It's been exhausting these past two weeks, hasn't it? Getting excited, then not getting excited, then feeling the heart drop. Today's been the worst of them all, watching the 4 x 100 men's relay team being disqualified after thinking they'd won the bronze. Unreal.
So we ended up with a bucketful of bronze medals, a few silvers, and one gold. The thing is, if you've noticed, more often than not, we find ourselves in fourth or fifth. Badminton, synchronized swimming (twice!), cycling, trampoline, shot put, decathlon, equestrian, swimming, wrestling...we were so close in all of these sports.
I find it funny that we have this inherent need to add all kinds of statistics to validate our success. For example, I just heard the announcer say that this is the highest total number of medals that a country has ever earned in the Summer Olympics where only one gold was achieved. Woo hoo.
Well, my heart goes out to all those who came close. See you in four.
"Nobody's a picture perfect, but we're worth it"
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Thursday, August 02, 2012
Farewell To London
Alcohol of the (Yester)Day: Fuller's Chiswick Bitters and Fuller's Organic Honeydew
(BTW: Did I say Carlsberg last time? I meant Carling. Wow, I think I should be cut off now)
Yesterday, two things happened for the first time: 1) we got to an event on time, and 2) there was no controversy during our session. We heard about the fixing scandal at the other badminton match and, upon viewing the YouTube footage, I gotta say that if you're going to do something silly like fix a match, the least you could do is make it a little more subtle. Deliberately serving into the net is a bit of a giveaway.
Our session was intense and really confusing at times. There were 6 matches (two women's singles, two men's singles, and two mixed doubles) but they play 3 matches at the same time. So we're trying to pay attention but of course it's another really fast paced game and there's always something happening. I ended up paying more attention to the court in front of me and tried to watch the other two when something interesting was happening, like when someone was about to win the set or the match. Some of the rallies were incredible. And, once again, the Danish mixed doubles team had a raucous cheering section, but the Chinese fans gave them a run for their money. I don't know how the athletes can possibly concentrate through it.
So now I'm back at home. On the train to Gatwick this morning it was sad to say goodbye to the city and everything. I have to admit that the feeling this time is a little different from last time. Mostly because it really isn't over yet. There's still a lot of Olympics to go. And now I can actually watch the Canadian events. The BBC focuses on Team GB, naturally, so finding coverage with Canadians was a bit difficult. Still, I miss it already.
Cheers London. Until we meet again.
"Woke up in London yesterday, found myself in the city near Piccadilly, don't really know how I got here, I got some pictures on my phone"
(BTW: Did I say Carlsberg last time? I meant Carling. Wow, I think I should be cut off now)
Yesterday, two things happened for the first time: 1) we got to an event on time, and 2) there was no controversy during our session. We heard about the fixing scandal at the other badminton match and, upon viewing the YouTube footage, I gotta say that if you're going to do something silly like fix a match, the least you could do is make it a little more subtle. Deliberately serving into the net is a bit of a giveaway.
Our session was intense and really confusing at times. There were 6 matches (two women's singles, two men's singles, and two mixed doubles) but they play 3 matches at the same time. So we're trying to pay attention but of course it's another really fast paced game and there's always something happening. I ended up paying more attention to the court in front of me and tried to watch the other two when something interesting was happening, like when someone was about to win the set or the match. Some of the rallies were incredible. And, once again, the Danish mixed doubles team had a raucous cheering section, but the Chinese fans gave them a run for their money. I don't know how the athletes can possibly concentrate through it.
So now I'm back at home. On the train to Gatwick this morning it was sad to say goodbye to the city and everything. I have to admit that the feeling this time is a little different from last time. Mostly because it really isn't over yet. There's still a lot of Olympics to go. And now I can actually watch the Canadian events. The BBC focuses on Team GB, naturally, so finding coverage with Canadians was a bit difficult. Still, I miss it already.
Cheers London. Until we meet again.
"Woke up in London yesterday, found myself in the city near Piccadilly, don't really know how I got here, I got some pictures on my phone"