Conclusion of the Olympics

Well, I hate that the Beijing Olympics are now over. They officially came to an end yesterday and the closing ceremonies were just as impressive as the opening ceremonies. London is going to have a hard time topping those performances in 4 years. I loved how they combined both traditional Chinese rituals with new technologies and modern visual tools. It was quite a sight as were the impressive display of fireworks. But I wouldn’t expect anything less from the country that invented fireworks!

It was a great couple of weeks of competition. There were so many exciting races, games and events. It is amazing that the world can come together every 2 years (the winter games are in 2010) and put their differences aside in order to compete on the world stage. There were new stars created during the games and we will soon be inundated with their images on cereal boxes and on cell phone commercials. I don’t mind they definitely deserve the recognition and the paychecks. For most of them, their fame won’t last long so they should cash in while they can. But think of the athletes that didn’t win big in these Olympics, they have dedicated most of their lives to train for their events and now that they have passed they will have to re-evaluate their priorities. Some will continue to train in hopes they can return in 4 years while others will decide to make a career change. But at least they were able to make it on their respective Olympic teams for their sport. That is quite an accomplishment in itself!
All of the athletes who competed had to overcome many obstacles and make many sacrifices, but that is what sets them apart from most people. They are willing to risk everything to achieve their dream of getting a medal. There were a lot of heart-warming stories and for the most part, I feel that NBC did a pretty good job of covering the games. I could have done without the Mary Carillo human-interest pieces but what are you going to do? As always, Bob Costas did a great job of bringing us all the action, even if it was totally geared to just a handful of sports.

Again, I am sad it is over and I look forward to London in 2012. But before that we get the Winter Olympics in 2010 from Vancouver. As for the games of 2008, I feel they were the best games yet! It seems as though China put on a fan friendly games and it was an overall success. Even though I still think there was some fishy judging by some of the Chinese judges and there is no way those gymnast were 16! But now I feel bad for the citizens of China, as they now have to go back to their government controlled lives after getting a small taste of freedom. Oh well, that is not my problem. The American’s again sit a top of the medal count with 110 total medals. That is not to shabby! Here is the overall medal count.

Go USA!

Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
United States 36 38 36 110
China 51 21 28 100
Russia 23 21 28 72
Britain 19 13 15 47
Australia 14 15 17 46