They are finally here! The airing of each event has been on my calendar (on all three of my calendars) for weeks. We've planned all our meals so we won't eat out and miss anything- tonight is a homemade pizza picnic on the floor of the family room so the kids can watch the opening ceremonies and then tomorrow starts 8 days of swimming!
Every 4 years the general public cares about swimming and we get to watch it on the big TV instead of tiny video windows on usaswimming.org or swimswam.com. I am SO EXCITED. Every 4 years I get to cheer for old friends and teammates (very few of those left, but with Brendan's comeback, there's at least 1!), reminisce about what it felt like to dive in the water, swim your heart out, and turn to look at the scoreboard thrilled and terrified to see how you did (oh that is such an incredible moment when you see the "1" of the best time next to your name), and just generally scream at the TV and care about sports for a brief moment in time.
To get in the spirit of things, I've watched this video of the 2008 Men's 4x100 free relay about a million times. It's just as amazing as the first time I saw it.:
(this is the better quality video with the US commentators on nbcolympics.com, but I can't embed it).
My pulse still speeds up every time I watch it. This article explains the match-up in that race this year. The US looks like they're tied for 2nd/3rd with France, with Australia 1st, but we'll just see about that.
There are going to be so many great races. I wanted to host an Olympics party, but then I realized we couldn't because JP allows no speaking (no sound, really, the children have been warned) while the races are happening and I don't like distractions much either. I do love explaining swimming rules and strategy to my co-workers, I got all caught up in discussing relay order strategy yesterday with a fellow staff attorney and probably gave him way more information than he wanted to know, but I can't help it. This is the one sport I know anything about and I have to put up with my co-workers endless (and endlessly dull) football, baseball, and basketball talk the rest of the year. This is my time, once every 4 years for a brief 8 days, to become a normal, rabid sports fan. Can't wait!
Bonus fun:
Brings back memories of bus rides and plane rides to meets in high school. I love swimmers.
Graham Cracker Crust
3 hours ago
An olympics party would be cool! I feel about running the way you feel about swimming. I love when my husband asks me running questions while the races are going and I get tofeel like an expert!
ReplyDeleteCURB!! CURB!!! CURB!!
ReplyDeleteI would love to hear (well read in this case) how the swimmers' order is established in a relay. I love the Olympics as well and am so excited!
ReplyDeleteUsually #1 is considered the 2nd best, #2 is 3rd best, #3 is 4th and #4 is the best. At least that's the way we played it.
DeleteSwimming is the only olympic sport I really care about. There is nothing more beautiful to watch, and the mens bodies don't hurt ;)! I think one of my biggest life regrets is never swimming competitively. I still look at adult swim teams in town and then think, 'when are you going to find the time?' I guess I'll live vicariously!
ReplyDeleteOMG it gave me goose bumps! Watching all of that was so amazing!! Thanks for reminding me to revisit 2008. I can't wait for everything to start!! GO USA!
ReplyDeleteSwimming is the one sport of the Olympics I will actually sit and watch, I would love to swim so gracefully and not look like I'm drowning ;-)
ReplyDeleteIsn't that an awesome video? That is our hometown hero, Tyler McGill, at 2:20!
ReplyDeleteI know very little about swimming and I still get chills when I think about that relay!! Love that Call Me Maybe! I love the Olympics too. I'm watching the parade of nations right now!
ReplyDeleteWatched the relay at work and as I pumped my fist into the air a co-worker popped her head into my office to find out what was so exciting.. The Olympics! I didn't see the need to tell her it was 2008 Olympics! Also, thank you so much for linking the "Call Me Maybe" video. The 1 minute mark has made me a Ryan Lochte fan for life. He just made my "cheat list." Don't feel sorry for my husband - he added the entire synchronized swimming team to his list because, and I quote, "It's synchronized, Melissa. Duh, they're like one person."
ReplyDeleteI'm watching it at the moment! And have got some tickets to take the kids next week at last after endless hours on the ticketing website. It's incredible to have the Olympics in my home town.
ReplyDeleteAhhh! I am SO JEALOUS of you right now. That's amazing! We haven't turned off the coverage since we woke up at 7 a.m. this morning :)
DeleteI love the swimming - I left a bit late for work just so I could watch the 4 by 100m final, just because you posted this. It was awesome! I didn't see the medal ceremony - but there would have been 8 American's on the podium for the silver I presume?
ReplyDeleteWith Relays - our order, 2nd strongest leads off, then 4th, then 3rd, then fastest. Or the first would be the one who was worst at changeovers/fastest off a race start, or who didn't find the adrenaline of waiting worked for them. Me, I'm a big adrenaline swimmer, and was great at bringing it home.