1984

My love for the Olympics is obvious. It dates all the way back to 1976 and Nadia Comaneci. She was all the rage after scoring the first ever perfect 10 in gymnastics, and Janene and I had the 45 of 'Nadia's Theme' which we played on our red and white gingham print portable turntable. I don't have a specific memory of watching Nadia get the first perfect ten, but I do remember sitting in front of our black & white television with the Olympics on. Bruce Jenner was huge too. That's about all I remember from those Summer Olympics though, I was only seven after all.

Then of course we boycotted the 1980 Summer Games, which took place in the Evil Empire (that was the USSR for all you youngins), but I do remember the Miracle On Ice during the Winter Olympics of that year. Unfortunately, a victory like the Miracle On Ice isn't possible anymore because one, the Evil Empire no longer exists, and two, we send professionals to do the job now. Too bad - about sending professionals I mean. But it would be nice to have the Evil Empire around just for that rivalry in the Olympics, because it made the victories that much sweeter. But I guess we China now. They use the same system the Soviets did, of ripping children away from their families and training them 24/7 to win gold for the glory of the motherland. But I digress. Nadia Comaneci, Bruce Jenner and the Miracle On Ice are my earliest Olympic memories.

The 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles was when I really fell in love though. My mother was swept up in all the excitement, and took us all over Los Angeles to events and Olympic pin exchanges. It's difficult to explain how exciting it was to have the Olympics in town. All of Southern California was abuzz with Olympic fever. I was 15, and that was also the year we housed two Austrian Olympic athletes who competed in yachting. Their names were Manfred and Rudi, and they were totally HOT (like totally - like)! Okay, so we didn't exactly 'house' them, but they did stay over night in the RV that was parked on our front lawn that belonged to some family friends that my step dad was supposed to fix. And I guess we didn't actually 'house' them during the Olympics either, but after the Games were over and they had returned from a road trip to Mexico and the Grand Canyon, but still - they did stay in our friend's RV that was on our front lawn, and they were totally HOT - and that's pretty dang exciting for a 15 year old girl!!!!!

Manfred, Me, Rudi

So, this is how it happened that two Austrian Olympic yachting athletes stayed in our friends RV that was parked on our lawn that my step-dad was supposed to fix (which he never did - it was finally junked 3 years ago), and how I got to spend an evening at the beach with them. Well my sister's very best friend was an interpreter for the Austrian athletes at the opening and closing ceremonies. She was probably involved in other stuff too, but I don't remember. Anyway, she became friendly with said Austrian yachting athletes and they came back to Hawthorne after their road trip to visit her. She and my sister were both 18 (my sister being legal by only a week or two), but I don't know how old Manfred and Rudi were. I'm guessing early twenties though. Well somehow, it was arranged that they would stay on our lawn, it might have even been for more than on night. I remember they came to our house after spending the day at the beach, and had their Speedos hanging on the antenna of the rental car to dry. Yes, they actually drove around with Speedos hanging off their car. How fun is that? My sister's friend had a party that night with some of their friends, and I was invited!!! Can you believe that?! How nice of my sister was that, to invite her 15 year old tag along bratty sister to hang with the hottie Olympic Austrians? Well they were so charming! They made all kinds of wonderful mistakes with their English that made them even more appealing and intriguing. Manfred tried to get me to practice my German with him, because I had taken it my freshman year, but I think I could only count to ten and say hello. The attention was flattering though, and I was all starry eyed for them. Actually, I had invited a boy I liked (we went back and forth liking each other a lot) who was really tall and cute, and one of my sister's friends who was 18 or 19, was infatuated with him and was taking pictures of him all night, but he didn't pay any attention to her. So all around, the evening was quite a triumphant one :) After having a little get together at my sister's friend's house for a couple hours, we went down to the beach, El Porto I believe, and sat in the dark on the beach talking and laughing for a long time. Manfred actually sent me a postcard when he got home, but I never did write him back. He wanted me to write to him in German so I could practice - I don't even like to write now :D But I still have his postcard, and every few years when I go through my old stuff, I see it :)

So, that is why the 1984 Summer Olympic Games are my favorite of all Olympics!!! And if you actually made it this far and read this entire post, you're invited over in two years for the Winter Olympics to watch ice skating!

Special Dedication

This is a special dedication going out to Harlene and Gramma Karen (she's not my gramma btw, or my children's, but is a gramma to some other cute kids). Here are links for your favorite Olympic sports. You can watch videos, slide shows, and read about all the action to your heart's content :)

http://www.nbcolympics.com/synchronizedswimming/index.html

http://www.nbcolympics.com/rhythmicgymnastics/index.html

I just saw the end of the synchronized swimming team competition. I bummed I missed it, because they said that a Japanese swimmer hyperventilated during their team routine and had to be taken out on a stretcher (but she's okay). Now that's high drama!

Gravity Lessons, Wile E. Coyote Style

Well the Chi-coms couldn't quite control the weather and smog as planned (yes, the Chinese actually hoped to control the weather during the Olympics). They forgot that cameras would take shots of vast amounts of empty seats (not sold, as to avoid the gathering of too many of the wrong kind of people in one place). They didn't realize people in Beijing watching the brilliant fire works display on their televisions of the opening ceremonies could look outside and see that half of it wasn't actually happening because it was computerized. They also forgot to actually find real ethnic children to dress up in their respective ethnic clothing to hand the Chinese flag to their goose stepping soldiers, and to silence the unattractive little girl with the beautiful voice who was supposed to sing in the opening ceremonies, but had to lipsync for a better looking girl with nice teeth who couldn't sing, whom she was pushed aside for, and who received all the accolades and admiration of her countrymen. And now, they can't control the free western press from discovering the ages of their underaged gymnasts. That's because they also forgot that the internet has no restrictions in the free western world. The Chi-coms remind me of one of my grandfather's favorite cartoon characters

Weather control article:

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/research/2008-02-29-china-weather_N.htm

Usain, You're Insane Pt. 2

19.30 (revised time)

And don't you just love that he wears those loose fitting shirts with obvious wind drag?!

The Agony Of Defeat

Her classy, non-whiny, and honest interview after the race made me feel even worse for Lolo Jones.

I don't remember ever seeing someone in the lead run out of gas faster than Sanya Richrds did in the 200 meter last night. It was as if someone had attached weights to her rear end after the turn.

I love Nastia Luikin in action! She's like an elegant ballerina doing flips and dangerous tricks, but between the action, she needs to work on those snobby facial expressions. I know it's concentration, but I can't stand looking at her anymore when she's not performing or on the winners stand. But now I won't have to because the gymnastics are FINALLY over!!! Is it just me, or did NBC really milk it for all it's worth? And now that it's over, I won't have to hear from John Tesh again about how Shawn Johnson's coach grew up in Beijing, moved to Texas, opened a gymnastics business, and just two months later, little six year old Shawn Johnson showed up at his gym. That was only ten years ago ya know, and now it's all come full circle, and here he is back in Beijing with his Olympic athlete, and now gold medal winner. I won't have to hear that story again, thank goodness.

But yay for Shawn Johnson

I thought Jonathan Horton's high bar routine was much more thrilling to watch than the gold medalist's, but I didn't like his attitude again when he spoke to the camera afterwards, so I don't mind that he got silver.

Last night they said Michael Johnson said that he doesn't think Usain will break his record, which is 19.32. He thinks he'll run it around 19.50. Why do people say things like that? Didn't he learn anything from the Michael Phelps nay sayers?

Usain, You're Insane!

Okay, I'm doing some catching up on track & field. I did see Usain Bolt in the 100 meter, which was INSANE, but not until the next day. I had to go do my grocery shopping Saturday night after Michael Phelps because we were poolside at my sister's all day. Anyway, now I just watched the ladies 100 meter. Wow! Jamaica! I loved Usain and the women's winner (can't remember her name). So joyful at winning without the cockiness. Well, some might say Usain was somewhat cocky for celebrating before he even reached the finish line, but I liked what he said said in his post race interview when asked by how much more he could have broken the world record had he not pulled up at the end. He said he didn't care about that, he was just happy he won, and then said about ten more times in answer to every question. He was just happy mon (in my best faux Jamaican accent)! I find him charming when he does his lighting bolt arms. And then I loved the women's winner as well, and her complete joy at winning :)

Can't wait for the men's 200 meter final! Will Usain Bolt break Michael Johnson's INCREDIBLE world record? It seems impossible looking back at his win in 1996.

Some say Usain can do it, others say not. We shall see. Usain wears golden shoes too...

Outrage

I seem to have gotten over my early onset Olympic withdrawal easily enough, but now I'm ticked off!!! Can you believe that you can land out of bounds on both vaults, even once with both feet, and still win the gold over someone whose vaults were nearly perfect? I am outraged!!! Outraged I tell you, as I sit here eating bonbons. Now this is worth whining about!!!!! And it was the 33 year old who was robbed, no less. I am livid!!!

And then, to make matters worse, Alicia Sacramone, who fell off the balance beam in the team competition, also did two beautiful vaults, but lost out on the bronze to a Chinese girl who landed on her knees! I don't care about what the start value is, if you land out of bounds or on your freakin' knees, then you should have gone with a lower start value! And by the way, can they PUUULEASE do away with this newer scoring system, and bring back the perfect 10?!

*scream*

But, on a happier note, the old ladies are gettin' it DONE! First, the 38 year old Romanian marathon runner. Not only is she the oldest ever women's Olympic marathon winner, she blew the competition away, and then proceeded to do about 100 victory laps. Then, Dara Torres, 41, in the pool losing the gold by only .o1 seconds, and 30 minutes later anchoring the the women's relay team to another silver medal. And tonight, 33 year old Oksana Chusovitina winning the silver medal (should have been gold) on the vault. WOW!!! I don't even care that she looked like she had just stepped off the Starship Enterprise in that horrid leotard she had on - she can rock whatever leotard she wants doing Olympic gymnastics at 33, and being a mother too!!!!!

Rest Of Olympics Ruined For Me

Michael Phelps may have ruined the rest of the Olympics for me. I'm feeling early onset Olympic withdrawal symptoms tonight. I'm so sad the Michael Phelps swimming EPIC is over!!!!! What a privilege it was to witness! You can't even write stuff like what happened this last week. No one would believe it - by less than a fingertip, a fingernail really! I will press forward however, continuing to ignore the laundry, the kids, watching others burn unfathomable amounts of calories while eating bonbons, staying up way past my already way too late bedtime, and try to enjoy the rest of the games as best I can ;-)

Well okay, that's not actually much different than what usually goes on here, but still...

Michael Phelps By A Fingertip For No. 7

Does it get any better than that? Heck NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This Is How Lame Golfers Are

So I am in awe of how gymnasts can block out their surroundings while literally risking their lives for their sport. Especially the ladies, who sometimes have music going in the background for someone else's floor exercise, and lots of other distracting stuff too. This video is a good example of the mayhem that goes on in the arena while the ladies are on the balance beam. The balance beam is so scary to watch, imo. It's all scary, but the balance beam routines actually make me hold my breath.

Then there's this from the world of golf:

Woods: Shutter snap at No. 9 halted momentum ESPN.com news services

Updated: March 27, 2008, 3:45 PM ET

Tiger Woods Explains His Actions at DoralTiger Woods is growing more frustrated with photographers snapping pictures of him during his swing.

In an interview on "ESPN First Take" on Wednesday, Woods addressed an incident at last week's WGC-CA Championship at Doral, Fla., when he reacted to the click of a camera in his backswing with an obscenity-laced threat.

Woods' intense competitive streak is well-known, and he's also been known to curse when his results don't meet his high expectations. But on Sunday, in a threat punctuated with profanity, he threatened bodily harm to the next photographer who snaps during his swing.

"It's been frustrating because that's what been happening lately," Woods told "ESPN First Take." "It's one of the things that comes with playing in the last group, one of the distractions we have to deal with."

What's more, Woods said, the distractions have affected his play. "Each time it's happened, well three out of four times, I made bogey," Woods said. "At the time I needed to make birdie, I flinched on it. [The photographer] got me in transition on my downswing.

"You have no idea what's been said on the golf course all the time, in any sport really," Woods added. "It was the heat of the moment. That one shot took the momentum that I had built on No. 8."

Um, hello Tiger Woods. Check these out.

In fact, I'm going to bring some of these for the Hamrick guys if I ever go golfing again (haven't been in a while). They have the same problem Tiger does. Golfers need to take a lesson from lady gymnasts! They do block out crying babies in the middle of the night really well though ;-)

Worth Staying Up For

More on this later...

p.s. but why doesn't NBC play their freaking 'LIVE' 3 hour delayed broadcast a little earlier for us on the west coast? I really really really need my beauty sleep these days.

Lamenting Fastskin Swimwear

When you start thinking swimmers are lame for not breaking the world record, it's an indication that something strange has happened. Fastskin seems to be the culprit (or the Chi-coms have rigged the pool, which I haven't ruled out - I'm in touch with my inner conspiracy theorist). As wonderful as technology is, I feel that some of the specialness and excitement has been taken out of Olympic swimming this year by these new super high tech swimsuits. Breaking a world record is so common place and routine in these games, and sometimes by such a huge margin as shown by the green line, that I no longer feel that lump in my throat Olympic thrill for the athletes breaking them. I have teared up many at time at the breaking of a world record, but last night it was just like watching any ol' ordinary race. I don't feel like it's the swimmers who are breaking the records, so much as the great designers at Speedo. On Speedo's Fastskin website it says:

Designed to help swimmers blow the competition out of the water! FASTSKIN FSII ® increases speed by reducing passive drag by up to 4%.

Well if every swimmer is wearing one, what's the point? I'd like them to get rid of them and make record breaking uncommon and special again.

So, the new fab swimwear has ruined the world record aspect of Olympic swimming this year for me, but it does nothing to diminish Michael Phelps' dominance in my eyes! He is a swimming god. The placing would be the same without the Fastskins, just a little slower all around.

Hmmmm, the gymnastics for both the men and women have been a little weird for me this year. The women's team competition two nights ago was excruciating to watch from the moment that one chick fell off the balance beam. I don't feel like looking up her name, you know who I'm talking about. Shawn Johnson followed her with a great beam routine, but that was about it for our women. They were all falling all over the place on their floor exercises. That was painful, but then they whined the next day about this and that, making excuses when they had clearly been beaten by the Chinese. I hope they can redeem themselves tonight, and at least not whine if they do poorly again. Yes, I know they got the silver, but they ended on a very bad note.

So although my Olympic fever is slightly down at the moment, I feel it will come back pretty strong in about 3 hours :)

Oh, and I'm pulling for the 33 year old gymnast on the German women's team. Hope she wins a medal! But she could seriously use a bow in her hair, or something.

Future Olympians In Training

My niece Jamie is an excellent diving coach, and she's only five! I think she has a future in coaching, and Sophie may someday become a champion diver under her tutelage. This is Diving 101 - With Jamie and Sophie

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Here's a look back at the greatest diver ever, Greg Louganis. And the 1984 Summer Olympics were my favorite.

Fever

My Olympic fever is about 104 degrees right now. I'm gonna go up to 105 when Michael Phelps breaks the record for the most medals ever, and then I'll go up to 106 when he breaks Mark Spitz's record of seven golds in Munich.

Happy Birthday To My BFF Janene

My bff also happens to be my sister :) Why do I love her so much? Because we just laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh!!! This is Janene last week (below) telling me about an episode of Friends. She loves that show! She could hardly finish explaining a scene in which one of the guys was wearing some leather pants while out on a date, and got too hot in them, so he went into the bathroom and peeled them off to cool down. Then he couldn't get them back on because he was all sweaty. So he called one of the other friends for help, and the other friend told him to put some powder on his legs. Well the powder made a paste with his sweat, and at that point, my sister couldn't breath :D We have fun no matter what we're doing!

Happy Birthday!!! Love ya :)

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How wonderful is it that our guys SMASHED the French in the men's 4 x 100 freestyle relay!!!!! Jason Lezak taking over the lead literally on the last stroke, was a thing of beauty!

You'd think the French would know by now not to be ge'in all up in our grillz wid they trash talk :)

Chinese Cheerleaders

The Chinese athletes are finally making their way into 'The Bird's Nest'. Those poor Chinese cheerleaders (in white with red belts above) haven't stopped flailing their arms and moving their feet for about 90 minutes, and now they've picked up the pace again. But at least their feet aren't bound.

I found myself mesmerized against my will watching the opening ceremonies. The goose-stepping soldiers taking the Chinese flag from the 52 children beautifully dressed in their representative ethic clothing was disturbing. And the military precision of 2,008 drummers looking like Mao in silver, was somewhat reminiscent of the rallies in Nuremberg. But I have to say, the Chinese put on quite a magnificent show that I enjoyed, and I didn't think I would. I hope the rest of the Olympics go as smoothly and that my feelings of impending Chinese Olympic doom will have been completely false.