Olympic Hangover

I woke up this morning with bleary eyes and an aching head, neither of which had anything to do with alcohol and everything to do with staying up way to late watching the Olympics. The swimming has been incredible, although we missed the most amazing relay swim in the history of the sport when our plane was delayed two hours on Sunday night. When we landed, just before midnight, I turned on my phone and it started buzzing with text messages - every time I tried to read one the "new message" screen would pop up again and interrupt me. There was "You missed the most amazing relay ever!" and "Holy crap I love Olympic swimming!" and my favorite, "OMG OMG OMG" - I had no idea what they were talking about, but I knew that when we found out JP was going to be very unhappy that it was a trip to Chicago that caused him to miss it.

We were finally able to watch the video Monday morning. I've watched it three times since then and I get goose bumps and tears in my eyes every time. I also get extremely irritated at all the headlines pronouncing Phelps as the hero of it all - um, he swam fast, very fast, the fastest any American has ever swam from a flat start, but Jason Lezak flew. I can't even describe how fast a 46.0 split is -- it's not just unheard of, it was unthought of. No one has ever come close to going that fast in a 100 meter free and I can't imagine when anyone will again. Don't get me wrong, Phelps is an incredible swimmer and great guy, but he is not the only swimmer there. I heard two different radio stations telling their listeners on Monday morning (as we raced back to Austin so JP could attend his orientation) that Phelps won his third gold in the 400 freestyle Sunday night - NO, it was the 4x100 relay, not the individual event - he doesn't even swim the 400 free individually. Anyway, hooray for the US team, hooray for Phelps making the sport so famous, and hooray for the internet allowing us to take part in that incredible moment when O'Hare tried to make us miss it.

It's a little sad to realize this is probably the last Olympics we'll know any of the competitors. We'll always "know" the sport and that will keep it extra exciting, but it's amazing to watch your friends up there. JP trained hundreds of hours with those guys, lived with them in the gross hallways of their dorm, and cheered them on from behind the blocks. I know not to even try to talk to him when they're racing on the TV, he's in the zone, watching and willing them to win. And because I'm not allowed to talk while they're on, I spend some time swimming around my own memories of the sport. I miss racing. I can't say I've ever missed practice - I've missed being in shape and I've missed that feeling of satisfaction when you've worked your body to its absolute limit (our couch used to say that it's been a good practice when you can't pull yourself out of the pool), but what I really miss is standing behind those blocks, diving in, and letting go of everything you have in the pool. That, and the moment after you touch, when you turn around to see the results of your efforts - there's nothing like it.

I already feel like my swimming life was a long time ago - at seven years, I suppose it was. You can now legally do a dolphin kick off the wall in breaststroke, something that got you DQ'd when I swam it. Phelps has brought swimming a level of fame and familiarity it didn't have when it was my sport. There's more money involved and more athletes can continue swimming after college without living off their parents. The camera angles and media coverage has all improved and make the few meets they televise so fun to watch. One of our close friends is the current world record holder in the 100 fly and one of the only threats to Phelps's goal of eight medals. Truthfully, I'm not sure anyone can stop Phelps at this point - he's so dominate and he's barely breathing hard after shattering world records, but it's going to be fun to watch our guy try! U-S-A!