2008 Summer Olympics
I love the Olympics. Ever since the opening ceremony on Friday, I have been watching them every chance I get. The second I walk into the door at home, the TV comes on and goes straight to the Olympics. I’ll even go as far as to go home for lunch, as long as I have time, to watch a little bit more.
The biggest problem that I have with the television coverage of the Olympics is that it is nearly impossible to find when and on what station the sports that I most want to watch will be televised. I have missed both of the “Redeem Team” games and haven’t seen a single US Men’s Soccer game. I’ve even resorted to watching the Korean channel’s coverage of the Olympics to try to get a wider scope beyond the usual US skewed view. As to be expected, the Korean station only showed Korean competitors. I was watching women’s fencing the other day on the Korean station and the Korean woman lost in a very close match against an Italian. I don’t know if it was for a medal or just a preliminary round because it was all in Korean but it was very entertaining. The most entertaining part of it was the commentators. Even though it was in Korean, you could plainly sense the excitement in their voices when the Korean fencer would score a point. They would literally start screaming. I couldn’t help but laugh. In the end, the Italian scored the go ahead point with just 4 seconds remaining. She also managed to fend of the last couple of flurries from the Korean to win. She threw off her helmet and screamed at the top of her lungs once it ended. If you didn’t know what was going on, you would have thought that she was in agony. He coach then came and picked her up and carried her off. It was a little strange.
Gymnastics
I am amazed by the gymnastics. I am in awe of their ability to run, jump and flip in the air as if it’s no big deal. I could barely do a cartwheel or a summersault but these people can run and jump in the air doing a couple of flips and twists and land back on their feet. It totally amazes me. The men that do the rings freak me out. The way they hold themselves in place with their arms stretched straight out just looks painful. The uneven bars where they spin around 50 or 60 times during a routine gets me dizzy and that’s before they fling themselves 20 feet or so in the air, flipping twisting and turning. What I have always wondered about gymnastics is why they are all so short. Is there some sort of height restriction to be a world class gymnast? One theory I heard was that since they start them at such a young age and they train so hard so early in life that it stunts their growth. I also heard that many of them are children of gymnasts who are also short so it has some hereditary influence.
Swimming
Michael Phelps has to be the big story when it comes to swimming. This guy is dominating. He kicked butt in the Athens Olympic and he is doing even better this time around. I think the guy might be part fish. It’s the only way I can explain it.
Doping
Whenever you hear of athletes smashing records and performing at heretofore unheard of levels, the use of performance enhancing drugs seems to always pop up. The first thing that I would like to address is why they call it “Doping”. When I hear the word “dope”, I either think of Miami Vice and how they used “dope” as a slang term for Heroine or I think of Dopey from the Seven Dwarfs. I think this term is really not appropriate.
I can understand an athlete’s desire to win. I can be a very competitive person myself but to risk everything that you have worked for by taking drugs to win is just wrong. Not only are you cheating and degrading your sport but you are most likely harming your body for the future. Let’s say an athlete gets away with using drugs to help them win. How would that person feel when they receive their gold medal and they are standing on the podium, hearing their country’s national anthem knowing that they cheated to get that honor. I personally would be ashamed of myself.
National Anthems
I used to think that the Star Spangled Banner was a pretty bad national anthem. After hearing a few of the other countries national anthems, it’s a pretty darn good one. Some of the others are absolutely awful. At least the US anthem has some meaning as it was written during the War of 1812 and represents how the US flag remained flying over Fort McHenry after it was attacked by the British Navy. In comparison, let’s take the Canadian national anthem as it is the only one other that I have some idea of the lyrics for. It’s kind of cheesy with references to true patriot love, and the true north strong and free. But at least it’s better than their pervious unofficial anthems which included “God Save the King” and “The Maple Leaf Forever”. I might have to do some research on this topic and look at the translated lyrics of other country’s nation anthems and see if they are also as cheesy. Patriotism and cheesy tend to go together anyway.
Since the Olympics are only once every 4 years and the Winter Olympics don’t really interest me nearly as much, I am taking full advantage of my chance to watch it. Its history in the making and in many instances is very inspirational. There are many story lines behind each athlete. Luckily I can watch online thanks to NBC and catch the events that I missed. There is still another week and a half left so I am going to enjoy it.
The biggest problem that I have with the television coverage of the Olympics is that it is nearly impossible to find when and on what station the sports that I most want to watch will be televised. I have missed both of the “Redeem Team” games and haven’t seen a single US Men’s Soccer game. I’ve even resorted to watching the Korean channel’s coverage of the Olympics to try to get a wider scope beyond the usual US skewed view. As to be expected, the Korean station only showed Korean competitors. I was watching women’s fencing the other day on the Korean station and the Korean woman lost in a very close match against an Italian. I don’t know if it was for a medal or just a preliminary round because it was all in Korean but it was very entertaining. The most entertaining part of it was the commentators. Even though it was in Korean, you could plainly sense the excitement in their voices when the Korean fencer would score a point. They would literally start screaming. I couldn’t help but laugh. In the end, the Italian scored the go ahead point with just 4 seconds remaining. She also managed to fend of the last couple of flurries from the Korean to win. She threw off her helmet and screamed at the top of her lungs once it ended. If you didn’t know what was going on, you would have thought that she was in agony. He coach then came and picked her up and carried her off. It was a little strange.
Gymnastics
I am amazed by the gymnastics. I am in awe of their ability to run, jump and flip in the air as if it’s no big deal. I could barely do a cartwheel or a summersault but these people can run and jump in the air doing a couple of flips and twists and land back on their feet. It totally amazes me. The men that do the rings freak me out. The way they hold themselves in place with their arms stretched straight out just looks painful. The uneven bars where they spin around 50 or 60 times during a routine gets me dizzy and that’s before they fling themselves 20 feet or so in the air, flipping twisting and turning. What I have always wondered about gymnastics is why they are all so short. Is there some sort of height restriction to be a world class gymnast? One theory I heard was that since they start them at such a young age and they train so hard so early in life that it stunts their growth. I also heard that many of them are children of gymnasts who are also short so it has some hereditary influence.
Swimming
Michael Phelps has to be the big story when it comes to swimming. This guy is dominating. He kicked butt in the Athens Olympic and he is doing even better this time around. I think the guy might be part fish. It’s the only way I can explain it.
Doping
Whenever you hear of athletes smashing records and performing at heretofore unheard of levels, the use of performance enhancing drugs seems to always pop up. The first thing that I would like to address is why they call it “Doping”. When I hear the word “dope”, I either think of Miami Vice and how they used “dope” as a slang term for Heroine or I think of Dopey from the Seven Dwarfs. I think this term is really not appropriate.
I can understand an athlete’s desire to win. I can be a very competitive person myself but to risk everything that you have worked for by taking drugs to win is just wrong. Not only are you cheating and degrading your sport but you are most likely harming your body for the future. Let’s say an athlete gets away with using drugs to help them win. How would that person feel when they receive their gold medal and they are standing on the podium, hearing their country’s national anthem knowing that they cheated to get that honor. I personally would be ashamed of myself.
National Anthems
I used to think that the Star Spangled Banner was a pretty bad national anthem. After hearing a few of the other countries national anthems, it’s a pretty darn good one. Some of the others are absolutely awful. At least the US anthem has some meaning as it was written during the War of 1812 and represents how the US flag remained flying over Fort McHenry after it was attacked by the British Navy. In comparison, let’s take the Canadian national anthem as it is the only one other that I have some idea of the lyrics for. It’s kind of cheesy with references to true patriot love, and the true north strong and free. But at least it’s better than their pervious unofficial anthems which included “God Save the King” and “The Maple Leaf Forever”. I might have to do some research on this topic and look at the translated lyrics of other country’s nation anthems and see if they are also as cheesy. Patriotism and cheesy tend to go together anyway.
Since the Olympics are only once every 4 years and the Winter Olympics don’t really interest me nearly as much, I am taking full advantage of my chance to watch it. Its history in the making and in many instances is very inspirational. There are many story lines behind each athlete. Luckily I can watch online thanks to NBC and catch the events that I missed. There is still another week and a half left so I am going to enjoy it.
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