Olympics

a rather interesting statement that
raises old questions: should we just drop it because of the Olympic spirit or still worry about human rights. It is my understanding that the Chinese people do not agree with this statement, but what about the Tibetans?

• the advantage of short legged men: Michael Phelps


• India won 8 gold medals in Hockey. I do have a hard time picturing the winning Hockey team. I mean their 2008 gold medalist is cute and smart but I'd rather picture him in the MIT graduate department than a Hockey team.[1]


• Zimbabwe holds 3 medals and had seen Olympic gold due to this amazing blond swimmer that calls it home. Kirsty Coventry
• Benjamin Boukpeti won the bronze for Togo - first Olympic medal. However his participation under the Togo flag was mostly the consequence of circumstances independent of his choices and less of a credo. But such a big medal!


• America just won the two top medals in individual women gymnastics. And you know what: the gold was born in Russia and the silver 's trainer came from China. Does anybody mind they're immigrants? BTW, both Nastia Liunkin and Shawn Johnson were amazing.
• Three more names worth mentioning: Constantina Tomescu- Marathon Olympic gold at 38, an age when most of us pant climbing the stairs and Dara Torres -3 Olympic silver medals at 41. Oksana Chusovitina won Olympic silver at 33 in the vault final competition -she competed for her adoptive country Germany as a sign of gratitude for the medical treatment provided to her son that saved his life. [2]
• I mentioned before the Marathon winner, but the Marathon had some winners that did not make the podium - one of them: Paula Radcliffe that finished the 23rd but ran "in one leg" after a too short recovery period. The one that defetead death: Keeth Smart, diagnosed at the begining of the year with a rare blood disease. Or Liu Xiang showing for a competition he was sure to lose -all the pain on his face.
• Some funny moments: Bella Karoly repeating "The best gymnasts are on the podium" after the floor competition while the NBC host was trying to make him complain about scoring one more time. Well, as they say the first love is the deepest- nice job Mr. Karoly. Yelena Isinbayeva winning the Olympic gold for paule vault jump while napping.
• I have to apologize to my coworker Shay. Ireland won 20 medals other the years.

Notes:

[1] Ok, so I google the hockey team .Now it makes sense - it was field hockey! My sport IQ is getting worse since living in US , I totally forgot about field hockey and I started once to debate Romanian "soccer". Ups!

[2]It is important to note that unlike other sports, women gymnasts usually retire very early from top level competitions. Even the most known, like Mary Lou Retton and Nadia Comaneci retired in the late teens, early twenties...