Olympic Awesomeness

For the first time in my life I watched the Summer Olympics. Not because I don't like the Summer Games, but because I've always been skiing in the summer hemisphere during this time of the year. In 2008 was able to catch the amazing men's 4x100 relay final while boarding a plane to Chile, but other than that I've never really absorbed the Games while training in other countries. In 2004 I was in New Zealand, and only saw events that New Zealand competed in. This meant I watched a ton of women's riflery and men's field hockey, and without wanting to disparage the hard work those athletes put in, I wasn't as enthusiastic about the games as I could have been. So this year, not heading down South for skiing any time soon, I got the chance to really watch the Olympics.

It was awesome. I was a total technology shutout for the last two weeks, meaning that every night I sat down at 8pm to watch Bob Costas bring me the highlights from the day. Every morning I would allow myself a trip to ESPN.com, but never after 10am as the events would begin unfolding across the pond. Maybe my favorite article about the Olympics was from Bill Simmons, in which he gave his account of Super Saturday, and described what it was like to witness Jessica Ennis win the heptathlon and secure a gold medal for the home team:

"In the last few months, I was fortunate enough to witness a Stanley Cup clincher, an NBA title clincher and a Super Bowl–clinching comeback — actually, that last one was unlucky (for me), but whatever — and this was louder than any of those events. Eighty thousand people crammed into one of those old-school, Rose Bowl–type stadiums, with just about everyone pulling for one person. After the race started, Ennis jogged by our side and my section basically morphed into one deafening "COMEONJESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!""

Reading that send chills up my spine, because it relays the type of atmosphere that can't be captured on the best HDTV in the world. What I saw on TV was pretty damn amazing but to be there must have been incredible. For myself, watching these Olympics couldn't have come at a better time. I loved every second of watching the Games and the experience gave me a huge shot of passion to heal up and get back to 100%.

Finally, a HUGE shootout the ITA athletes competed these last two weeks, Kristin Hedstrom, Sarah Groff, and Lea Davison. I caught two of you on TV, it way to show up!