YAYYY!!! The US women gymnasts won the silver!
😀
Oh man, what an exciting meet. I really thought Team USA had a chance but the Romanians were freaking fabulous. Wow. They really were the best team out there.
More thoughtful comments tomorrow… I’m sleepy.
Huh. I can’t seem to rip my new Jamie Cullum CD (highly recommended, by the way!). *grumble, grumble*
Yay! Women’s gymnastics is under way! I am, of course, extremely partial to the US team and I’m happy they had a decent showing to finish second in the prelims.
I have to say that I was so impressed by Mo — she was the rock of the team. I’m so happy that she’s performing well and will get a chance to win an individual medal in the Floor Exercise final. She’s so awesome. Now, on the complete other side of the spectrum, I feel so awful for Courtney McCool. She missed major connections in her beam routine and stepped out of bounds on the floor — so uncharacteristic of her. She’s usually such a confident and clean gymnast. But I guess once the nerves set in after her first mistake, she couldn’t quite recover. It’s too bad that the coaches left her off the roster for the team finals, but I understand that they can’t take the risk (especially with this no margin for error 6-3-3 format, which I don’t like at all but that’s another rant for another time). It’s really sad to think that her Olympics experience is over.
Random women’s gym stuff:
Carly Patterson’s beam routine ROCKED — she was solid and hit all of her big skills. Check out the link if you want to download her routine. I’m really hoping she medals in the All-Around.
Someone please take the glitter and eyeliner away from Terin Humphrey! She’s such a beautiful gymnast but her makeup is seriously overwhelming. (And this coming from a makeup fiend).
I love the Romanians on beam (Catalina Ponor — wow!) and the Chinese on bars (their swing and huge release moves are unbelievable).
It’s really sad to see the Russians (men and women) doing so poorly as a team. They used to be the powerhouses of the sport and now I don’t think they even have a chance at winning a medal.
Stuff on today’s competitions:
*So* excited for the US men’s gymnastics team and their silver medal! And of course the Japanese team on their gold! 😀 I just wish that NBC had shown more of the Japanese men’s routines. They won the gold medal and they were only shown on 2 events. Boo.
Marian Dragalescu’s vault was INSANE.
Why oh why are they not showing Sexy Alexei Nemov?! He’s my Russian boyfriend!
Paul Hamm has the weirdest voice.
It’s also really disappointing to see all the empty seats during gymnastics. In the past 3 summer games (the ones that I can actually remember watching), the arena has been jam-packed with people. If I could head over to Athens right now, I totally would.
Very happy for Natalie Coughlin and her gold in the 100m backstroke! I was a senior at Cal when she was a freshman and I remember reading about her in the Daily Cal — probably when she won NCAA Swimmer of the Year. Anyway, just happy to see a fellow Bear get a win in the Olympics. Oh, and does anyone think she looks a little like Bethany Joy Lenz? Just me? Ok.
Women’s team final tomorrow! Expect more exciting Olympics comments from me, heh.
One more thing — I’ve enjoyed seeing all the promos for the new and returning NBC shows. I have to remember to do a blog about that.
Saw The Bourne Supremacy last night — good movie but the shaky camera shots made me feel nauseous. I’ll have to rent The Bourne Identity to get more of the backstory.
I am so sad to hear about Craig Kilborn leaving The Late, Late Show. There’s something about the deadpan delivery of his jokes that totally makes me laugh. And the way he announces himself before walking out on stage… and 5 questions! You will be missed, Kilby!
Yay the Olympics have started! 🙂 (I’m going to apologize in advance for the Olympics talk that’s sure to monopolize my blog this next week). I just love the Olympics, especially the summer games — it’s the one time where I become a complete couch potato for 2 weeks and watch pretty much nothing else. I eat up all the coverage. I’ll watch anything and everything — dressage, cycling, race walking, etc. EVERY. THING. Which I guess is weird since the only 2 sports I regularly follow are figure skating and artistic gymnastics. Hee.
I recorded the Opening Ceremonies (Friday was Rob’s birthday so we were out at dinner) and I really enjoyed it. The human sculpture breaking up to form the Greek Islands, the parade of Greek statues, and the run to pay homage to past host cities — all very cool. My only gripe has to be that Katie Couric and Bob Costas are the worst commentators. They had very little to say that actually added value to what I was seeing on screen AND they mispronounced countries and athletes’ names. UGH. On a completely materialistic note — I absolutely loved the purses that the Greek women were carrying during the Parade of Nations. I think I need one.
Some comments for the first day:
First off, I can’t stand NBC’s coverage of the games. It’s all haphazard and crazy — half of an event here, the rest of the event about 2 hours later… grrr.
Yay for Michael Phelps! I’m glad he’s got his first gold medal. He rocked that 400m IM.
Yay for Ian Thorpe! He was so emotional when he won — he must have felt so much pressure to win considering he didn’t technically qualify for the event.
As for men’s gymnastics team prelims… I don’t really know how to feel about the US men’s showing because NBC barely showed any of their routines! It’s times like these when I wish I had an HDTV. I want comprehensive coverage! Anyway, as far as I can tell, the Hamm twins were amazing (as usual). I’m happy that Paul qualified for the All-Around *and* 4 event finals. He’s so awesome. But I’m so disappointed that NBC basically ignored Paul and Morgan and focused their attention on Blaine Wilson (the “rebel” who’s won like 50 US national championships but has never medaled at the Olympics). And I can’t believe the huge deal the commentators made about Blaine’s skill on the high bar “all of a sudden” being undervalued and he had to change his routine. WHAT.EVER. The FIG can’t just change the value of a skill all willy-nilly. They inform the coaches and the athletes ahead of time when the code of points change. I was so annoyed when he was being interviewed and he made it sound as if there was some kind of conspiracy against him. *deep breath* No love to you, Blaine Wilson.
Random note… love the laurel wreath that they’re giving out to the medal winners. I want to make one for myself. HAH!