Justin and I are at a loss of what to do at night, now that the Olympics are over. We watched them every night that we were home. I love the Olympics (especially summer!) and look forward to them every 4 years. I get sucked right in to all the stories and the competition. I'm also amazed at some of the trials that many of the athletes have had to overcome. So here is a look back on our favorite moments in Beijing...these are in no particular order.
German gymnast, Oksana Chusovitina. She is around 32 or 33 years old! Originally a Russian gymnast she somewhat retired in the mid-90s. In 2002, she discovered that her son had leukemia. With help from the German gymnastics team, her son was able to be treated in Germany. She won a silver medal on the vault.
The Men's Swimming 4x100 relay. Who didn't love that? After the French swimmers had said they were going to "smash" the American's, Jason Lezak passed the Frenchman at the very end of the race. I was sure they were getting 2nd and then out of nowhere, at the very end, Lezak was able to pull ahead. Justin and I were a little embarrassed to find ourselves jumping up and down, yelling at the TV. Admit it, most of you were doing the same thing! The celebration after the race was pretty funny, too.
Dara Torres...41, I think? A lot of people thought that she shouldn't have been part of the team because of her age. I say that she earned it! I was happy to see her take home 2 silver medals.
Eric Shanteau, US Swimmer. He didn't medal or anything but just being there was an accomplishment for him. He was diagnosed with cancer just one week before the Olympic Trials. But he swam and qualified for the team and went to the Olympics. 
Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson taking gold and silver in the All-Around competition. The first time ever that American Women have taken gold and silver in this competition.
Of course, the biggest story of the games...Michael Phelps winning 8 medals, making him the Olympian with the most gold medals. Pretty amazing athlete, I think.
Shawn Johnson taking gold on beam. I was happy to see her finally get a gold medal after all her silvers.
Jonathon Horton, US Gymnast, took silver on high bar.
I also loved watching the Men's gymnastics team celebrate after winning the bronze in the team competition. They really weren't supposed to do that well after losing their top 2 competitors to injury. You would have thought they had won the gold the way they were celebrating!
Natalie du Toit, South African open water swimmer. This race is hard! It's a 2 hours swim in open water (not a pool). That sounds hard regardless but would be especially hard if you only had one leg!
Justin and I laughed every time we saw the replay of the Men's 400 meter race. David Neville diving across the finish line to win the bronze. And then collapsing at the end. Way to go!
And finally, the US Men's volleyball team winning gold. The coach's father-in-law had been stabbed to death at the beginning of the games in a random attack. I was very happy to see them win on the last day.
Hope you all watched! It was fun!
German gymnast, Oksana Chusovitina. She is around 32 or 33 years old! Originally a Russian gymnast she somewhat retired in the mid-90s. In 2002, she discovered that her son had leukemia. With help from the German gymnastics team, her son was able to be treated in Germany. She won a silver medal on the vault.
The Men's Swimming 4x100 relay. Who didn't love that? After the French swimmers had said they were going to "smash" the American's, Jason Lezak passed the Frenchman at the very end of the race. I was sure they were getting 2nd and then out of nowhere, at the very end, Lezak was able to pull ahead. Justin and I were a little embarrassed to find ourselves jumping up and down, yelling at the TV. Admit it, most of you were doing the same thing! The celebration after the race was pretty funny, too.
Dara Torres...41, I think? A lot of people thought that she shouldn't have been part of the team because of her age. I say that she earned it! I was happy to see her take home 2 silver medals.
Eric Shanteau, US Swimmer. He didn't medal or anything but just being there was an accomplishment for him. He was diagnosed with cancer just one week before the Olympic Trials. But he swam and qualified for the team and went to the Olympics. 
Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson taking gold and silver in the All-Around competition. The first time ever that American Women have taken gold and silver in this competition.
Of course, the biggest story of the games...Michael Phelps winning 8 medals, making him the Olympian with the most gold medals. Pretty amazing athlete, I think.
Shawn Johnson taking gold on beam. I was happy to see her finally get a gold medal after all her silvers.
Jonathon Horton, US Gymnast, took silver on high bar.
I also loved watching the Men's gymnastics team celebrate after winning the bronze in the team competition. They really weren't supposed to do that well after losing their top 2 competitors to injury. You would have thought they had won the gold the way they were celebrating!
Natalie du Toit, South African open water swimmer. This race is hard! It's a 2 hours swim in open water (not a pool). That sounds hard regardless but would be especially hard if you only had one leg!
Justin and I laughed every time we saw the replay of the Men's 400 meter race. David Neville diving across the finish line to win the bronze. And then collapsing at the end. Way to go!
And finally, the US Men's volleyball team winning gold. The coach's father-in-law had been stabbed to death at the beginning of the games in a random attack. I was very happy to see them win on the last day.
Hope you all watched! It was fun!
2 comments:
I find myself in the same predicament. And it has been difficult to get back to going to bed at a decent hour too. But they were oh so fun to watch. I share a lot of the same favorite moments as you do.
P.S. Michael Phelps still has to beat Larissa Latynina for the most Olympic medals. He never ceased to amaze me this year and I am sure he will pass her up in Lodon in 2012.
I was an olymic addict too. I would tivo all of them and then stay up until 2 in the morning trying to watch them all.
It was good to see you guys last night and visit. I added you to our blog, so hopefully it works this time.
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