Rec’ing On…Beijing Olympics – Part 11

I think it’s going to take a week or two for Shawn Johnson to wipe that smile off her face. That is one young lady who very much wanted a gold medal. It seems like this win on the beam not only saved her Olympics, but also relieved her of any regrets in her life. It clearly meant A LOT. Meaning almost as much was the silver medal earned by Jonathan Horton for the horizontal bar.

My victor of the day is Lolo Jones. Yes, she finished 7th in the hurdles after clipping the ninth hurdle when she was in the lead. It’s not the result I’m praising, but the character of the woman. Lolo showed a great deal of class while in her disappointment, even giving a very articulate interview after the race. This is the sort of role model athlete we should be placing in front of our kids. Sometimes defeat happens. When it does, how we deal with that defeat speaks more about our character than any simple victory can achieve. She is a hero in my book. Thank you, Lolo, for representing yourself and your country with distinction.

It looks like we’re going to have one heck of a semi-final in women’s basketball. While China vs Australia will likely be a rout by the Opals, the USA vs Russia game will be a prime ticket event. The Americans lost to Russia in the semis of the World Championships with Australia waiting in the finals. There is a desire of redemption from the USA, and a call for validation from the Russians. With Becky Hammon running point and stabilizing the Russians, it could be a very tough game for the Americans.

China again won two medals in a diving event. Yawn. Don’t get me wrong, He Chong dove wonderfully. Some of those dives were simply gorgeous. Some were pumped by the Louganis effect (where the current god of diving gets a bump in the scores just because of who they are), but the winner wasn’t even slightly in doubt. No, my yawn is the near domination of the acrobatic events. It really brought attention to the number of very similar events. And I still don’t get trampoline. Maybe if they had to jump between different trampolines, or had to have longer routines, or something. Trampoline, to me, still seems more like a training apparatus for main events, not an event in itself.

Kudos to some of the USA women’s teams. The Softball team managed to beat Japan in extra innings in the quarterfinals. The US defeated the Italians in the Volleyball arena to also move into their semis. And the Water Polo team squeaked by the Aussies to make it to the gold medal game.