Arrival of the Olympics

I have a confession to make. I guess it's not that embarrassing though, so I'll tell you: while recovering from intense jet-lag and trying to find company in a television set (David is traveling on business in the States leaving me alone in the apartment for a month), I have been addicted to late-night Olympic events. Oh, how fun it is to watch gymnastic floor routines and 200-m dashes while almost falling asleep! And how proud I feel when I see fellow Americans competing in Beijing so the world can hear our national anthem playing while they bask on the podium!

It is a different kind of experience displaying my US allegiance by shouting loudly at the TV while excitedly jumping up and down in a foreign country. Colombians don't excel in very many sports, (mainly inline skating, power walking, shot put, and wrestling as far as I can tell so far), and so the channels broadcasting the Olympics spend a lot of their time going over highlights from the day and focusing on other South American and Caribbean athletes. Last night I was extremely frustrated while channel 17 showed the 20K power walk for literally the entire hour and a half race while I couldn't find other Olympic coverage anywhere else on cable. Imagine how I swore at the anchors when after a short advertisement they returned to the rubber-legged men swinging their hips like salsa dancers for the umpteenth time!!!

While it is interesting to get a different perspective of the rest of the world's Olympic viewing style, more than anything it makes me appreciate being American. No matter what random sport is taking place, I don't have to root for someone that comes from my same continent like many smaller countries. As a nation, America (individuals, companies, and the government alike) has an insane amount of money to spend on athletic training and facilities. People from all different countries come to train or coach in the US. And the result is an overwhelming dominance in our exceptional performance and abundance of athletes we produce.

Just watching the Opening Ceremonies was telling in how we had almost as many people competing as China--the world's most populous country. Obviously the athletes competing: population size ratio is not standard criteria. The Colombian, Ecuadorian, Peruvian, and Bolivian Olympic teams literally got three seconds of airtime while Kobe Bryant alone got three minutes. Now that just doesn't seem fair. The Olympics are supposed to be a unifying competition bringing athletes together from around the world to represent their home countries, and everyone should be acknowledged for the sweat and blood they have poured into qualifying to be in Beijing.

But enough of my chatter, men's swimming is on and I want to see if Phelps is going to add another gold to his impressive count!