I’ve got to admit it: I didn’t think I’d be watching this much Olympics.
During the first few days of the London Games, I’ve been watching whenever I could on TV. I’ve even been checking out events that I never thought I would find myself watching. The whole thing is very captivating and I can’t help but stay tuned. Here are a few things that I’ve noticed through the first weekend.
—What is up with Michael Phelps? I think it’s about time that we took him down off his pedestal after his performance early in this year’s Games. It’s clear that he’s no longer the best swimmer in the world and it can be argued that he’s not even the best American swimmer anymore, ceding the title to Ryan Lochte. But even Lochte blew the last leg of the relay. With this turmoil at the top of the sport, it sure does make for interesting and unpredictable races though.
—While checking out the women’s weight-lifting, did anyone else notice that the coach from Kazakhstan had his country’s name misspelled on the back of his jacket? It read “Kzakhstan.” No word if Borat was involved in the typo.
—Speaking of the Kazakhs, Borat jokes aside, it looks like Canadians can no longer make fun of the former Soviet nation. Kazakhstan already has two gold medals in the first two days and Canada may struggle to win that many golds total.
—I understand the appeal of the Dream Team and having NBA players at the Olympics, but this is getting ridiculous. Team USA is going to wipe the floor with every team here. It’s time to either just send NCAA guys to the Games or to at least put an age-limit on players. A more competitive tournament would be a lot better to watch than the U.S. crushing France by 27 points.
—How dangerous is water polo? I caught some of the USA-Montenegro match and I was surprised nobody drowned. With all the fouls and holding that goes – in a pool! – these guys must choke down at least a little pool water every game. It’s also quite exciting too. Think about a mix of basketball and soccer, playing in a pool and there you go. Interesting, no?
—I was just in London and know how crazy it can get with traffic – both pedestrian and autos – and I can’t believe that the cycling road races helped that out at all. Closing down some major road ways for portions of two days with the men’s and women’s races must have caused a TONNE of headaches. And what was up with Ryder Hesjedal? After winning the Giro d’Italia, he has now faltered in both the Tour de France and the Olympics finishing – as fellow sports desker John Fitz-Gerald put it – one millionth.
—Finally, congrats to the Canadian duo of synchronized divers for picking up our county’s first medal of the Games. There likely won’t be many Canadians on the podium, so we should celebrate every one that’s good enough to ranked Top 3 in the world at something.
GO Canada !