London Olympics 2012

I've always loved the spirit of the Olympics, and can remember the first time I watched the games of Barcelona 92 in a hotel room. Then came Atlanta 96 and I was forever hooked with the idea of a world event that celebrates culture, competition, and the human body. I then obsessively followed the Sydney 00, Athens 04, and Beijing 08 games. For the Beijing opening ceremony, I went as far as making an antenna out of a hanger so that I could watch the games in my apartment at Chicago.

So of course these summer Olympics in London would be no exception, and I made sure to have a clean TV signal coming in. For the past 2 weeks I watched the games almost every evening in my apartment, at Uncle Larry's house in Connecticut, and at a hotel room in Bangor, Maine. The city of London kept true to the Olympic spirit, and hosted 17 days of glorious games.

Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony of the Olympics is the introduction and presentation of the host's culture. In 2008, Beijing put one of the most amazing opening ceremonies the world had ever seen, and it was quite assumed that it would not be topped. London brought in the acclaimed film director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, 27 Hours) to bring in artistry to the ceremony. Yet I must say that although the ceremony had its intriguing moments such as James Bond escorting the Queen, and the forging of the Olympic Rings, it was ultimately a tacky show. Not even Sir Paul McCartney could deliver on the world stage of enormous expectations. The closing ceremony was just as cheesy. However luckily for London, the ceremonies did not affect their overall hosting credentials.

Michael Phelps

Swimming always gets things started with the games, and this year all eyes were on Michael Phelps. He had just come from a perfect 8 for 8 gold medals at Beijing, and needed only 3 more medals to become the world's most decorated Olympian. He got off to a rough start, losing to Ryan Lochte in the 400m medley, and getting silver in the 4x100 meter freestyle and 200m butterfly. He finally got gold in the 4x200m freestyle relay, and went on to win 3 more gold medals after that. He finished on a very high note, with a total of 4 gold medals, and 2 silver medals, and succeded in becoming the most decorated Olympian of all time with 22 medals from the Athens, Beijing and London games. He is now unquestionably the grestest swimmer of all time, and arguably the greatest athlete of all time.

The Fab Five

I have to confess that this year I became quite hooked on the Gymnastic events. Perhaps because NBC put together quite a presentation of team USA's Fab Five, and it was on prime-time nearly every night for 2 weeks. It's amazing the amount of pressure that these girls deal with and how they are able to still deliver with perfection.

The Fab Five went on to win gold in the team competition and Gabby Douglas went on to win the all around competition. McKayla Maroney delivered incredibly on her vault for the team competition yet came short in the individual competition to get silver. All these girls were upstaged in my opinion by Aly Raisman who won bronze on the balance beam and gold on the floor exercise to bring her total count to three medals.


Athletics

Having ran track and field in grade school and high school, I am obsessively most intrigued with the athletic events. To me these events are the essence of the games, taking place in the main stadium, amidst the Olympic flame. The athletic competitions capture the most general aspects of human performance, such as running, jumping, and throwing. Over the years certain countries have gone on to shine above the rest. Such as USA in the sprints and field events, Jamaica in the sprints, and Kenya and Ethiopia in the distance events.

Several World Records were broke this year such as the Men's 800m by David Rudisha of Kenya with an incredible time of 1:40:91. The Women's 4x1 Relay by Team USA and the Men's 4x1 relay by team Jamaica.

Several of my favorite athletes to watch were, Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia who won gold in 1000m and silver in the 5000m; sprinter Allyson Felix of USA who won three golds in the 200m, 4x1 relay, and 4x4 relay; sprinter Sanya Richard Ross of USA who two golds in the 400m and 4x4 relay; sprinter Oscar Pistorius of South Africa, known as the "blade runner", and the first double leg amputee to compete in the Olympics; yet none quite compared to the amazing Jamaican, Usain Bolt, the greatest sprinter of all time.

Usain Bolt

I was first amazed with Usain Bolt's 3 for 3 gold performance at the Beijing games in the 100m, 200m, and 4x1 sprints. This year he had a target on his back, pressure from the world, and against strong competition from Yohan Blake, Justin Gatlin, and Tyson Gay. And yet he performed with incredible grace, strength, and speed and went on the repeat his gold meals in all three sprinting events. He became the first sprinter to retain all three gold medals in consecutive Olympic games. Sure he was a little arrogant after each victory, referring to himself as a legend and the greatest athlete of all time, yet perhaps rightfully so. One cannot deny his superhuman speed and his consistent performance on the greatest stage of competition. In my opinion, Usain Bolt is indeed the greatest athlete of all time.

Other Highlights

As always Swimming, Gymnastics, and Athletics gets the most attention at the games, however there were other notable stories. In Diving, the dominant China went 6 for 8 in gold medals, the other went to Russia, and in the 10m platform, our own Hoosier native from Noblesville, David Boudia went on to win gold for USA. In Beach Volleyball the famous pair of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, went on to win their third consecutive Olympic gold, making them the greatest beach volleyball team of all time. In the Marathon, Stephen Kiprotich from Uganda went on to upset the Kenyans with a golden time of 2:08. In Water Polo, Team Croatia went on to beat Italy for the men's gold medal and team USA went on to beat Spain for the women's gold medal.

I tried my best to watch a little of every sport, and can honestly say I enjoyed everything in the Olympics. Lot of these games, such as water polo, rowing, wrestling, volleyball, etc are rarities of which I know not much about. Watching these unusual sports was quite an education and it's always better to watch the greatest in the world competing in them. This is what makes the Olympics so special, regardless of who is hosting them. It is the athletes who amaze us with their masterful trade and competition for a full 2 weeks. London was thus an incredible success of memories, and I can't wait for Rio de Janeiro in 2016.