Olympic Dreams

I love the Olympics. As a little girl I remember watching, and as so many other young girls do, dreamt of being a gymnast in the Olympics. That soon morphed into dreaming of being an athlete in one of the equestrian events. This was slightly more realistic since I actually rode horses. I have never even done a somersault in a gym before!

I was pretty happy to actually see some of the equestrian events thanks to cable. They never make it into prime time programming. Go figure. (I mean really, they are running incredibly fast, but does watching a marathon have anything for excitement on a horse and rider galloping down a cross country course flying over jumps that are taller and wider than the horse? Check out what I mean here.)

Women's Beach Volleyball also held me on the couch past my bedtime more than once!

A few other favorite memories of the Olympics, some a little surprising: I waited with bated breath, like everyone else as Michael Phelps became the first Michael Phelps, not the second Mark Spitz. I was excited for him, certainly, but my favorite part was his excitement of getting a Ravens jersey (courtesy of the Raven's owner) just after being awarded one of his gold medals. When he returned to the ready room he entered to a chorus of 'let's see it' and proudly held up the jersey. Too funny. And his cute, wonderfully supportive mother (who reminds me of Paula Dean) getting a great thrill out of having her picture taken with some of the NBA stars who had come to watch her son swim!

And watching the Chinese divers sweep all the diving events. They were poetry in motion! And it was watching them that made me think that maybe not all of my Olympic dreams were shot.



What do you think? Too much splash on the entry? Will I look like Paula Dean in 20 years?