The question has to be asked. It was a close race and anyone that saw it had to think “holy shit how did Phelps make up the distance at the final lunge?” That was my thought. Still, he won and on Saturday night during the relay it amazed me how many people were pumped up for that race. A swimming race, no less.
At this downtown Portland bar, people were chanting “USA! USA! USA!” at the start of the race, banging their tables during it and yelping after Phelps secured his eighth gold medal. It was a moment of pride for an American athlete the likes I have never seen in my life. Ever (born months before 1980 Miracle on Ice). Perhaps not since Michael Johnson in Atlanta 1996 has the country rallied around one particular individual, you know just to see if they’ll live up to the lofty expectations.
But did Phelps win the 100m Butterfly? At this point does it even matter? I say it doesn’t. Of course, the crowd on Saturday would have been considerably less animated if Phelps lost his previous race. But it’s an interesting conspiracy theory, nonetheless. Someone needs to call Mulder and Scully and get on this.
Curiously, Omega sponsors Michael Phelps and also created the timing system used in the Olympic Pool. It’s accurate down to the 1000th of a second, which is more accurate than the pool itself. Meaning that the pool lengths aren’t guaranteed to be even, so the race is timed to the 100th second. It goes without saying that Omega has a vested interest in the success of Phelps.
Still, who really cares? In a year or month from now no one will remember any of this, only that Phelps is arguably the greatest Olympic athlete of all time and has all but assured he will be Athlete of the Year.
I still think Mark Spitz could outswim him though, given that he swam with a mustache and a quasi-afro and Phelps is all sleek, shaved and benefits from Speedo’s swimwear technology. A debate for another day.
If only all conflicts could be settled in bikinis on the beach by attractive women. One would think the supposed ceasefire between Russia and Georgia would ease tensions between the two countries, enough so that they could have a friendly match during Olympic Beach Volleyball. Ah, but the match only heightened the tension.
Unfortunately for the Russians, Georgia decided to import their players from Brazil, which is like beach volleyball capital of the world. That’s just low.
“We were not playing against the Georgian team today,” sniffed Natalia Uryadova after losing 12-15 in the third and deciding set. “We were playing against the Brazilian team. If they are Georgian, they would have been influenced [by the war], but certainly they are not.”
Alexandra Shiryaeva, her slightly less sulky team-mate, quickly tired of comparisons between the match and geopolitics.“There was no politics in this game - these girls are Brazilian. I don’t suppose they even know who the Georgian president is,” she said.
Oh snap! As if killing peace keepers and civilians weren’t enough. But they’re right. Beach volleyball is no place for geopolitics, especially when it’s so difficult to ascertain exactly what the hell is going on in South Ossetia.
[Minor aside: Yes, Russia is being painted as the bad guy by the traditional media since Georgia is a pro-USA democracy. But none of the reports have parsed what exactly brought on the tension between the two countries and how South Ossetia, a breakaway republic for the past 20 years, fits into that tension. Can anyone explain?]
But back to the war at the nets. The two Georgian players have only visited the country twice! Twice! They promise to visit the country after the Olympics to say thanks because the two were drafted by President Saakashvili’s wife, who’s an avid beach volleyball player.
Doesn’t this trivialize the Olympics? I mean would it be fair if the US offered citizenships to Kenyan runners? Or began importing Chinese table tennis players? When the spirit of the Olympics (which includes fighting wars during the games) is compromised by offering athletic positions to more dominating players from other countries than what’s the freakin’ point. I get that even professional athletes compromises the Olympic Spirit, but this takes things to a new low.
And then the President was like, everything looks good from hear and Misty May-Treanor was like, can you believe those opening ceremonies? Be gentle I like a little tap and then Kerri Walsh was like we are so totally taking the gold medal.
The Hong King Lego Users Group recreated the city of Bejing in under 100 hours. The National Aquatics Center is in the center. Other photos of Lego venues can be seen here. The good thing about this is there is no smog. [via]
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