Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Highs and lows


I watched all coverage of the Olympics last night from the highs in swimming to the lows in gymnastics, some parts of the competition were like a train wreck and I couldn't look away. Michael Phelps making history by becoming the most decorated Olympian in history was amazing while the women's gymnastics team taking silver was heartbreaking but not surprising after their lousy performances. (With the exception of Nastia Liukin's spectacular uneven parallel bar routine)
Thanks to a lull with men's volleyball I decided to hop on my bike and take a nice long ride, something I don't think I have done for years but inspired by my friend Carey in California. Check out his blog at http://careyschock.blogspot.com/
I had forgotten how fun it is just to ride through your neighborhood and watch the world go by. Do you remember when your only mode of transportation was your bike and you were on it for hours each day?
After a late night of Olympic watching I had a hard time falling asleep thinking about the gymnast Alicia Sacramone the women's team leader. Alicia first fell off the balance beam on a rather basic mount and then again when making her first pass on the floor exercise, she appeared to over rotate and landed short falling backwards and rolling onto her back. Not good, those 2 major errors combined with Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson each stepping out of bounds on their floor exercises (a MAJOR no no and large deduction) lost the chance to overtake the Chinese team.
I think watching Alicia try and find her composure while crouched down on the floor in almost a prayer position was one of the saddest things I have seen in this Olympics. Highs with winning a silver medal and the lowest low with knowing you have to live with your mistakes in front of billions of people.

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