I’ve been really getting into the Olympics this year. I didn’t expect to care a great deal about them, especially with them being held in Communist China. (By the way, this blog is now blocked in China..there used to be some traffic from Internet cafes over there, but I think I mentioned God once, and the Commie censors blocked this site) The last few Olympics, both winter and summer, are like a blur to me. I don’t remember a great deal about them. It seems like the Los Angeles Olympics were just yesterday, but that was 24 years ago. I’m getting old.
The USA is getting some great performances, none better than that of Michael Phelps and his eight gold medals in swimming. He also helped NBC with TV ratings last week.
A current trend in the Olympics is for athletes to farm themselves out to other countries whenever they do not make the Olympic team of their own country. We see that in basketball with Becky Hammon of the San Antonio Silver Stars (WNBA), who is playing for Russia, where she plays professionally in the winter. Chris Kaman of the Los Angeles Clippers is playing for Germany, as his great-grandparents came from Deutschland, and the Deutsch are letting him play for them. I would have a hard time playing for a country other than the USA, but if this is their ticket to the Olympics, then more power to them.
Late last night, I discovered the ultimate mercenary scenario. An American men’s beach volleyball team was playing a team from the Republic of Georgia. Upon further inspection, the Georgian players were named Geor and Gia. It turns out that they are Brazilians that were invited to play for Georgia after failing to make the Brazilian Olympic team. In Brazilian tradition, they took one-name professional titles, and took the names of Geor and Gia. They made it to the semifinals before losing to an American team. Interestingly enough, the other semifinal matched two Brazilian teams. A Brazilian women’s team also played for Georgia, under the names of Rtevelo and Saka, the Georgian-language name for the country. The Brazilan-Georgian women’s team even eliminated a Russian team from the Olympics. Great stuff!
I still believe there should be some sort of citizenship requirement for the Olympics. And, I believe the United States shouldn’t have to hire athletes from other countries to wear the red, white, and blue. But, if a small nation wants to bring in an athlete that won’t be on the team of their own country, that’s great.
In the meantime, I’ll be cheering for Geor and Gia to bring that bronze medal back home to Brazil. Or Georgia.
5 comments:
The Olympics are wrecking my sleep patterns!
I read your post while at one of my librarian meetings and I snorted out loud when I read the "Commie censors" comment. How do you know that you are blocked? I wonder if there's a web site that you can check stuff like that.
Where's the Bolt talk? That dude is bionic or something ... jogging to the finish line and setting a world record with that!
I love the Olympics ... I don't remember much of Sydney, but I remember Phelps and I remember USA softball! :)
Oh yeah, Athens. Boy, I guess it wasn't that memorable! lol
There is a website called greatfirewallofchina.org. They have taken their test tool offline. One used to be able to test a web address on their site to see if it is blocked. I tried it one day, and I was blocked. This was after I used to get hits from China almost every day. No longer.
Bolt is a bolt alright..a lightning bolt. The entire Jamaican track team has been whipping everyone.
I'm glad I'm on vacation this week, and I'm glad I'm not in the Eastern Time Zone during the Olympics.
I've been working since the 8th so this has been kicking my butt. I love the Olympics, but glad it's done tomorrow ... school starts Monday, don't ya know! ;)
I went to http://www.websitepulse.com/help/testtools.china-test.html to check you. It said that you were okay via Shanghai and Beijing. :)
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