Hello everyone out there in the Blog-o-verse!
It’s been a tiring summer at my job, where I have to battle my body every day when I get home to stave off of taking a nap. But, with just over a week left of it, I cannot believe that it is almost finished. The days and weeks pass by slowly, but on recollection, it all seems to fly by. Doesn’t that go against a law of physics?
As everyone is well aware of, the Olympics began almost a week ago, and WHAT A WEEK SO FAR! Now, I’m not a big sports enthusiast, but once the Olympics begin, I become ADDICTED. I watch as much as I possibly can, everything from swimming to judo to track and field to gymnastics. I absolutely love it!
To begin, the opening ceremonies were pretty good, but all the controversy surrounding it now makes it seem less spectacular than I originally thought. The first thing I want to talk about is the torch lighting. I can understand the running around the stadium by previous winners, that always happens, but it seemed to go on for a long time. But the real disappointment, was the lighting of the actual torch. All that occurred was the Olympian running around the stadium’s large television screen for what seemed like an eternity before very simply lighting a gunpowder trail and finally igniting the torch. To be honest, I did not enjoy it one bit because it was tediously long, boring and lacking in excitement.
Next on the plate is Canada’s performance so far. What can I say? The summer Olympics are not Canada’s strong suit, but we do try! We’ve gotten close a bunch of times, but the medals still elude us and result in Canada being tied for 52nd place. Hopefully, we’ll be able to scrounge up at least a medal of two before the closing ceremonies.
And last, and certainly not least, no conversation about the Beijing 2008 Olympiad can be complete without the mention of the now greatest Olympian EVER: Micheal Phelps. He is an AMAZING swimmer with incredible stamina, drive and unbeatable skill. I saw all of his matches in Athens back in 2004, and he was incredible. But now, in Beijing, he has become an unstoppable force. An amazing 11 career gold medals, with two more possibly on the way, more than any other athlete in history. Even if he looses every single match from now on, he will still leave these Olympics with an almost unbeatable track record. That being said, it is HIGHLY unlikely that he will lose these ‘easier’ matches (according to experts) or, at the least, fail to make the podium.
Well, that is all for now because I’m going to go watch THE Michael Phelps do what he was born to do…. SWIM FAST, SWIM STREAMLINED AND SWIM A WINNER!
You write that Phelps is the best Olympian ever….is he?? True, he has won more gold medals than anyone else, but they have all been in swimming. A few points to consider:
– most other sports only allow an athlete to compete in one or two competitions, not allowing them seven or eight chances at a medal, but only one or two. Think about judo or long distance running – they don’t have the same number of opportunities
– perhaps we could consider Phelps the best Olympian ever if he won the medals in multiple disciplines.
Thoughts?
All that being said, he is by far the best swimmer of all time, and an incredible Olympian.
You are absolutely correct, as in Judo, you can only compete within your weight class, which limits the competitions available to you.
However, being as he has won more medals than anyone, the press in labeling him as the greatest Olympian ever… but, the correct title should be the “Greatest Swimming Olympian Ever”