Let's watch the Olympics, just for kicks

(pun intended)

NBC didn't cover any taekwondo on their main channel, so I had to go online to watch it. We won two bronzes, one for Terrence Jennings, who got into the sport by watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and one for Paige McPherson. Great Britain also won with a gold for Jade Jones! I'm glad the British have won lots of medals at these Olympics--it's always nice to see the host country do well, and they very often do since they have home-field/court/ring/track/etc. advantage.

I've really enjoyed Mary Carillo's coverage of these Olympics. Her interviews with athletes are always well-done, and her specials on London and the U.K. (about topics such as Welsh traditions and Shakespeare) were interesting and fun. I guess they have the best sports journalists go out into the field to interact with people and leave the odd ones (Bob Costas) in the studio.

A few words on Usain Bolt: He is certainly impressive, but I don't like him. He's unquestionably the greatest sprinter of all time, winning both the 100m and 200m in 2 consecutive Olympics (as well as some relays), but he's also very full of himself. He can't seem to stop talking about how great he is, and even after he won the 4x100m relay with the Jamaican team, he said, "I'm very happy with myself," as if his teammates didn't have much to do with it. (Contrast that with the winning US women's 4x100m relay team, who couldn't stop saying how much they loved each other.) I might also add that in a couple of his races, he actually slowed down on the last few steps when he knew he had it won. In a long distance run, that can make sense because you're exhausted to point of collapsing, but in sprinting, it's just pure arrogance. It shows that Usain doesn't care as much about doing his best as he does about winning. A true sportsman always tries his best and gives it his all, whether or not he's in the lead. Sports, especially the Olympics, are about showing people what you're made of, not simply winning every contest. The media's obsessive coverage of him also annoys me because it overshadows more inspiring athletes like Ashton Eaton, the decathlon gold medal winner.

Some sports really know how to put on a show

Synchronized swimming is fun to watch. Similar to figure skating, it obviously takes tremendous athleticism and skill, but the athletes try to come up with choreography and artistry that goes well with their music and provides entertainment for the crowd. You get everything from Great Britain's Peter Pan theme to Australia's AC/DC routine. What really gets me is how much time they spend underwater. It seems like they're holding their breath for at least half of their performance (they probably are). It's too bad that the US isn't usually in contention for a medal.

Then there's rhythmic gymnastics, one of the strangest sports ever. It really seems like more of a dance competition to me. Ballet is not a sport (though it does require athleticism), so I'm kind of at a loss for why this would be considered differently... unless you look at it as the "sport form" of dance, emphasizing the athleticism and slightly reducing the artistry. The routines look like dance exercises with specifically required props--ribbons, rope, hoops, clubs, and bouncy balls. Maybe the props are the key--having to dance around while concentrating on a prop (that they have to keep in constant motion) requires expert hand-eye coordination, so it's kinda like table tennis in that sense... I dunno. It's definitely bizarre, but also fascinating. (The US doesn't have a full team competing.)

There was a devastating crash between South Africa and Kenya in the 4x400m relay prelim, preventing South African Oscar Pistorius from even getting a chance to run his leg. Needless to say, it dashed the hopes of Pistorius and his team... at first. Their country filed a formal protest because the Kenyan runner suddenly changed direction right in front of the South African, causing them both to fall. Well I'm definitely glad they did so, because the committee allowed them to compete in the final, making Pistorius the first double amputee to compete in an Olympic (non-Paralympic) final. So cool!

Quite a few crashes occurred in BMX racing, as well, but that's actually the norm. Because of all the falls, there's a point system with multiple races to determine who advances in the competition, so you're not automatically out of it if you crash once. The exciting, fast-paced races are so enthralling that once the bikers come out of the gate, it's impossible for me to pull my eyes from the screen. It's BMX-treme!

Greatest athletes in the world

Americans Ashton Eaton and Trey Hardee won gold and silver in the decathlon, so we've got the world's top 2 greatest overall athletes. It was pretty obvious by the 7th event that those two would be at the top, but I was pulling for Hardee to win because he's the better thrower (shot put, discus, javelin). Eaton's discus throwing, in particular, was less than impressive. :P   He more than made up for it, however, in the running and jumping events to come through with gold. Watching the two of them compete makes me miss going to track meets in high school to throw shot and disc. I actually know what it's like to be in the ring, so watching US athletes compete in that environment against the best in the world is a real treat.

Another great thing about the decathlon: the athletes are all very civil and friendly to each other. They go through the experience of competing in 10 events together over 2 days, growing accustomed to each other and even sometimes getting to know each other. After the last event, the 1500m run, many of them hugged and patted each others' backs, sharing the accomplishment of making it through to the end. The endurance required to complete that journey, along with the versatility required to do well in it, sets the decathlon apart from all other events in the Olympics. That's why I love it so much.

To top it all off, this year is the 100th anniversary of the decathlon, which was first won in 1912 by American (and Oklahoman) Jim Thorpe. How fitting, then, that Ashton Eaton set a world record this year at the US Olympics trials. Having an outstanding decathlon tradition is something the US can be extremely proud of. Here's a great article about Eaton's potential legacy to the sport.

Gymnastics ends with a bang

Gabby's gold in gymnastics all-around was exciting, but Aly Raisman really shined in this year, as well. She won bronze on the beam in a tie breaker, and then went on to win gold on a nearly perfect floor exercise, with the crowd clapping along with her music, as usual. Aly was the one who edged out Jordyn Wieber for the all-around final, and while everyone was upset that Jordyn didn't get a chance to compete for that title, Aly proved herself the better gymnast this year. Way to go Aly!

Men's gymnastics high bar is so fun to watch! This year the gold medal went to Zonderland of the Netherlands, the first Dutch man to win a medal in gymnastics. His routine was AMAZING--he had a combo of 3 releases in a row, contributing to the most difficult piece of gymnastics in the entire games. Plus, he has a rockin' 70s haircut. You can watch his routine here.
_________________________________________________________

I don't care that much about equestrian, but the jumping is kinda fun to watch, and I got to root for an Irish guy named Cian O'Connor. He was tied for silver with Gerco Schroder from the Netherlands, so they had a jump-off. It was neat to see these two countries have a go, 'cause the Netherlands is usually a Winter Olympics country, and Ireland doesn't win many medals in general. O'Connor went second, and his time was much better than Schroder's--it looked like he had it won... until he botched the very last jump. It was close, but O'Connor got the bronze, Ireland's first (and probably only) medal of these games. Yay Ireland!

The two American beach volleyball teams played each other for gold, and Misty May/Kerry Walsh won. No surprise there. They've never lost a single set in 3 Olympics. That's just... wow. You can tell in their interviews that they're such great friends. That's probably one reason why they're such an amazing team--they know each other well enough to predict each others' moves, and they trust each other well enough to know that their backs are covered. That's the very definition of teamwork.

So far, we've won 20 medals in track and field. That's twice as many as the 9 that second place Russia has. We always dominate in track and field, and it should give us the edge over China for the overall medal count. Right now, we're up by 4, though China has 2 more golds. I'm hoping we get gold and silver in the decathlon--our two American athletes are at the top after day 1.

The US swim team totally owned the 2012 Olympics

I really like Ryan Lochte. He such an easy-going guy, but he worked his butt off to win 5 medals at these Olympics. Though he didn't win as many golds as was expected, he did get one in the 400m IM, beating Phelps soundly, so he can add that to his list of accomplishments. Plus, he wore grills on his teeth during that gold medal ceremony--so silly, but hilarious!

Missy Franklin won gold in the 200m backstroke, smashing the world record by nearly a whole second. Then she went on to win her 5th medal with an all-star relay team for the 4x100m medley. Every leg of our team had the gold from their individual events, so it was no surprise that they easily won gold again together. Missy is only 17 years old, so we'll mostly likely see her, along with some of her teammates, at Rio in 4 years, and maybe even the Olympics after that, as well. I definitely look forward to watching them swim more in the future.

Phelps, the most decorated Olympian ever, has set the bar at 22 medals, 18 of those gold. There's no doubt that this record is going to last quite some time. Our whole swim team was just so damn good this year! The US medaled in 26 out of 32 swimming events, and in 4 of those we had 2 medalists! IN-freaking-CREDIBLE! A-freaking-MAZING!
_________________________________________________________

British athlete Jessica Ennis won gold in the heptathlon, one of my favorite events of the games. The heptathlon and decathlon are so fun to watch because it's amazing that these athletes can do all of those events so well. Strength, stamina, speed, and flexibility are all required at the highest level, making them the best overall athletes in the world. To me, that is seven times (for the heptathlon) or ten times (for the decathlon) more impressive than being the best in just one event.

Funniest thing I've seen in a while:

The discus officials use a remote-control car to return the discs from the field back to the ring. When I saw that I could NOT stop laughing. Ha! :P  (Perkovic of Croatia won gold with a distance of 226 ft.) Randomly, here's a video of the top 5 screams from women's discus.

Oscar Pistorius of South Africa ran in the 400m, making it to the semifinal race, but not the finals. That doesn't sound all that special... until you find out that he's a double amputee. Both of his legs were amputated below the knee, so to compete, he wears artificial limbs made especially for sprinting. It's the first time an amputee has ever qualified for the Summer Olympics, to compete against able-bodies athletes (that's not counting the Paralympics). It's a huge accomplishment and inspiration. Love it!

Getting into the Olympic spirit

I am having so much fun watching the ups and downs of world class competition! American Nathan Adrian winning the gold in the 100m freestyle by 1/100th of a second was so exciting! And the women pulled through again with another gold in the 4x200m free relay. But watching gymnasts Danell Leyva and and John Orozco compete in the men's all-around was absolutely engrossing. They both had a chance to medal, but they each screwed up pretty bad on the pommel horse, repeating their mistakes from the team competition. John's score was bad enough to take him out of the running, but Danell did well enough on his other events to still have a chance... and he did it! He came away with bronze! Such an impressive comeback--it must have had something to do with that lucky towel he carries around with him everywhere. Gymnastics sure has been all about bouncing back this year!
_________________________________________________________

Kayla Harrison became the first American ever to win a gold medal in judo, and if that's not impressive enough for you, she's a former victim of sexual abuse. When she was 16, she confessed that her coach had been abusing her for years, and her mother immediately pressed charges. They moved, found a new training group to help her recover emotionally and psychologically, and now she's an Olympic champion. In an article from TIME magazine, Kayla says, "This is proof that you're only a victim if you allow yourself to be. Nothing can stop you." She is definitely a strong woman worth looking up to.

Every time Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman do their gymnastics floor exercises, the crowd claps with the music, and tonight they really put on a show. As their last routine, it was the perfect way to end the night that would win them the gold and bronze, respectively. We've won gold in the women's all-around for the last 3 Olympics, which means the Russians are no longer the obvious favorites in the sport. We've never had an African American winner, though, so Gabby's definitely in the history books for that.

Rebecca Soni also won gold in the 200m breaststroke with a world record, becoming the first woman to win this event in back-to-back Olympics. Our women sure have set a lot of standards this year--I wonder if that correlates with the fact that the US has more female than male athletes at the Olympics for the first time ever...

Awe-inspiring team efforts for the US

I am sooooo glad our women's gymnastics team won the gold! It was so heartbreaking that Jordyn Wieber didn't make it to the individual all-round finals--her score was 4th out of everyone behind 2 teammates and a Russian, but only the top two athletes from each country are allowed to compete in that event. So sad! But she did her best to put it behind her to help the team win gold. Now THAT is a great competitor! So many talented athletes have a really hard time coming back from disappointment like that, but Jordyn did it. What a great team! Every single routine was great, and a few, like Jordyn's own floor routine and McKayla Maroney's vault, were basically flawless. It's always fun to watch an entire team succeed together.

The US swim team is doing awesome this year, too! Nearly every single swimmer we have has won a medal, including Allison Schmitt's exciting gold tonight in the 200m freestyle. The women, in particular have been really impressive. Phelps and the men have been great, too, but when you're expected to win and you get silver, it feels like a loss. Any medal at all is a big achievement, but there is definitely a difference between "winning" bronze and "losing" gold. Phelps "lost" gold tonight in the 200m butterfly because he had some iffy turns and a bad finish, but he did make history by becoming the most decorated Olympian EVER with his 19th medal (a gold) from the 4x200m freestyle relay. Very cool!

Missy Franklin is on a roll!

Individual diving is pretty amazing, but synchronized diving is double the awesome. Not only are the dives cool-looking and super difficult, two people have to do the exact same thing at the exact same time! And the US did great, too! The women's team won silver and the men's team, bronze. So neat!

The American men really messed up the team gymnastics competition, but the Brits pulled through to medal for the first time in a hundred years with a bronze. Originally, Britian had silver, Ukraine had bronze, and Japan got fourth, but Japan disputed a score and was moved up to second, bumping Ukraine off the medal stand. You can't blame a coach for looking out for his team, but I, for one, thought the Japanese guy's score was fair--his pommel horse dismount looked pretty terrible to me. I feel sorry for the Ukraine.

US swimmer Missy Franklin (17 years old) has a really great story. She and her family decided to stay in Colorado to train instead of moving to a bigger swimming state (like California), and they have turned down numerous sponsorships and prize money offers so she could stay eligible to swim with her high school team. I think that's really cool--that her parents are allowing her to stay a normal kid as much as possible, not pushing her talent to the breaking point or weighing down her shoulders with high-stakes pressure. As a result, swimming has remained a fun activity for her instead of an obligation and a job. That's the way it should be done... and it has worked out splendid for Missy! In addition to the bronze she got with the US team in the 4x100m freestyle, she won GOLD in the 100m backstroke 14 minutes after swimming in a heat for the 200m freestyle. Looks like I have a new favorite swimmer.

American women are owning

I really enjoyed watching women's weightlifting. If whoever runs the 100m is the fastest in the world, then I suppose whoever lifts the most would be considered the strongest in the world. Those asian women are so much smaller than me, but they can lift 2 me's into the air. So cool.

The women's road race was pretty exciting. It was raining, which made the road slick (and caused the cameramen to repeatedly wipe off their cameras), so quite a few crashes occurred. I really wish I had had time to watch it all the way through, but because of work and other events to catch up on, I had to fast-forward through most of it. For much of the race, the US team stayed up at the front to avoid crashes, but later on, the Dutch kept attacking to lead and pick up the pace. Toward the end, Vos of the Netherlands, Armistead of Britain, and Zabelinskaya of Russia pulled ahead and stayed close till the very end, getting gold, silver, and bronze, respectively. It was quite the riveting finish!

The men's 4x100m freestyle relay was exciting, too. It looked like we had it won, but the French caught up to us in the last 50m--exactly the same thing that happened in 2008 but the other way around!

NBC did a special on Kim Rhode, who won gold in individual skeet shooting, becoming the first American to win individual medals in 5 consecutive Olympics. She's only missed once in all that time! Wowie! And Dana Vollmer won gold in the 100m butterfly in world record time, becoming the first woman to swim it in under 56 seconds--faster than most men! Yay for American women!

The 2012 games have begun

I loved London's Opening Ceremonies. It really showed off how much great stuff Britain has produced for the world over the centuries. The progression of time was a cool framework for the show, starting out with quaint agrarian life (reminiscent of Hobbiton), transitioning to the Industrial Revolution (towering silos coming out of the ground reminded me of the intro to "Game of Thrones"), and then on to the digital age (feature texting and modern music). The musical ride from the 50s to today was very neat and well-done. I'm glad they saved Pink Floyed for the fireworks finale--so fitting!

The short film featuring the Queen and James Bond (Daniel Craig) getting into a helicopter was fun, then seeing "them" jump out of it into the stadium right before Her Majesty's declaration of opening the games was very clever! Roan Atkinson "playing" the Chariots of Fire theme was HILARIOUS! I could not stop laughing through that entire song. I also greatly enjoyed watching top-hatted Kenneth Branagh wander around hordes of people whilst chomping on a cigar and posing with fists on hips.

The idea of having one copper pedal for each country come together to form one Olympic flame was ingenious. And Paul McCartney was a great closer, leading the crowd in singing "Hey Jude." My favorite part, however, was the children's literature segment. JK Rowling read a passage from Peter Pan, kids jumped and flipped on movable beds, costumed nightmare creatures danced around sleeping children, and a giant Voldemort was defeated by many Mary Poppinses!

Danny Boyle's production turned out to be incredibly creative, visually interesting, and intensely entertaining. China's awesome ceremony in Beijing was impressively big, but I liked this one better. I do hope to see the good Doctor somewhere in the closing ceremonies, though.
_________________________________________________________

I noticed that some of the cyclers in the men's road race were chatting it up during the first part of their ride, when everyone was still in a big clump. What a great example of the Olympic spirit! Seeing athletes from different countries being friendly and nice to each other, especially during competition, is one of the main reasons why I love to watch them. It's always see great sportsmanship at the Olympic level--makes me wish it was more common in US pro and college sports. Another thing I enjoy: seeing older athletes and underdogs win! 38-year-old Vinokourov of Kazakhstan surprised everyone and took home the gold for this race.

There was an Irishman named Kieran Behan competing in men's gymnastics with an inspiring backstory. He's had quite a few bad injuries that had doctors thinking he wouldn't walk again, let alone compete in the Olympics! But he recovered from them all to become the second man from Ireland ever to qualify for the Games. He didn't get to the finals, but he sure had the time of his life. How cool is that?

Ryan Lochte won the gold by a longshot in the men's 400 IM (individual medley). His extra hard work over the last four years has really paid off, and as he said, he's "ready to rock" for the other events. Michael Phelps got 4th. Just goes to show that busting one's ass can really make a difference.

It's been a great 2 weeks.

Well, it's all over now. China is now officially a sports powerhouse. They lost a gold, however, in the last diving event when an Australian dove perfectly and upset the order. We were able to somewhat make up for our mistakes in the 4x100m relays by winning both 4x400m relays. Bob Costas was his usual self--"The man from down under goes up and over" (referring to an Australian who won the pole vault). I'm really going to miss baseball, and I'm really, REALLY going to miss softball (but hopefully they'll bring back the latter in 2016 *crosses fingers*). Michael Phelps was obviously the biggest story of the games, and I'm anxious to see how he'll do in London 2012.

I'm excited for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Till then, my life will go back to normal. No more being glued to the tv, recording everything I can. No more scheduling activities around Olympic coverage. Ah well, I was just about ready to be free of it, anyway.

World's Greatest Athlete

American Bryan Clay won the decathlon! Woo! He finished last in the the 1500m, the last of the 10 events, but he was so far ahead by that point that it really didn't matter. Man, I love that decathlon. It's so amazing that those guys can do all of those events, no matter whether they medal or not. It's probably my favorite event of the Summer Olympics. I definitely think "World's Greatest Athlete" is a much cooler title than "World's Fastest Man/Woman" or "World's Strongest Man/Woman". I especially love watching the field events that the athletes do, and it has so much history. You gotta be great at not one thing, but 10! Awesomes.

One thing that I've never understood is why there's not a women's decathlon. There's a heptathlon, but that's 3 less events. American Hyleas Fountain got bronze in that, which is awesome. I just wish they would add pole vault, a longer distance run, and most of all DISCUS! They don't get to throw discus. How dumb is that?

Anyway, we've done really well this year in the team events. Our men's water polo team will play for gold, the women's team got silver. Men's and women's indoor volleyball will both play for gold. We already swept beach volleyball in both. The men's and women's basketball teams will play for gold, too, and are both expected to win. Women's soccer got gold. Baseball should end up with bronze. And softball got silver (which was a bad shocker, as I already explained). Overall, our teams are ruling majorly.

Mary Carillo did a story on kung fu monks, which was really awesome. On that note, the Lopez family dominated in tae kwon do. Mark won silver, Diana won bronze, then Steven (a 2 time gold medalist and 4 time world champion) got silver after a controversial penalty deducting a point from Steven, leading into overtime. They're the first tae kwon do family, and they're even all coached by their oldest brother Jean. That's pretty cool.

I haven't been able to watch any Judo at all, but according to this article, a variety of countries are medaling this year (the sport is usually dominated by Japan), including a first medal ever for Tajikistan. Ronda Rousey won the bronze for the US, too. I love martial arts!

Professor and the Beast

That is... Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser, who played for the gold in men's beach volleyball. 'Twas an exciting game, just about as down to the wire as it could be. The teams were almost evenly matched. We would tie it up, Brazil would break the tie. We won the first set, Brazil the second. And then in the last set our guys started getting fired up while the Brazilians ran out of gas. We got the gold!

No gold in softball, though! I didn't get to watch the game, but I read this article about Japan's major upset! This was going to be the last Olympics for softball, and the reason was that the US was unbeatable. Lame reason on its own, but now the IOC will have to come up with a better reason for chucking it. Our loss is shocking and a bit sad, but hey, if it ends up saving the sport's Olympic future, that might actually make up for it.

We swept the men's 400m, but the best part was bronze medalist David Neville diving across the finish line. You don't see that too often! But he really might not have medaled if he hadn't done it. Nice move!

Another interesting track moment: the Cuban who won the men's 110m hurdles wears glasses. They're strapped to his head, obviously, but still... not exactly common. I think it's cool. It certainly didn't impede him at all; he won by a landslide and didn't hit a single hurdle.

Both the men's and women's 4x100m relay teams dropped their batons! Terrible! The US in general has under performed in track, and Jamaica has taken up the slack. Just like China's domination in diving, Jamaica is dominating the running events this year.

Speaking of diving, the audience watching the 10m platform finals all stood up and cheered as Chinese 15-year-old Chen Ruolin entered the water after a nearly perfect dive to win the gold. That's how much China loves their divers. They're 7 for 7 on golds for all the diving events.

BMX racing reminds me of speed skating. They all going so fast so close together that if one person falters he can take out everyone else behind him. Short, sweet, and hard to beat.

Queens of the Sandbox

Well, Kerri Walsh and Misty May won the women's beach volleyball gold. No surprise, really. I knew they would. Misty is such an awesome digger and Kerri is a great blocker; they're basically unbeatable. They have, after all, been undefeated for over a year.

Jamaica's Usain Bolt really is a freak of nature. He won the 200m just as easily as the 100m, and broke Michael Johnson's 12-year-old world record like it was no prob.

Race walking is freaking awesome. Period. Even more so when it's raining. They're like wiggling noodles moving along down the road. The slow mo is fascinating. It seems odd that there's a racing event in which you get disqualified if you exert too much, breaking into a slight run instead of a walk, but it's also weirdly cool.

Not much else to say, really. But I'm going to mention that I really like Chris Collinsworth and Mary Carillo. Chris has done great athlete interviews as well as befriended the Phelps family. Mary has been doing a bunch of really neat cultural stories, including one on pandas and one on kites. I love their demeanors and their storytelling styles.

Speaking of neat stories, Chris did a story tonight on a South African woman who participated in the open water swimming race, and she's an amputee! Now that is amazing.

Shawn and Nastia rule!

Shawn got her gold on beam, and Nastia the silver. Both of their routines were basically perfect except for a small step on Shawn's landing and a small hop on Nastia's. I'm really glad they were both able to get golds.

I'm also glad that Jonathan Horton got silver on high bar. :)

Not so glad: I felt so sorry for the two Americans runners who lost their golds in today. In the women's 200m, Sanya Richards had an awesome first 100, but then her leg cramped up and was passed by British runner Christine Ohuruogu and a Jamaican runner. Later, in the 100m hurdles, Lolo Jones was way ahead until she hit the 9th hurdle and ended up 7th. Dawn Harper pulled ahead to win gold, but Lolo's loss was quite a blow. After crossing the finish line, she dropped to her knees and buried her face in her hands. It was so sad. Times like these are always a part of the Olympics, but they're never easy to watch.

I watched some Tae Kwon Do online. I love it when they do spinning kicks. I hope I'm able to catch most of the finals.

BMX racing is really exciting! Lots of crashes. I'm glad they added that sport to the Olympics.

Screwy gymnastics scoring, vol. 2

Well, Nastia Liukin had a tying score with a Chinese gymnast for the gold in the uneven bars, but she ended up getting second because of a stupid tie-breaking rule. Other sports just give 2 golds if there's a tie. Why not gymnastics? That just doesn't make sense! Nastia got cheated out of a gold because gymnasts can't tie? That's completely ridiculous! I think Nastia's looked better, anyway. The judges have been scoring weirdly throughout the competition, and the new scoring system is pretty dumb. A perfect 10 is impossible now. They should change it back.

On a brighter note, American Jenn Stuczynski won silver in pole vault. Gold went to Russian Yelena Isinbayeva, who broke her world record and is really fun to watch. Pole vaulters in general seem to be really cool people. The male winner in Athens was pretty hilarious, dancing on the landing mat.

We also won gold in discus. Woo! Stephanie Brown Trafton.

Synchronized swimming is pretty fascinating. I had never watched a competition of it before last night, and it was fun to watch. It's set up kinda like figure skating. The teams have to do a technical routine with requirements and and then they have a free routine. Their suits match the show music, and their moves are built around that music. It's like they're dancing in the water, but they have to hold their breath most of the time while their legs are kicking around in the air. They're even judged on presentation and overall impression as well as execution and difficulty. It's an athletic performance.

Jamaican me crazy!

The Jamaican women swept the 100m dash! Woo! I like them. Sure, I was rooting for Lauren Williams, but the Jamaicans deserved their medals. Shelly-Ann Fraser, the winner, kept jumping around for joy after crossing the finish line. It was funny. That, along with Usain Bolt winning the men's event so easily, is one reason why Jamaica rocks.

33-year-old Oksana Chusovina won silver in the women's vault. She's amazing. Alicia Sacramone probably should have won bronze, but a Chinese girl barely beat her. Bela Caroli was getting really worked up about it. The Chinese girl had a huge step on her second vault and he thought Alicia got totally ripped off. :(

Shawn and Nastia looked like they were going to repeat 1, 2 in the floor exercise, but then Romanian Sandra Izbasa, the last to go, did an amazing routine to win it. That was kinda sad, but cool for Sandra. Note: I really don't get bored of watching Shawn's routine, and she is so cute!

On the men's side, we didn't get any medals. Artemev's pommel horse routine was really exciting and extra hard, so it stung more than usual when he fell off. :( The British guy, Louis Smith, however, got a medal, the first for the UK since 1928.

I got to watch some Badminton last night. It is really quite exciting! When Lin Dan won gold for China, he jumped up and fell down, he was so excited. He then threw his racket and both shoes into the crowd. Lol.

The US women's eights rowing team won gold for the first time in a couple decades! Woo!

A fruitful Olympics this has been, indeed

Well, I'm glad that Michael Phelps did it. That medley relay team was the best you anyone could possible have, so after he got his 7th, he was pretty much guaranteed an 8th. I'm going to enjoy watching all the interviews he's gonna do in the near future.

Dara Torres got the silver in the 50m, by 1/100 of a second--the margin by which Phelps won the 100m butterfly! She is so awesome. All other 41-year-old swimmers wouldn't even make the Olympic team, let alone win silver in a sprint! This has been such an awesome Olympic year for swimming--tons of records broken, lots of extremely close races.

Speaking of cool old athletes, and 38-year-old from Romania won the women's marathon, and she did it by a landslide! She pulled away early and stayed far ahead of the others for the rest of the race. It's reasons like this that make me love the Olympics so much.

Side note: Michael Phelps looks like my friend Adam Bruce, and best all-around gymnast Shawn Johnson looks kinda like my friend Brooke Ward. Crazy!

Michael Phelps, household name

Wow. Just wow. Phelps matched Spitz's record in the most exciting way possible! 1/100 of a second! The smallest margin there is. Gotta love it. His mom's reaction was pretty hilarious, but I also got a kick out of the faces on the people sitting in front of her. Later, Costas did an interview with him and Spitz, and Spitz really laid on the compliments. It was pretty cool. Phelps really is a great role model for the young 'uns. Side note: while NBC showed the clip of him winning again before ending the coverage session, they played "In Your Eyes" as the background music. Woo! Go Peter Gabriel!

In other news...

Kobe Bryant really moved up in my book after I watching an interview with him. He's been more of team player recently and he's not afraid to be patriotic. He's multilingual, doing interviews with people from other countries, and he seems like an all-around cool guy. I previously had the impression that he was kind of a jerk, and from watching him play with the Lakers he seemed somewhat of a ball hog. He's all right, though.

I can't wait to see Dara Torres in the 50m freestyle final tomorrow. She won her semi tonight, and it's so funny that she's twice as old as most of the others. She showed some great sportsmanship before the race when a Swedish girl had trouble with her suit, so she let the people in charge know so they could wait on her. So she kind of IS like a mom to all of 'em! It'd be really awesome for her to get her first individual gold, after 10 career medals, at 41 years old.

"I was born in the back seat of a Greyhound bus rollin' down highway 41."

I rode on a Greyhound bus Wednesday for the first time ever to see Dave Matthews Band in OKC (which was a great concert), and it was pretty interesting. It kinda reminded me of a band trip, riding in a charter bus, but this time I didn't know any of the passengers. The stations are kinda like mini airports, and they were pretty nice--not really what I was expecting. My favorite part about it, though, was that the television inside the OKC station was playing Olympics coverage, so waiting for the bus was not a drag at all.

None of our men won medals in the gymnastics all-around, but I was glad to see the Chinese guy win. I like him. Our girls, on the other hand, were amazing. Nastia Liukin won gold, Shawn Johnson silver. I almost teared up when Nastia and her dad, who's also her coach and who won gold for Russia way back when, hugged and cried together.

And then, of course, Phelps gets another gold. Tomorrow's 100m Butterfly race will be more interesting than what we've seen lately because he's not particularly favored to win. We'll see. (Special note: NBC had Blue Man Group music playing on a Phelps special about his perfect swimmer physical features.)

I'm really glad that American James Blake won against Roger Federer in Tennis. Now that is an accomplishment, especially after losing to him 8 times already in the past. I really hope he goes on the win the gold.

I still have yet to see any Archery, and I'd like to catch some badminton at some point. But I did get to see a bit of table tennis. It was INTENSE. The most intense ping pong I've ever seen.