I've always enjoyed watching the Olympics, I counted down to these and can't believe it's already over. I'm going to have serious withdrawal symptoms. There's just something special about the games that other sporting events just don't have and I get to watch sports I never get to watch otherwise like synchronized diving, synchronized swimming and beach volleyball. I was even surprised to see a triathlon as an event. I read an article that said that male sports fans don't typically watch the Olympics, that the Olympics is mainly watched by women. The reason being is that to us it's like a reality tv show with all the back stories of all the athletes. I don't if there was a serious study behind that theory, but for me, it rings true. I don't watch sports but love the Olympics.


The US won 46 gold medals, 37 silver medals, and 38 bronze medals for a total count of 121 medals. Of those medals, swimmer Michael Phelps came home with 5 gold and 1 silver. He was given the honor of carrying the Olympic torch in the opening ceremony, the first opening ceremony he has attended since at the last four Olympics he was competing the next day. Overall he's won more medals than anyone else who has competed in the Olympics. He will have to pay a $55,000 victory tax on those medals! U.S. Olympic Committee awards athletes with prize money if they win a medal: $25,000 for a gold medal, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze. But that money is taxable even though you are winning a medal for your own country. What do you think, should athletes have to pay taxes on their medals?  Athletes spend a lot of money on their year-round training and travel, I think it's unfair to be taxed on winning a medal for their country. Also, did you know that the actual gold medal value in gold is $501?

Did you notice there were no flowers at the Olympics? In previous years the winners would get their medal and flowers, this year they get a paperweight instead for sustainability reasons. When the men's basketball team was awarded their gold medals, one paperweight was dropped and broken by the man issuing them so Carmelo Anthony didn't get one, but he was a good sport about it.

A straight married reporter from the Daily Beast joined a gay dating app to find gay athletes in Rio. Then published an article outing the athletes, some who were from countries that don't support gay people. There was also some controversy over  two athletes who were competing as a woman, but may be genetically ambiguous because of high levels of testosterone. The two on the right are Margaret Wambui and Caster Semenya who won medals in the women 800m. Gender testing is not new to the Olympics, it has been around since the 1940s.


Kerri Walsh Jennings of beach volleyball competed in her 4th Olympic games this summer. It was hard to watch this sport as her games were always on at 11pm, which is midnight in Brazil! The idea was for it to air live on primetime in California. They made it a party atmosphere with strobe lights and music blasting. The timing affected attendance as I could see half the seats were empty. Kerri won gold at the previous three Olympics but got a bronze this year. She said when she lost the second to the last game in the tournament she didn't sleep the entire night because she was devastated. Then she said there is "no shame" in a bronze medal because it brought her so much joy because she won this and didn't lose. She's ashamed to admit that she felt differently about bronze before.

My issue with the women's beach volleyball is why do they play in bikinis? They've been asked if they find this sexist and they say no, they are dressed for the beach and don't want pockets weighed down with sand, blah blah blah. Yet the men's beach volleyball team wear shirts and shorts and some other countries had their women in more modest clothing.



By now I think everyone has followed Lochtegate which overshadowed the last week of the Olympic games. What was small stuff over a bathroom, turned into an international incident over Brazilian pride. Keir Simmons took a film crew to the bathroom and couldn't find any vandalism. TMZ only found a broken poster. Ryan still won't admit he lied with his colorful tale to match his colorful hair, so I wonder if it is about protecting the millions of dollars of endorsements at stake or was he too drunk to remember accurately? lol  And to think this story only got out because he lied to his mother who happened to mention it to a member of the press from Australia she was sitting next to on a shuttle bus.

It's the highest profile story that's come out of Brazil over a drunken wild night. His actions caused his teammates (who didn't damage anything) to be pulled off a plane, passports taken and detained in Rio, while Ryan was already home. His teammates were not allowed to leave until they paid $11,000 to Brazil.  He probably can't believe his bad luck that not only did Brazil find where this happened they also have a clear color surveillance video to show what happened. Although TMZ says that 3 minutes of the video is missing and Ryan says those are critical minutes. I think if we can forgive Michael Phelps for his drug use and DUI two years ago, we can forgive Ryan as well.

I watched the interview he did with Matt Lauer and noticed Ryan dyed his hair back to brown to look serious. His house is under police surveillance for protection. If there's some humor that came out of this embarrassing situation is watching Al Roker and Nathalie argue on air over it, never seen them get heated over anything before. What an embarrassing episode for Ryan, who is pictured below with his stars and stripes grill from the 2012 Olympics.



Talk show host Ellen is known for her funny antics but I think we also know she doesn't have a mean bone in her body.  Jamaican runner, Usain Bolt, who has been the fastest man in the world for decade, was on her show last year and they are friends so she posted this picture on twitter with the caption "This is how I'm running errands from now on." Bolt found it funny and retweeted it. Bolt is a character himself always doing silly things for the camera, he's full of charisma as seen in this real smile caught in this photo as he ran during a race during the Olympics. Well, the picture went viral with people calling it racist. I admit the picture is questionable considering the historical context of this country, but I didn't bat an eye at it since I know Ellen isn't racist.






The closing ceremony was fun to watch last night, too bad it was raining in Rio for the first half. For the second part of the show they made in a true Brazilian carnival. The costumes were absolutely fantastic! The next summer Olympics will take place in Tokyo where surfing and skateboarding will be new sports.

Tag: olympics

I've been staying up late watching all the Olympic coverage, no surprise if you read all my posts from the Winter Olympics two years ago. My favorite sports are the Beach Volleyball, Swimming, and Diving because I used to be on a swim team as a kid.

Michael Phelps has already won 23 Olympic gold medals! Here's an interesting article on his life story, chaotic relationship with his coach, broken family, DUIs, and contemplation of suicide. Now his net worth is estimated at $55 million. Right before one of his races as he was putting on his swim cap it snapped and broke! Luckily his teammate lent him his hat. You've probably noticed all the cupping marks on his back, he's a fan of acupuncture like myself.

His teammate Ryan Lochte, unfortunately, got robbed at gunpoint in Rio. He dyed his hair gray for the Olympics but the pool water turned it a shade of green. Oddly enough one of the Olympic pools mysteriously turned a shade of green overnight! They blamed it algae and not enough chemicals in the water. After making the divers compete in it, they finally drained the pool of 1 million gallons of water.  In the Olympic village the most popular app being used is Tinder! The app had a HUGE surge of users! lol Ryan Lochte being one person spotted on the app, even though his girlfriend is there too, ummmm.....

Simone Manuel became the first black female swimmer to win an Olympic gold. It was also the first time two black female athletes (Lia Neal) were chosen to be on the American swim team at the same time.  This is significant because a "disproportionate number of African-American children cannot swim - USA Swimming puts the figure at 70%." BBC

As a tennis player, I was interested in seeing the tennis matches. Serena Williams  lost her chance to win a medal at these Olympics losing three matches. I read soccer goalie Hope Solo's memoir last year and she's no stranger to controversy. After the woman's soccer team lost their game and chance at a medal, she once again showed what a sore loser she is by saying, "We played a bunch of cowards, the better team did not win."

There was one feel good story that came out of the Olympics. A woman was chatting with her uber driver in Philadelphia and found out his son was competing in the Olympics but he couldn't afford to go to watch him. She set up a gofundme account for him and raised $8200!

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas is sadly once again being criticized for her hair by other black women on social media. This happened to her at the London Olympics too. Training for hours, it's impossible for a black woman's hair to look perfect. This double standard for women to look good while they excel at sports is impossible.If you have netflix, check out her bio-pic movie. One of the Italian gymnasts made a racist remark saying, "Maybe next time we'll paint our skin black so we can win."

Every Olympics I've noticed the same thing about the Opening Ceremony, the Americans come out with their cellphones to record the audience. I wish they would just be in the moment and enjoy it. This is being filmed for them. What caught everyone's attention was the athlete from Tonga who came out oiled up.


Off topic but I saw the movie Suicide Squad this weekend starring Will Smith, Margot Robbie, and Jared Leto. It's an anti-super hero movie that is dark and twisted but I really enjoyed it. While not something I would have picked out myself to see, but it was fun to see the villains in Gotham. Make sure you sit through the credits because there's a scene after it.

The closing ceremony featured Russian ballet, something the country is famous for and is closely connected to figure skating. The next summer Olympics will be held in Rio de Janeiro in two years and the next winter Olympics will be in South Korea. Russia won the most medals, followed by Team USA and Norway.

This year was the first year that the U.S. women’s bobsleighs got medals at the Olympics, very proud that three were African-American!

Elana Meyers (Silver), Lauryn Williams (Silver), and Aja Evans (Bronze)

Elana is the first American woman with two bobsled medals. She graduated from George Washington University with a BS in Exercise Science and a Master's degree in Sports Management in 2011. While at GW she played for the softball team. Her teammate Lauryn only started bobsledding 6 months ago! She is the fifth Olympian to medal in different events at the Summer and Winter Games and the first woman to win medals at both! She is a three-time Olympian in track and field. In track she won a gold medal at the 2012 London Games and a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Games.

In their first training run together at Sochi they crashed into a wall at the end of the track and severely damaged their sled, but luckily they were able to fix it overnight. Aja Evans is the sister of Fred Evans who plays for the Minnesota Vikings football team.

Did you see the huge nesting doll on the slopestyle course? Otherwise known as a Matryoshka or babushka doll. I thought it was pretty cool!

I bought the doll below when I went to Russia back in high school. It's a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside the other. I opened mine up to see how many there were and was surprised to see there was a completely different nesting doll inside! I must have bartered it with someone else. lol I remember I picked this design because I thought the gold looked very modern and elegant instead of the typical doll that is painted in traditional Russian folkloric dress.

There’s one guy with a really interesting story! Prince Hubertus of Hohenlohe-Langenburg was born in Mexico to European nobility but later moving back to Europe as a child. Since he kept his Mexican passport he’s able to compete as a Mexican alpine skier since he also founded the Mexican ski federation. At 55 years old, he has competed in six Olympics yet has never won a medal. He said that the “only reason he continues to participate is because it seems that the "exotic skiers" (those from countries without a tradition in winter sports) are disappearing, and that he wants to keep that tradition alive.” He also said that, “if you can’t win, at least by stylish.” And this year his costume was amazing! He dressed up as a Mariachi! 

Going with tradition, Kellogg’s has honored winning Olympians by putting them on the cover of their limited edition cereal box. This year was the first year of the Freestyle skiing slopestyle competition and the three medal winners were all American. Pictured here are Joss Christensen, Gus Kenworthy and Nick Goepper. Team USA members only get the silver jacket when they win a medal. 

Oddly enough I've been watching a lot of Ice Hockey during lunch at work. Either in the gym when I walk on the treadmill or yesterday when we had a group lunch in the conference room to watch. Did you know that the ice rink in Olympics Hockey is larger than the NHL? I guess the NHL doesn’t want to have to remove prime seating to make for a longer rink. Pretty much your team is as good as your goalie.

I have to say it’s pretty neat to see the helmets with ponytails! The women’s team has won five national championships but even during those seasons they were getting maybe 500 people in the arena unlike the men who had a huge following. So it's really only during the Olympics that they get a big spotlight. The woman's ice hockey team won a Silver at the Olympics but you should have seen the look of disappointment and tears on their faces, you would have thought they were attending someone's funeral. I played on my school's middle school basketball team for like a minute, so I can't say I understand their team's mentality over this silver medal. They're such fantastic athletes yet they feel that winning silver means they lost.

 "We didn't train as hard as we could for second place," U.S. women's hockey captain Meghan Duggan.

Alex Ovechkin, captain of the Washington Capitals Hockey Team (where he's played for the past 10 years) played for the Russian team in the Olympics for the second time. He scored only one goal in the during the Olympics, none in the final four games. When the USA Mens' team played the Russian ice hockey, the USA won 3-2. In case you’re wondering the NHL season is on a brief hiatus for the Olympics. If you’re a video gamer, you should know that he’s the cover athlete of 2K Sports hockey simulation video game NHL 2K10, as well as the cover athlete of EA Sports NHL 07. Ovechkin comes from an athletic family, his father was a professional hockey player in Russia and his mother won two Olympic gold medals while competing for the Soviet women's basketball team at two summer Olympics. Unfortunately his father underwent emergency heart surgery this week in Sochi but his family didn’t tell Alex for 3 days until after Russia had been eliminated from the Olympic tournament.


  

I  liked the bold yellow choice Ashley Wagner went with which she's worn for competitions before.

The winter Olympics are my favorite because I love figure skating! The art, the skill, the music, the fashion! I try to go ice-skating once a year but this year I'm thinking about taking lessons. I took ballet lessons as a child and figure skating is the art of the same movement on ice.


First Place - Yulia Lipnitskaya - Russia

She's only 15 years old and as you see in this picture she's more flexible than I am in yoga class! lol With her leg up like that she turned and twisted many times, I so impressed! Her style of skating was just beautiful and flowy. The following day at the Team Free Dance competition she also took the Gold Medal.
For the next event her costume was the little girl with the red coat from Schindler's List, it's a popular piece of music to skate to. You can watch the video here, you'll be impressed by how beautifully she skates!

Second Place - Carolina Kostner - Italy

This was her third time at the Olympics, the other two she was scored at the bottom and debated whether or not she she bother to come back a third time. Goes to show you should never give up! I loved her sequin sleeves.

Third Place - Mao Asada - Japan

After doing a triple axel jump, she felt flat on the ground, but still she got third place! And she had the most beautiful costume on! On the back was a sequin panel.

Winning the Silver in the Pairs Skating event was Germany to the music of the Pink Panther, talk about an electrifying costume! I googled Robin to see what his ethnic background was. Turns out his German mother met his Tanzanian father in college in Germany, but Robin didn't meet his father until a couple years ago. Someone was telling me there's a whole generation of bi-racial babies in Russia from similar situations.

1,300 of these medals will be awarded!

I went to St. Petersburg, Russia as a class trip in high school so I've really enjoyed watching all the coverage of Sochi. If you've been following all the news coverage about Sochi you might have heard about the hilarious and horrendous conditions there. Did you know that Canada brought its own beer dispensing vending machine? lol All you have to do is swipe your Canadian passport and you get a free beer!The funniest part of the Opening Ceremony was the Russian Police Choir singing Da Punk's Get Lucky. video 

Last Friday I went to an Olympic Opening Ceremony party and had so much fun! Here are some pics from the event, that line of parked cars was people waiting to drop off with the valet! lol

s'mores for outdoor fire

ice sculpture

I enjoyed watching a new event this year at the Olympics called Slopestyle which is snowboarding with the goal of performing the most difficult tricks while getting the highest amplitude off of jumps. Basically its aerial acrobatics flipping around upside town 3 times in one jump.  One funny moment was watching the coach for Finland knitting at the top of the slope. lol Here's a picture of the Gold Winner Sage Kotsenburg from America:


One of the competitors trained on a dry slope, which is an artificial ski slope used for practice and training.

Did you know that women aren't allowed to ski jump in the Olympics, even though they've been petitioning for years?

The Dutch won the Gold, Silver and Bronze medals in Speed Skating which is a sport I had never heard of until my co-worker told me her 10 year old son does it. But did you know the American team has a black speed skater? Shani Davis. He grew up with a single mom on the south side of Chicago, no ice rings near him, but he won Gold at the last two Winter Olympics. He's the first African-American to win a solo medal at a Winter Olympic game. If you saw the movie the Incredibles,  Frozone, the black superhero with ice powers was inspired by Shani Davis. In 2002 he inspired DC Inner City Excellence, which is located at the Fort Dupont Ice Arena in DC which encourages exposure to the ice to children of all ethnic backgrounds.

The award for most colorful costume goes to the Norwegian curling team. Steve Harvey had the US Ladies Team teach him how to play and it's not easy!