I was sitting here tonight...bored...because Andy was at school and I was thinking about how bummed I was that the Olympics were over. Andy and I really got into watching them this year. We stayed up WAY too late every night watching and cheering. It's funny how for this short time these people, these amazing athletes become important to you. You WANT them to succeed...you're rooting them on every step of the way. We cheered them on like we knew them personally...like they were part of our family. There were so many great moments during these Olympics (as well as some not so great)....and it was just a pleasure to watch.
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The opening ceremonies were amazing. I especially liked watching the US team march in because the flag carrier, Lopez Lomong has such an amazing story. I also cried when Yao Ming...the flag carrier for China marched in with the adorable 9 year old boy who survived an earthquake. 20 of his classmates died. He managed to escape the wreckage, but went back and saved two of his classmates. What courage for such a little person.
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I have always been a huge gymnastics fan. I can still remember watching and cheering and crying when the US women won the gold medal in '96. I was fascinated by them. I am a huge fan of both Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin and was so excited to see them go 1..2... in the All-Around. I think that there was some unfairness in the judging of the gymnastics, but despite it all these girl did AMAZING!
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Chelsie Memmel had her Olympics come to a crashing halt and she did all she could to help the US team....on a broken ankle. Amazing.
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I think this picture says it all.
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It was so sad that during a time that is supposed to be once in a lifetime there had to be tragedy. The mens volleyball team suffered a great loss and still was able to perform like champions.
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Then of course there was Michael Phelps. Watching him swim was SO awesome. We watched this race with my family up in Flagstaff and we were all at the edge of our seats for this finish. We all jumped up screaming and cheering when it flashed that Michael had won. Thanks to my parent's DVR we were able to watch it many....many times and we still couldn't see how it was possible.
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What I loved though was that even though there was a lot of focus around Michael Phelps and his 8 individual gold medals he was still able to be a team player. I remember hearing an interview where the interviewer asked the mens relay team how it felt to help Michael win another gold and he said "This wasn't about me....this is a team gold...it's as much their win as mine. I couldn't have done this with out them. This was a team thing." Spoken like a true winner if you ask me.
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We watched a lot of sports that we had never watched before. We saw a lot of cycling and track and beach volleyball (that's for you dad :) ) We totally got caught up in the "Olympic Spirit" and look forward to London 2012!!