The Olympics are coming….Yippeee! I’m super excited about it!! How about you?
Swimming is my favorite Olympic sport. I get myself all ver klempt watching it…you would think that I was the mother of one (or all!) of the swimmers.
I swam for a year in high school. It was one of the hardest sports I’ve ever done. Between the two-a-day workouts (beginning at 5:00 am), the exhaustion and smelling like walking chlorine, everyday on that team was a testament to my sheer determination (or was it stubbornness?).
The Silver Lining was that I did win “Most Improved” swimmer of the season. How? Well, at the beginning of the season when I swam backstroke…at the flip turn (you know, where swimmers flip underwater and go in the opposite direction), I always ended up in someone else’s lane. And yes, I always got kicked in the head…because not only was I in someone else’s lane, but I was also dead last. Yes, it was embarrassing. BUT, by the end of the season, I was able to stay in my OWN lane and I didn’t always come in last. Hence: “Most Improved.”
Back to grown-up swimmers. The Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte rivalry is going to be super exciting to watch. There are very few rivalries that have been able to draw the same fanfare as this one. The two have been rivals ever since Beijing in 2008, where Phelps beat Lochte in the 200- and 400-meter individual medleys. Of late, Lochte has made it clear that he’s not willing to take a backseat anymore. Not even to Phelps. They meet for the first time in the men’s 400-meter individual medley qualification at 5 a.m. ET, he’ll have his first opportunity to prove it. I’m nervous (& excited) just thinking about it!
What are you most excited to watch? Think the weather will hold out?
I am most interested to watch the swimming also. I never did competitive swimming, but taught swimming classes at the Y and life-guarded a couple college summers.
Michael Phelps has won the most gold medals of anyone to date, and having a fierce challenger like Ryan Lochte makes it doubly interesting.
I live in Omaha so we had the Swim Trials here, sponsored by Mutual of Omaha, headquartered here. It was very interesting to view the installation of the pool inside our Century Link Center, and also the making of the huge swim sculpture outside Mutual's building. (It looked like Michael Phelps.) Very exciting to attend the swim trials! And now even more exciting to watch them "swim for the gold" in London!
Oh how fun, Carolee! Thanks for sharing!