Tuesday, August 12, 2008

While you were sleeping... OLYMPICS edition, Pt.1

The 2008 Beijing Olympics kicked off last Friday, and I am so glad. I am absolutely loving the excitement, the wins, the disappointments, the heroes, and the all-around thrill of it all. Here is a short recap of some of my personal highlights so far.


1 Billion watch the Opening Ceremonies
That would be 15 percent of the world population tuning in for the spectacular, 4.5 hours, $300 million costing, Zhang Yimou directed ceremonies. I finally watched it last night, and I was super impressed with the high-tech, artistically-driven show, as well as the unity of seeing all these world countries and its athletes come together.



Americans win the 4x100 free relay
This story had all the makings of a GREAT win- smack talking, underdogs, an Olympian's quest for the record books on the line. Jason Lezak, the oldest man on the US Swimming Team, slowly but surely pulling ahead of the French in the last 25 meters of the race to clinch the gold, by a fingertip? Pure adrenaline rush. This is how exciting this race was, I got so worked up, that I couldn't fall asleep. Maybe I'm a dork, sure, but this is what the Olympics are made of.

Probably the most talked about athlete of all who is competing at the Olympics this summer, this 23 year old American's bid to win an unprecendented 8 gold medals includes 9 days of races. So far, he's well on his way: as of this morning, he's won 3 of the races he's been in, which includes the aforementioned 4x100 freestyle relay. The 3rd gold medal he won gives him a ninth career win, which ties the record Mark Spitz has for the most in Olympics history (only 4 other athletes can claim that feat). He looks like a lithe, super long frat boy, though my parents think he's strangely "retarded" looking (their words, not mine!!). I think he's uber cute and I'm totally rooting for him.

Kerri Walsh loses her wedding ring in sand
Kerri Walsh, one half of the gold-medalists beach volleyball team with partner Misty May-Treanor, lost her wedding ring during their victorious game against Japan. She had to wait for 5 more matches to be played on the same sand before Chinese authorities swooped in with metal detectors and found the ring. Lesson learned, don't wear your valuables during sports!!

The Office promo
NBC payed over $900 million for coverage of the Olympics. So they're going to take advantage of all the eyeballs that are glued to their network by promoting the hell out of their upcoming fall shows. This Office promo, filmed specifically for airing during the Olympics, makes me uber excited about the return of the show (Sept 25!!). Woohooo!!!

Medal count so far
USA: 21, China: 20, South Korea: 12, Italy: 9, Australia: 9. I don't know why I bothered doing this, cause in about, oh, I don't know, an hour? the tally will probably change.

4 comments:

Stella Hsu said...

To Jen's AWESOME Olympic post - which I've given a perfect 10 out of 10 rating, I'll add a couple of other things I've been keeping up with: GYMNASTICS!

There seems to be less support for gymnastics as there was in previous years, especially when looking out at all the empty seats when the mens and especially womens gymnastic teams compete. All teams (that are covered...) have been putting on a terrific show. China's mens team is reedonkulously impressive - and over-worked/stressed; and surprisingly, the mens and womens USA teams are doing well as well, though I don't have a terribly strong emotional bond to them seeing as how most members are totally new.

Here's something new: Romania's womens team sucks! That was a surprise as they've been contenders for the Gold for such a long time.

And here's something funny: NBC's Oxygen network, which is targeted at women, is showing stereotypically feminine sports, such as equestrian activities and rhythmic gymnastics...hehe

Anonymous said...

I was actually standing up for the men's 100m x 4.

Julia Park said...

SLAP FACE!

I cannot wait until Sept. 25th now :x

Anonymous said...

Yay for the Olympics.