Olympics, the original reality TV

I really love the Olympics, the wins, the losses, the come from behind victories, the unfortunate falls that ends Olympic dreams.  It is such real life drama.  You got the legends that are going to retire like Michael Phelps.  You got the up-and-coming stars like 17 year old Missy Franklin with 5 medals.  You got the 71 year old Japanese man who still is competing in Equestrian.  There is the Judo woman who overcame being sexually assaulted by her former coach to win the first ever USA Gold in Judo. And let us not forget the double amputee runner from South Africa! Of course you have the controversy…i.e. the Chinese swimmer that managed to swim 5 seconds faster than she had ever done before (unheard of in sprint swimming).   We are watching the 1500 meter (metric mile) semi-final where the Canadian just fell. His Olympics just ended.  It is such great TV.  Reality TV as it is meant to be.

I also love the stories of previous Olympians like Olga Korbut, the Soviet Union gymnast that mesmerized the world in the 1972 and melt the hearts of every one including President Nixon.  Or the Magnificent Seven from 1996 Olympics where Kerri Strug landed a second vault after spraining her ankle on the first vault and ended up tearing a few tendons in the process.  There are so many stories and not all are about gymnastics but those are the two that I remember off hand.

I’m glad that NBC has all these events streaming online so I can listen to it during the day. I know shame on me, “watching” TV at work.  But not really, I’ve been really busy this week so I really only listen…unless there is some amazing happening that I need to see.    

This past week has been uneventful for the most part.  Tuesday we saw the Twins lose to the White Sox.  Liriano, the former Twin was pitching. Wednesday we met Greg, Celeste and Evelyn for dinner since it was Celeste’s birthday.  That was the most exciting thing about this week besides the Olympics.

Ok one more thing about the Olympics.  So Ankie Spitzer, one of the widows of the 1972 Israeli Olympic team that were kept hostage and ultimately murdered, wanted a moment of silence to remember those that lost their lives 40 years ago. She has the support of most countries but the IOC president, Rogue said, “There are now more than 40 Arab delegations. It’s a difficult decision, but my hands are tied.”  Spitzer responded, “Your hands are tied? No. My husband and his teammates’ hands were tied. So were there feet. To the furniture. Then they came home in coffins.”