I love the Olympics!

Oh how I love the Olympics! For all of you who know me you know I have been an Olympics fiend since I was a very small girl. It's so fun and exciting to watch so many of the World's Greatest Athletes come to compete in such a unique setting.

I have absolutely loved the London 2012 Olympics. For sooooooo many reasons here are some...


Wonderful shows of great sportsmanship!

Usain Bolt stopping an interview to be respectful of the American National Anthem being played for a medal ceremony. What a classy guy!
Bolt Video

Kirani James wanting to swap nametags with Oscar Pistorius the double amputee sprinter after the 400m semi-final.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/kirani-james-swaps-numbers-oscar-pistorius-400-meters-213736769--oly.html

Just watching Oscar Pistorius compete!

Watching Kirani James win the first medal ever for Grenada, watching the Grenada Embassy folks in London go absolutely crazy about it and then watching Kirani James go and shake the hand of EVERY SINGLE competitor in that race. That's an incredibly classy athlete! He then showed great respect for the person he should for getting him to the Olympics in his interview.... his coach and acknowledged how many amazing athletes there are at the Olympics.

I loved watching Sam Mikulak in the Men's Vault final last night too - such great spirit! He did decently but not well enough for a medal. That said he stuck his second vault and was so happy about it he kissed the vault. He could have been upset that he was in bronze contention and the next 2 vaulters (which happened to be the last 2 of the competition) would edge him out but instead you heard him saying how excited he was to see the Korean vault because he was supposed to be insanely amazing. After the Korean's vaults - which truly were nothing short of amazing - you heard him saying (as the Korean gymnast came over) "That's ridiculous!!!!" while smiling and laughing. That's ridiculous being a compliment that the vault was so amazing hard it's ridiculous to think someone could execute it so well! He was genuinely happy for the others. What a nice thing to see!
http://www.nbcolympics.com/wfla/news-blogs/gymnastics/stick-fest-in-vault-final-leaves-mikulak-in-fifth.html

While I know Jordyn Wieber is not necessarily a favorite of many people at this point I have to say I was impressed with her attitude after managing to compose herself after the Team Prelims. Yes she was visibly distraught. (Wouldn't you be?!) But as soon as she had to talk to the reporters she admitted she was upset about not qualifying to compete for the All-Around Title but she was very quick to praise her 2 teammates and say how happy she was for them. (You'll note that neither of the 2 qualifiers made any comment about Jordyn and quite honestly I think they were a little ungracious as teammates to answer questions with statements like "Oh of course I always knew I would make it into the all-around.") When Jordyn came out for the Team Final she came out with a smile on her face and what appeared to be true joy in being there to compete for a gold medal.

What I haven't liked...
I love social media but I am sad when event results get spoiled for me by Facebook etc. I try not to  look specifically at articles/posts that talk about it but sadly I have a great very quick  ability to process data in just a scanning glance :( Yes it's still interesting to watch even if I know the results but frankly it's just not as fun.

I know NBC is looking to get primo hours for highest ratings but for those of us on the East Coast of the US it means that event coverage  isn't ending til midnight and of course they save the best for 11:50pm! (I missed Bolt's 100m race the other night because I just couldn't stay awake.)

That it's going to end this weekend! I am not ready for it to end!

So until it ends I will be staying up late to watch it all!