I've enjoyed watching the Olympics this year, probably too much. I love the swimming, diving, gymnastics. My only complaint is that you have to watch during the day or very late at night to catch the coverage of the not so popular sports.
Women's 20K race walk. I didn't even know race walking was an Olympic event. It may very well be the oddest thing ever. The rules are simple: one foot must always be on the ground and your knee has to be straight unless the leg is behind you. This makes these women's strides look alien, like their legs are perhaps made of Jell-O. Jell-O going 60 miles an hour. The whole time I watched, I kept wondering, why don't they just go ahead and jog? Or you know, break out in a run? And how do they stop themselves from not?
Badminton. Best sport ever, really. My partner and I were number one in our 10th grade PE class tournament. It was the first and only time I was number one at anything regarding PE. I'm sure we were a site to behold: a short, chubby girl and her tall, chubby, gay male partner. BUT WE KICKED ASS. And if I had only known at the time that badminton was an Olympic event, I may have tried even harder in gym.
Table tennis. I knew this was in the Olympics, but the other day they were showing the ping pong players as they "trained." They kind of jogged around the ping pong tables and did little arm rotations. And yes, I giggle, but I'm fully aware of the fact that even the worst table tennis player could whoop my ass into a grease stain.
Rhythmic gymnastics. That's the one where they twirl ribbons and throw balls in the air, flip and turn, and then catch them. I adore the sport even though the husband insists it was made up for the people who couldn't cut the real gymnastics. I haven't caught any coverage of it yet, but I think I'll DVR it and force the husband to watch all of it.
So what's your favorite lesser-known Olympic event? Your answer has to be one of those sports that's only shown at 3 AM. Everyone adores Michael Phelps and little Shawn Johnson. I want to know about your crush on Olga Kaniskina, the awesome Jell-O legged race walker.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Olympic Observations
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6 comments:
i JUST LOVE ALL THE EVENTS YOU LIKE. LOVELY BLOG.
Trampoline. Nice.
My son was so excited about the bmx motocross racing. It was only on during the late night broadcasting - I let him stay up anyway.
I love sports and definitely I would not dare to ignore this olympics phenomena.
There are games added in this year's Beijing Olympics. I really admire the athlete's passion. Winning matters but its not just their moment and someday that day will come.
I love rhythmic gymnastics! But I hate race walk. It's a stupid, stupid sport. badmington and table tennis (hello, is it non-PM to call it ping pong? ;-)) are fun but IMO do not belong in the Olympics. Oterwise they could also add Iron Chef and Project Runway.
I don't watch the Olympics, because we don't have cable connection. We have a big TV but only watch DVDs on it. I'm basically an alien.
I haven't been following the Olympics much, mainly because my boyfriend is not into sports and he doesn't watch the Olympics. When I did watch it, I love diving, gymnastics, and track and field. Not sure if these are popular or not, but those are the events that I get excited about watching.
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