Woah! I'm still feeling a bit of an Olympic hangover... can't quite let go of those crazy intense two weeks! I saw waaay more TV than was good for me (including watching both Opening and Closing Ceremonies until their ends in the wee hours of the morning). At times I even had two events going on simultaneously (usually when tennis was involved): one on the TV and one streaming live on the computer! :p
I enjoyed the excitement of wondering if Bolt would do what no one had done before: take the Gold in two consecutive Olympics in the 100m AND 200m! Add to that the 4x100m relay and... WOW! Was delightful watching the 3 Jamaicans cheer on the podium for the 200m...
I cheered on Phelps as he became the first person to win the 200m medley in 3 consecutive Olympics, as he surpassed the record for Olympic medals, and as he won his final gold in his final competitive swimming, fittingly I thought in a team relay race! :o)
I was delighted when Mireia Belmonte finally started Spain's medal count, and then became the first Spaniard to win 2 medals (both silver) in Olympic swimming! She started a trend that would last the rest of the Olympics: Spain's medals would mostly come from Women (11 out of 17) and Water (13/17) !!! The excitement of some of Spain's medal chances got me watching sports I've never seen (Taekwondo -Spain sent 3 athletes and won 3 medals!-, Handball -which I still don't like-, Waterpolo, Triathlon, Windsurf, Kayak) and others I only watch during the Olympics (Swimming, Basketball). LOTS of fun!
But by far my favourite (summer) Olympic sport remains the Synchronized Swimming! When you consider the elaborate choreography they have to excel at while doing it upside down! and IN THE WATER!!! And on top of that... PERFECTLY synchronized with 1 (in duos) or 7 (teams) other swimmers!!! AMAZING! And it's BEAUTIFUL! :o)
Check these out:
Spain's Silver Medal Free Routine in Duets by Ona Carbonell and Andrea Fuentes (she also got Silver in the Duet in Beijing):
Oops, I think that video is actual from the pre-Olympic trials since it's missing their yell for joy when they realised their score placed them above the Chinese, winning the Silver! (No one can yet match the Russians for the Gold) They trained with the European Tango Sub-champions (on land of course) to perfect their Tango steps before they could do them in the water...
Try as I might I can't find any of the complete team routines on YouTube! Only the complete show on the official Olympics Channel... and I can't seem to embed it so I'll have to send you to see it directly on YouTube! The good stuff (the best three) starts at minute 38. I won't spoil the result for you... go see who took home which medal! ;o)
The Spanish swimmers got their hair chopped off the day before so they could fit into those brand new fish-scale skin-tight swim caps! (new outfit special for the Olympics).
Oh, and you can watch just about anything you want on that official Olympics channel! Go check out some of the other synchronized swimming bits! ;o)
What was your favourite Olympic sport to watch in London 2012?
I can't choose just one favourite! The middle Saturday night in the athletics stadium was amazing, and was Great Britain and Northern Ireland's best performance in track and field for about a hundred years. Mo Farah getting the middle distance double the next week was incredible. I love watching gymnastics, artistic or rhythmic. I love watching diving, for several reasons (Tom Daley is now legal, I keep telling myself ;) ). And the traithlon was pretty incredible too (and not just because we took two medals!). Rowing's fun as well... I guess I like most of the races, and anything artistic (synchro, diving, rhythmic gymnastics...). Still don't get most of the cycling though.
ReplyDeletelol! I know what you mean! 'twasn't easy choosing a favourite, but this just stuck with me...
DeleteI also loved the gymnastics and the diving (which I also find incredibly scary!) and was fascinated by the Triathlon (and not just because Spain took the one medal the UK didn't get!) :p
Was a very exciting 17 days... Bring on Rio 2016!!! :o)
(and I've never "gotten" cycling!) :p
DeleteIt was a wonderful Olympics! I loved the gymnastics and was enchanted with Gabbie Douglas, the first black person to win the big prize. The diving, the beautiful synchronistic stuff!!!
ReplyDeleteOooh yes! She was lovely!!!
DeleteThe gymnastics always frustrates me a bit, because they keeping switching around between apparatus and you have no choice on who you're watching! We got to see very little of the Spaniards... the cameras were only on the "favourites" US, Russia, China etc...
I understand completely about the Olympic hangover and WAAAY too much television. I was actually glad when they were over so we could start having dinner at the table again instead of in front of the television. I loved watching beach volleyball, synchro diving and trampoline. The synchronized swimmers are AMAZING!
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