Opening Ceremonies

I love LOVE love the Olympics. I'm not even partial to the Summer or Winter - I love them both.  I love the stories of the known and unknown athletes. I love that they are all there to represent their countries and to shine in front of the world. I love the "overcoming the odds" stories.  I tear up when they play our national anthem. Every time.

I just think there is power to spending 10 days (or whatever) paying attention to GOOD people doing GOOD things. Or giving the impression of being good people.  The energy and good will that is released when the world is attending to something so positive and powerful can only be good on the largest, grandest scale.  There are moments that are not so awe-inspiring, but they are not the moments we remember.

Ole Softy

I must admit that I find the Olympics incredibly inspiring. Not only the athleticism, but the harmony (or the attempts at harmony, anyway) choke me up.  I always tear up when I hear the National Anthem play, anyway, and then you add the faces of people living their dreams, the pride in the people in the stands as they watch the teams and atheletes compete.

While the National Anthem chokes me up, it isn't all about the "medal count" for me. I just love the whole thing, from the opening ceremonies to the close. I have watched sports I had never heard of until watching the Olympics and there are very few that I find boring - particularly in the Winter Games.

I caught only the tail-end of the Opening Ceremony tonight as I had another marathon day and didn't get home until 10:45pm.  I can't wait to see what's in store.

Olympic Fever - Confession

I LOVE the Olympics. I always think, "This time, I won't really care...I don't know any of the atheletes anyway...I will read about it..." then the reality. I LOVE watching the Olympics. I love that people are competing for their country, I love that 3 atheletes come from some tiny country we have never heard of and they probably won't win, but they are just proud to be there. I love the triumph of the spirit and the surprises because someone told them they couldn't win.

I remember seeing some of the 1976 Olympics when I was a little girl - we lived in Germany at the time and had visited the Olympic stadiums in Munich. We watched Nadia Comaneci - the first time I had ever watched gymnastics knowingly.

Anyway, I have just loved the whole Michael Phelps challenge to win 8 gold medals and the greatness of Dara Torres coming back to swimming for her 5th? Olympics at age 41. The US Men's Gymnastics team performing despite losing 2 of their team leaders. The women's Gymnastics team coming together to do good work despite injuries. Watching the Chinese Men's gynmastics team perform at home, the synchronized diving, etc.

Did I say I LOVE the Olympics?