More Olympic Ramblings from a Couch Potato

Actually, I spend very little time on the couch.  I'm more of a computer cucumber.  Though I did a much better job of actually watching the Olympics this past weekend rather than just finding out the results on my computer while furiously pounding out pay copy.  I blame my actual minimal Olympic watching partly on putting myself in a spot where I owed many clients work while also being expected to provide coverage for BuddyTV.  I also want to blame it on not owning my own laptop and feeling it rather cruel to steal my wife's when she has her own work to do.  So, if anyone wants to buy me a laptop so that I can watch TV and properly cover events as they happen then I won't refuse your gift.  If you'd rather send me chips and beer so that I can properly enjoy the Olympic events when I do escape from the computer then I'll take those too.  I'm really not picky.

It ended up being a pretty dandy weekend for the Canadian athletes.  The women's basketball team's loss to Australia was a bummer because it now puts us against the juggernaut US team, which hasn't lost a game since 1992.  This also means that both our women's teams (the other being the soccer team) are matched up against heavily favoured US teams, and unless the sports gods have deemed it time for a massive sports miracle then there days of competing are coming to a close.  Though the women's soccer team still has a medal hope even if they lose since it is a semi-final, and for a team that wasn't even supposed to get into the elimination round, a chance at the bronze is rather appetizing too.

Saturday ended up being more than just a golden day.  We also added a silver lining to the day, as well as bronzed the Saturday.  15, 000 metre saw Ryan Cochrane do his personal best and walk away with an impressive silver, because China's Sun Yang wasn't going to be caught while he was busy destroying the world record.  It was a battle for silver, and so it was still feeling like a victory when Cochrane took second place.  The first place was out of contention pretty early in the race, and so most of the competition was about if Yang would break the world record and who would be able to last for second place.

I've also decided that sometimes the bronze is even sweeter than the silver.  Yes, silver means you place better, but it is the consolation for not winning.  In some events, you actually have to win a match/game to take home the bronze.  This happened Saturday when Tara Whitten, Gillian Carleton and Jasmin Glaesser won the bronze against Australia in the team pursuit.  If the women weren't going to win the gold, then I'd rather they end their Olympics with a win.  It actually was an "upset" bronze win, which is the best kind of bronze win.

Diving didn't bring the same magic though.  Jennifer Abel was able to make is competitive even if she ended up finishing out of the medals.  She is an amazing diver, and I think an individual Olympic medal should be in her future since she is still young.

In another part of the water world, Adam van Koeverden decided today was a great time to bring some awesome.  I'm pretty sure we have a super strong favourite for a gold medal.  He easily won his semi-final in men's K-1 1,000 metre, and going in with the best time for the finals.  Being a favourite or even have a strong heat doesn't always mean gold is the future, but I've got a feeling this will give us gold number two.  Or maybe the mayo I put on my sandwich is a little old.

I need to say this right now.  Gymnastics is awesome.  This is fact.  I know it isn't a manly sport like football or hockey or pie eating.  The athleticism is unreal, and probably one of the more demanding sports in the world.  Why do we need CGI, when we could just hire retired gymnast to do all the crazy, unreal stunts.  They fly and bounce without any springs or magic flying boots.  I love watching this sport.  They jump on a narrow beam that I couldn't even walk across.  I watched some of the men's floor routine last nights, and I still am not sure how that guy was doing bounces and flips without the mat being loaded with springs.  Amazing. 

A huge win for Andy Murray not only winning the gold, but demolishing Roger Federer in the process.  Has anyone dismantled Federer in that fashion before?  I also realized how out of touch I am with tennis.  I used to love watching the Grand Slams, but I've been so out of it, that I was only vaguely aware of whom Murray was.  Despite that fact, he has made it to the finals of a few Opens, and well, now he is Olympic champion.  Be interested to see if this win will made him the next big star and give him the momentum to win the US Open.

Usain Bolt is still the fastest man in the world.  He made all his doubters look like fools.  He broke his Olympic record, but was missed his World record.  He won a race that seven sprinters ran under 10 minutes, which is the first time ever.  That is one crazy fast race.  I'm excited to see what ends up being the fastest time in about 10 years.  They just keep getting more and more unbelievably fast.

Steeplechase is a pretty awesome thing to watch too.  Those Kenyans are super dominant.  If there wasn't a trip, we could have seen a Kenyan sweep.  Ezekiel Kemboi ran an amazing race, and then unleashed a pretty cool dance after.  I can't believe running for that amount of time, but still having energy to jump those hurdles.  A fun race to watch.

Do you want more of my Olympics thoughts?  Maybe on another site?  Well, have no fear, because more of my coverage for BuddyTV is on the way today.