THE OLYMPICS!

Everyone is aware of it.

The World watches.

There are moments of intense excitement, and moments of intense disappointment. 

There are mistakes. 

There are miracles. 

But what will we remember?

Here is what I want to remember. 

The opening ceremony was AWESOME. The video (which is proving to be elusive) of the Queen and James Bond "skydiving" into the Olympic Stadium was awesome.

Gymnastics. This is the first medal for Great Britain in living memory, and it's the team competition. LITERALLY. Ukraine and GB hug and celebrate bronze and silver. Japan calls for a reconsideration of scores, and gets silver. The Ukrainians leave in fourth place, with a sudden pang of disappointment but keep their heads up and their emotions in control as they leave the stadium. It makes me dislike Japan. 

The Womens US Synchronized Diving duo (Kelsi Bryant and Abigail Johnston) both happen to collect rubber ducks. They bought a Team duck for the Olympics. One of them named it.
 They had it with them before they started their dive.  Their parents were really supportive and wore matching T-Shirts. With a rubber duck on the sleeve. They got Silver, and were SO excited. I was excited for them, and I liked the back-story.

The parents are synchronized too. Both their arms went up simultaneously to cheer for their kid. I LOVE the reactions of the parents that they show when an Olympian does something really spectacular.

The Irish Gymnast, Kieran Behan, was told he would never walk again several times. He is only the second Gymnast EVER to represent Ireland in the Olympics. He sponsored his own way to The Games through bake-sales and car washes. A medal was never a possibility. But this was HIS day in the Olympics. His floor routine began beautifully. He stumbled near the end. But he had accomplished his dream.

Nathan Adrian, who proposed to his girlfriend when he arranged for her to give him his medal from "Worlds." She was jumping and smiling, clutching and American flag and a sign with his name. As he exited the pool after his Olympic race, he blew her a kiss. It was SO cute. He won Silver... I think.

Nathan Adrian won the freestyle by 1/100th of a second. Americans are good at that. ;) And he's really cute.

I want to remember Missy Franklin.

 When the reporter asked her about her gold in the 100meter Backstroke, all she talked about was how glad she was that her parents were able to be there in the stands to support her. She turned down endorsements so that she would be eligible to compete in her High School Swim Team. She brought the good news of success to the tragedy stricken Aurora, Colorado. Her schoolmates got together in a huge group to watch her race on TV. They stood and cheered, wearing their matching T-Shirts and grinning all around. She goes to a Jesuit school. She attends a "Anglophile" club, where they talk in British accents (Emily would LOVE that), drink tea, and learn about England. She didn't move to a "major swimming state" just because she was getting good. She stayed with her family and friends. She sang the national anthem at the medal ceremony. She is always smiling. She is my age.

And if I needed another reason to love Missy Franklin... here it is.

The Fab Five Gymnastics team.

The song that was their unspoken-anthem. I LOVED hearing it, and it made the whole thing seem more tender and real.

Kyla Ross, Gabby Douglas, Jordyn Wieber, McKayla Maroney, and Aly Raisman
They ALL have a Y in their names. They are REALLY cool. I really admire Jordyn, and her sticky situation of having to be happy for a teammate (Gabby) while loosing a golden (literally) opportunity for herself. Gabby went on to win GOLD in the all-around. I want to remember their BEAUTIFUL routines. McKayla Maroney did a perfect (I don't care what the judges say) vault. I remember the final landing on Aly's floor routine, when she KNEW she had led them to Gold, and the emotion filled in her face.
 When the "Fab Five" held hands in a line, craning their necks to see the scoreboard. 

Gabby spent SO much time away from home. There are a lot of things wrong with the way they score things in Gymnastics. The Fab Five was unparalleled in their performances in the team competition, but when it came to the individual events... we were kind of bad.
They didn't have very good coverage of Gymnastics. We only saw a few of the Countries compete, and we didn't see ANYONE  on the "rings."
P.S. Aliya Mustafina from Russia always looks like she's about to cry. And most of the time she is. Russians cry. That's just what they do.
    
Why do Chinese Gymnasts look so young? Because they wear little-kiddy hair-clips. True Story.



This is Kimberly Rhode, the shooter who has medaled in the last 5 Olympics.

WHY DO GYMNASTS KEEP STEPPING OUT OF BOUNDS ON THE FLOOR ROUTINES?

That towel that Eliza noticed Danell Leyva Gymnast always has... it's his lucky towel. He takes it everywhere, apparently. And it must have worked... because he got bronze.

  

I BELIEVE IN MICHAEL PHELPS!

One "fourth place" and suddenly he's a flop. Guess what. Ryan Lochte got fourth too. It's nothing to be ashamed of. You get up, move on, and put it behind you, like Michael said to the reporter. The irony that one extra stroke won him a Gold medal in Beijing with a 1/100th of a second difference, and one extra stroke by the South African guy put Michael in Silver. After everything the reporters are bagging on him about, I loved watching the amazing relay that made him the greatest Olympian EVER. Michael Phelps is awesome, with 22 medals, 18 golds. And he said that this was his last Olympics... but we'll see.

P.S. Swimmers always lick their lips on the medal podium. It's kind of ridiculous. They usually don't sing, with the exception of the Women's 4x400 relay. But they always lick their lips.


Katie Ledecky who, at 15 years old easily won one of the longest races in the Olympic Pool. 800 meter freestyle.


Oscar Pistorius, the South African double-amputee runner. He never medaled. But he was a great inspiration to everyone who saw him run. He's going to do REALLY well at the Paralymic games.


The United states made a comeback in diving. David Boudia winning the Gold (sneaking past the Chinese diver).  And the 18 year old British diver, Tom Daley. Just because he is super cute, and has the most amazing British accent. (Mom said he was too short to be attractive, but when we heard his accent, that all went out the window!)
     

The Jamaican runners were... crazy good, and Usain Bolt knows it. 
America didn't do so bad either. 

Misty May-Treanor and Kerry Walsh Jennings... had an Olympic GOLD MEDAL THREE-PEAT!!!

Their Olympic record is AMAZING, and the last match was super intense... even though it was
 U.S.A vs. U.S.A. Crazy stuff. They had the most patriotic medal ceremony, and it was touching to see. Kerri wants to try again in Rio, 2014. Misty in set on retirement. The team is gone, but it'll be legendary for a long time to come. 



The Olympics are always great to watch, and they are pretty inspiring too. Did you know that 7 countries let women compete in the Olympics for the first time in 2012? 

The closing ceremony was a huge show, and they really put everything they had into it. Crazy stuff that no one would ever think of was done, live music from the most prominent British bands was played, and everything was done to represent the heart of Great Britain. 

I'm looking forward to Rio!

And now, some quotes from my family, watching the Olympics:
David: "How do they move the Finish Line (in track)?

Watching Deedee Trotter (a great name for a runner)...

Eliza: I like the pink sparkles by her eyes!"
Mom: "What is wrong with her eyes?"

Watching MX racing...
Alayna: "This is not safe." understatement of the century.

Watching platform diving...
Eliza: I don't think that should be allowed... it's too cool!"

Watching Beach Vollyball...
Mom: "How could she make the same mistake again?"
Alayna: "Mom, that was an instant re-play."

Watching Gymnastics...
Alayna: "Russians cry. That's just what they do."

Eliza : "I like how the logo says 2012."
Mom: " Oh, I thought it was just a bunch of geometric shapes."


Everyone: "Why is everything so pink?"

And with that, I close my coverage of the games of the 30th Olympiad....