Is it just me, or are the Olympics going to last forever? I did look forward to them and to seeing a few scenes of London, but seventeen days may just be too long. For example, I've always enjoyed Olympic swimming and made a point to watch it. But, goodness, how many hundreds of swimming events can there actually be? Really? No wonder my skin is as wrinkled as a prune at the end of the evening. That's a lot.
And, I did watch a little of the Womens Water Polo which is another sport that requires muscles and an inordinate amount of stamina. That's a lot of treading water and swimming all while having to stay alert, dodge and throw. I have a friend whose granddaughter took advantage of a full-ride scholarship to Stanford to play water polo. Stanford! Water Polo! Actually, after the granddaughter graduated and was offered a job, she chose instead to go to Australia and play water polo with a team there. Grandma was in shock. However, Australian water polo experience does seem to be a fairly direct route to the Olympics. Just not in her case.
Nobody could not like Gabby Douglas. She is so cute--her smile goes on forever and lights up the stadium. Her muscles also. Wow! I thought she seemed much less cranky than the rest of the team. They looked mean, angry and snippy most of the time. I don't want to be around them. By contrast, when Gabby is pulling herself into the moment she just seems worried. On finals night she definitely seemed worried, but she performed well and walked away with the shiny gold medal.
Speaking of performing...I'm missing the grace and easy flow the gymnasts of yesterday possessed. Well, the ice skaters too, back in the day. Remember Peggy Fleming? Today, athleticism rules, and it's all Triple Sowchows for the skaters, and ever increasing twists, turns and flips for the gymnasts. I think they have a much harder time performing a perfect program because today's requirements are just too difficult. The floor exercise, which used to resemble ballet, has become an endurance event that involves running hell bent toward the opposite corner, flipping an impossible number of times in the process, pausing to pant, and doing it again. They seem to take four runs at it, interspersed with a brief period of writhing on the floor but, fortunately, they hold that to a minimum. Their effortless ascent from the floor, however, is phenomenal. I had forgotten the human body could do that.
I just looked it up. The Olympics will run until August 12th. They are going on forever. In this house, depending on the time of day, one can find Olympics on Channels 12, 60, 62, 63, and 69. There aren't enough TVs in the neighborhood to avoid them. BC, though, is loving it. Track and Field is a favorite of his.
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