Amazing Olympics

I didn't watch all of the different Olympic events but of the ones that I did, these are the moments that were truly amazing to me.

• US Men's Volleyball winning over Brazil. I was literally on pins and needles!! It was so exciting!







• Michael Phelps winning the 100 meter Butterfly. He deserves every one of those 8 golds.




(Nice photo there, Michael!!)






• Matthew Mitcham of Australia kicking butt on his last 10 meter platform dive to miraculously take the gold from China's Zhou Luxin. WOW!!!

• 41 year old Dara Torres....showing the world that a woman in her 40s is someone to be reckoned with!
  
  
  
  


• Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh....those girls so ROCK! 107 wins in a row and counting.

Every single one of the Olympic athletes truly amaze me. I am oh-so-proud of myself if I take the dog for a walk or ride my bike. Or am able to hold Warrior pose in yoga for 30 seconds. (Woo hoo! I am being physical!) But these people put me to shame...their speed, grace, strength, teamwork, dedication...

There are no words.

Former Olympians on my Street

We have been watching the Olympics this past week, like I am sure most people have been. I always enjoy watching swimming, maybe because I sink like a rock in any water deeper than 6 feet. Okay, 3 feet. I am truly amazed at how fast and effortlessly people can swim. My mom used to swim competively in high school (the butterfly) and you'd think some of that would rub off. Nope.



But here is a cool little tidbit. I actually know a former Olympic swimmer! He and his wife live just 4 houses down from me.

His name is Sergey Mariniuk and he competed in the 400 meter IM (the same event Michael Phelps just won a gold for a few days ago). Sergey is from Moldavia (I think that is how it is spelled...at least that is how Blogger suggested I spell it). He trained in the USA and met his wife, Eve, who is also a swimmer, while training in California. Eve also made the Olympic trials back in the late 70s. She placed 6th in the US in her event but since the US boycotted the 1980 Olympics she never got to compete.

Sergey competed in three Olympics: Barcelona, Atlanta and Sydney and he placed 7th at one of them. They also have (at least) one friend, Val Kilmikovs, that also competed in the Olympics in swimming. I recently met Val and his wife, Joy, who is also a swimmer from Australia. Maybe all these amazing swimming skills might rub off on me and my kids. Stones...all of us. Stones.

Sergey and his business partner (I am not sure if he was a former Olympian or not) own a company that manages the timing systems at a variety of different swimming events. I believe they are in charge of timing some of the swim events at the Beijing Olympics.

Pretty cool.