able to participate in the games and to be able to win a trophy. It seems like they have a greater sense of self worth,” as a result of competing, Palmer told me.

Falls among team members are uncommon on the Cedar Ridge team, but Palmer says that staff members who accompany the team follow the same fall care plan they normally follow. And just to be on the safe side, the residents wear “hipsters” — which are an underwear type of garment with extra padding in the hip area — under their clothes as a precaution.

Palmer says he’s seen how training for the Olympic events has helped the memory care residents with agitated dementia behaviors. Training adds structure to the residents’ day, a helpful tool in mitigating agitation.

Harding — who admits to being exhausted when she gets home from a competition — says she can’t believe the difference a little friendly competition makes in lifting participants’ mood and quality of life.

“It’s almost a little strange,” Harding explains. “The residents just change into different people once they get to their event and start competing.”

Even ESPN would be hard-pressed to produce an Olympic highlight reel that inspiring.