Hello,
Today's blog will be dedicated to my Top 5 favorite 2008 Beijing Olympic moments. I apologize in advance as all 5 moments involve USA athletes. I recognize other countries had great Olympic moments as well, but these five moments are extremely compelling. Before I get to my top five, here are some honorable mentions. The Japanese Women's Softball team knocking off the American women 3-1 to win the gold medal. Earlier in the competition the USA had defeated Japan 4-1. This sport had been so dominated by the American women that it has been eliminated from the 2012 Olympics.
Other honorable mentions: Both the USA Men's and Women's Basketball gold medal teams. The women absolutely dominated and have now won the last four Olympics gold medals. The USA's Lisa Leslie is the first athlete in Olympic history to win four consectutive gold medals in team sports. Meanwhile the men were challenged by an extremely tough Spain team, who also have some tremendous athletes. I can clearly see why Spain was the defending world champs. However the USA reclaimed the top of the men's basketball world.
Now here are my Top 5 favorite Olympics moments:
5) USA swimmer Dara Torres, at age 41, winning two silver medals in her fifth Olympics. Not only has she retired twice and made comebacks but she also had a baby two years ago. What an amazing and inspirational story to those of all ages. I am not going to count her out of swimming in the next Olympics either. Dara you rock!
4) USA Men's Water Polo, in their last international competition they placed in 9th place, the competition before that they finished in 11th place. So what did they do in this Olympics? They beat the powerful Serbian team to advance to the gold medal game. Ultimately they lost to the world champions Hungary, but the fact they finished in second place is pretty amazing.
3) USA Women sprinter Sanya Richards. She had a disappointing 3rd place finish in the Women's 400 meters. She was passed by two people at the end of the race. She learned from that experience and she battled back strongly. The USA was in second place in the Womens 4 X 400 relay when Richards received the baton. She was the final runner for the USA and she was several feet behind the Russian Federation runner. With a will and desire that she was not going to be losing this race, she caught up and passed the Russian runner to claim gold for the USA. It was a powerful and amazing leg of the relay. I don't know what it is but Sanya Richards has just something very special about her, she has an inner spark that lights up her whole person. She is polite, well-spoken and a comptetive and powerful runner. Although I do have one thing to say to Sanya Richards. If you are going to attempt to sing the USA's national anthem, you really want to learn the words. Also a shout out to the USA Men's 4 X 400 Relay team. Not only did they win but they broke the 16 year old Olympic record. They beat the second place team by 3 seconds, which is an eternity in that race.
Here are the two most emotional and goose bump giving performances:
2) USA Men's Volleyball and Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon. The day before competition even started some crazed Chinese citizen in an apparanent act of random violence attacked and killed Hugh McCutheon's father-in-law. His mother-in-law was also seriously injured in that attack. (Afterwards the Chinese citizen jumped to his own death. It is a terrible tragedy, but it is hard not to feel for the Chinese citizen and the terrible things going on in his life.) McCutcheon left his position as the men's volleyball head coach to be with his family. He missed the first three games and only at his mother-in-law and wife's urging did he come back as the coach. In a dramatic final the USA Men went on to defeat Brazil to win the gold medal. (NBC, in their terrible Olympics coverage did not show the event live. Instead it is going to be tape delayed today at 6:00pm. I am thinking that the gold medal ceremony may be another of the top moments of the Olympics.)
1) USA Mens's swimming: Jason Luzak swimming the race of his life in the Men's 4 X 100 relay. He caught up by one almost full body length in the final 50 meters. Also in winning that gold, the Americans knocked 4 full seconds off the world record. Luzak also beat his personal best by one-and-a-half seconds. Both are dramtatic reductions in such a relatively short event. Not only did the Americans win gold, but that preserved Phelps in his 8 gold medal quest. That was the event that the French said they were going to "smash" the Americans. If Luzak hadn't pulled ahead to win that race, that would have changed the whole tone of the Olympics and Michael Phelps' Olympics. If you are ever wanting to see some incredibly inspirational video, watch this. An advance warning you will be having goosebumps. You can watch it at NBCOlympics.com.
Tonight are the 2008 Beijing Olympics closing ceremonies. I will not be watching them but they should be amazing. Michael Phelps, Leona Lewis and Led Zeppelin's lead guitarist Jimmy Page are all making special appearances.
I will be back Tuesday. I need to look for a job in the morning and I am going to see Sheryl Crow in concert tomorrow night. Have the rest of a great Sunday, themusicaddict
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