Another one done

I have been glued to the TV for the past two week watching the 2008 Beijing Olympics. I love watching the Games and I think CBC does a great job covering the events. And the streaming on cbc.ca was awesome, too. Most nights, I would have the TV on CBC and I’d have some event not being shown on TV streaming on cbc.ca. So cool.

Highlights for me:

- The Chinese female weightlifters snatching and clean-and-jerking more than double their body weight. Holy cow!
- Canadian men’s eight rowing team winning gold. And Adam Kreek belting out the Canadian anthem during the medal ceremony. Sweet moment.
- Simon Whitfield tossing his hat and coming from behind to contend for a medal in the triathlon. He got silver. What an amazing effort!
- The favourite Lolo Jones from the US stumbling over the last hurdle and ends up finishing out of medal contention in what is most likely her only Olympics. I felt bad for her.
- Carol Huynh overwhelmed with emotion as she sang the Canadian anthem and watched the flag go up during her medal ceremony. Wow.
- 10km marathon swimming: 1 hour and 52 mins of non-stop swimming. And “eating” during the race while floating on their back. Crazy.
- 20km walk: 1:26:31 winning time. The gold medalist walks 10km faster than I run it.
- Adam van Koeverden bombing out in his 1000m finals then coming back the next day to win silver in the 500m. Roller coaster ride for every paddling fan.
- The indoor volleyball semi-final and final matches between the US and Russia, and US and Brazil, respectively. So quick and powerful! Very entertaining.

I love the drama of the Olympics. The expected winner doesn’t always deliver, while an unknown breaks through with a victory. And you have athletes like Usain Bolt hamming it up for the cameras and Michel Phelps winning everything. This is the drama of sports, just magnified tenfold. It is the Olympics, after all.

Next up, the winter games in Vancouver, 2010. Can’t wait!