Olympic Musings: Vol. 2

Missy Franklin is unreal. 17 years old and her program includes swimming potentially 15 races. She's looked poised and composed, graceful in both defeat and victory. She has a personality, and will quickly become the face of international swimming. At such a young age, it's hard to envision a limit to her capabilities. It's tough to look years down the road, but you'd have to imagine that she has the opportunity to become the female Phelps.

Speaking of Michael Phelps, he just became unstoppable. Like the locomotive in Back to the Future III, he just needed to throw on the special burners to get himself going. He looked flat in some of his early events, but now seems to be coming on strong, and considering how much he's swam, he looks fresher than some of the others who have had pretty full programs. He's still coming in just a little short to the wall on the back end of his 100m Fly, but he's finishing very strong and he had an amazing 200 IM (where he won gold ahead of Ryan Lochte) this evening. In fairness to Lochte, he had just swam 30 minutes prior in the 200m Back final, getting 3rd, so he had to have been a little tired. But I bet if Phelps re-swam his earlier events now, he'd crush them.

American gymnast Gabby Douglas is one of the stars of these Games, and is easily the most marketable athlete in the Olympics. She's going places, that's for sure. Great win tonight ahead of the two Russians and her own teammate, who were simply leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of the field.

On gold medal count, the US has now pulled even with China at 18, and leads the total medal count at 37 to 34. And we haven't even started track and field, where our prospects are much greater than that of China's.

It's been a real challenge these past few days as I literally can't even tough the Internet for anything other than work purposes, so I've been quiet on the blog. I only have a small window late at night when I've caught up on all the action, and it keeps me up super late. But it's worth it. Tomorrow I'll try and get something up real quick before track starts.

Olympic Musings: Vol. 1

I know we're just two (and change, now) days into these Olympic Games, but here are some of the early highlights:

Ryan Lochte seems like a douche. He's so laid back and chill and edgy because he skateboards and wears a grill? First of all, dude, grills are so 2000-and-Late. They weren't cool even when they were in. I'm glad the organizers said they wouldn't award him the Gold if he was wearing it. But then, right after he stepped off the podium, he put it back in.

Allison Schmitt, who swims at North Baltimore Aquatic Center (aka Meadowbrook, aka Pool of Champions), won silver in the 400m Free and set an American Record. Dana Vollmer set World, Olympic, and American Records in her 100m Fly swims, winning Gold in the final. And they said she was swimming too hard in the heats... Meanwhile, Cameron van der Burgh from South Africa earned his country's first ever individual gold medal in the 100m Breast, setting a World Record in an event which the WR was set with one of the (now) illegal suits.

One thing we can't figure out is why each nation doesn't have a "team" uniform.

Water Polo is the Ice Hockey of liquid states. What makes ice hockey difficult is you're playing on ice. Balance like no other is required to play the sport. Well, if playing on ice is hard, think about going anaerobic in the water. You could drown, and the other team is actively trying to help you achieve that.

Basketball was invented in America. WHY then are the international court and ball dimensions different (smaller) and the rules slightly different? This makes no sense. If you invent a sport, we play by your rules. Play by ours.

Kim Rhode became the first US Olympian to medal in 5 consecutive Games, earning the gold medal in the shooting event. She successfully shot down 99 of 100 clay pigeons, hereafter referred to as Skeets, setting a World Record. That's pretty B.A.

Think you've had to have some difficult conversations? Try being Kerri Walsh-Jennings, one half of the power Beach Volleyball duo (Misty May-Treanor being the other) that has never lost a set in Olympic play (2008, 2004 gold medal winners). After Beijing, the pair split to do their own thing, and when Walsh was ready to make a return, May wasn't, so Walsh picked up rising star Nicole Branagh. They were seemingly headed for the London Olympics when May had a change of heart, and Walsh had to break the unfortunate news to Branagh. But, the heart wants what the heart wants, and the pair looks poised to take an unprecedented 3rd Gold. American Indoor Volleyball teams, both men and women, are looking strong as well. Truly, based on booties per square inch, the collective sport of volleyball is THE event to watch in the Olympics.

Everyone will debate what the hardest Olympic sport is, and truly there is no objective way of measuring it. But, I'd make a case for the Cycling Road Race. It's a 155 mile race, which is truly a monster distance, and they are racing flat out for 6 hours. Nothing matches the intensity for the same duration. In the men's race, former drug cheat Alexandre Vinokourov etched his name into Olympic history following a terrificly smart final 8km. It was a great race to watch, and for American Tejay van Garderen, who did serious work for his teammate Taylor Phinney, it capped a great month of July, which included a 5th place at the Tour de France. The women's race was one of the grittiest I've ever seen, as the conditions for them on Sunday were abysmal. Torrential rain, and a break of 3 that stuck to the finish, where Netherlands' Marianne Voss earned a well-deserved win.

Italian synchronized divers. Hot.

The one thing I just really struggle to understand is how, after not covering or even giving mention to some (most) of these disciplines for the 4 years between Olympics, and even during the Olympic Trials, an organization (cough ESPN cough) feels they are qualified to comment and cover it now?

Anyway, plenty more events to come, and I will continue my media blackout. Track starts up on Friday!

Olympic Fanfare

I am doing my best in my attempt at a full media blackout. If I can't watch something live, I avoid Twitter, Facebook, and the rest of the Internet until I can see it. As a result, I will not provide results until they're shown on TV. And if I do post something results-related, I will give fair warning.

That said, our own folks are still racing, and yesterday seemed to be the day of 50k races. Out in Utah, Dave Ploskonka joined Collin Anderson for the Speedgoat 50k. Now, I'm no expert, but when Dave Ploskonka finishes 39th in an event like this, it's got to be pretty stacked. And when he runs 7:23:17, you know it's also got to be hard. Real hard. Apparently this is one of, if not THE toughest 50k events out there. Dave is also just a week+ removed from Badwater. Collin Anderson is getting his legs back, as he finished 52nd just 20 minutes back of Dave, running 7:43:56. Great job guys!

In Fredneck, PJ Anderer ran the Catoctin 50k - his first attempt at the "marathon-plus" distance. I've been out there and tried to run, it's too rocky for me. PJ's tweet after was "So. I finished." Hell yes you finished! You finished 75th in 7:46:48. That's a long time to be on one's feet, so good on ya!

Cricket 5k was yesterday, managed by Running Maryland. I was expecting a lot more competition, as well as familiar names, as this is, after all, the Errbody Get Money 5k, but the only name I recognized was our own Megan DiGregorio. Meg D finished 2nd in 18:59, a minute behind overall women's winner (and 2nd overall) Elena Orlova.

Out in San Francisco, Becky Parks ran the San Fran Half Marathon, part of a very unique event where you can apparently choose which half of the marathon route you want to run for the half marathon, and they also have a 52.4 mile ultramarathon. Becky's finishing time was 1:28:50, so she must have run a pretty even race because at halfway her estimated finish time was 1:28:40.