Phenomenal - Olympic Weekend Wrap-Up

“When I came back, after all those stories about Hitler and his snub, I came back to my native country, and I could not ride in the front of the bus. I had to go to the back door. I couldn't live where I wanted. Now what's the difference?” -Jesse Owens

As I mentioned last week, I LOVE THE OLYMPICS!!! I also hate the Olympics. This juxtaposition is due to my feeling of remorse, regret, disappointment, [insert other synonym here] that I didn't get to participate in gymnastics when I was younger. I see gymnasts like Shawn Johnson and wonder if that could have been me. I doubt that I would have gone as far as the Olympics, but I really think I could have excelled at this sport.


And then I see the 33 year old gymnast, Oksana Chusovitina, and think, "I still have a chance!"; but I really know I don't. And I also realize that if I were any good at gymnastics I probably would have gone to another college and I would not have met my husband. It all worked out well in the end.

Michael Phelps. Awesome. I watched him swim with his relay teammates to his 8th gold of these games. It was phenomenal. I doubt I'll ever see such an athletic feat in my lifetime.

Saturday night was the women's marathon. I watched every minute of coverage for this event with hope that Deena Castor would bring a medal back home to the US. I was extremely saddened when she had to drop out in the early miles. She said she felt a pop in her foot. It takes great courage to drop out of a race of this magnitude, even when something serious is afoot... pun intended. I applaud her ability to realize when she can't go on and I look forward to see what else she can do.

Paula Radcliffe was my next hope for this race. Eight weeks ago she was diagnosed with a stress fracture in her femur. I thought she might be able to pull through and medal, but she wasn't able to. It looked like she might drop out in the latter miles of the race, but I think she really did not want to repeat Athens. She was criticized a lot for dropping out of that race four years ago. Deena and Paula were on two ends of the spectrum, and I believe they both did what was best for themselves.

Shalane Flannagan won the bronze in the women's 10 K! Our hopefuls, Lopez Lomong and Bernard Legat, in the men's 15oo m did not qualify for the final race. China's hurdler, Liu Xiang, dropped out of the race after a false start by another runner and disappointed 1.3 billion Chinese. The Jamaicans are the fastest people in the world with Usain "Lightning" Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser taking gold in the men's and women's 100 m races. Tyson Gay said he was 100% in the semifinal heat for the 100 m, but I really think that his hamstring is still injured. I love that he won't give an excuse though.

This year looks to be a great year for the athletes. The Olympics are always a place where character and sportsmanship is displayed. I wasn't around to see Jesse Owens' snub that is mentioned in my quote, but this is part of what the Olympics can bring to the forefront of people's minds. He was a great ambassador for African Americans in the Civil Rights movement. Hopefully, changes like this will begin in countries that continue to violate human rights, e.g. Russia's treatment of the Georgian people and China's role in the Darfur situation.

Runs:

M - 6 mi, 55:04.33

T - 6 mi, 54:01.35

Th - 5 mi, 42:57.51