London Olympics Recap

I didn't get to watch as much of the Olympics as I wanted to. I watched several events live online during the day and then caught several others on NBC during prime time. I was a little annoyed that NBC chose to wait until the 11:00-12:00 hour each night to show the events that everyone I wanted to see. Of course, I didn't stay up this late most nights. 

Here's what I will remember from this year's games:

• Opening Ceremony was weak. I was pretty bored the whole time. There were a few cool moments, but overall I was disappointed. 
• The US dominated in the pool...as usual. Phelps started off slow, but then came roaring back to break the record for most total medals and most gold medals won by a single person. The ladies held up their end of the deal and produced some big time future stars in Missy Franklin and Allison Schmitt. We should continue to rack up medals in the pool in 2016.

• The Chinese team really, really, really wanted to win all 8 gold medals in the diving events. It was clear that this was important to them when they captured the silver in the final event (Men's 10 meter platform) and the diver was devastated. You might be wondering who won the gold in this event? It was American David Boudia...who just happens to be a fellow Purdue grad. I know this isn't the 1980's, but it's still nice to beat the Communists!
• The Jamaican's are still the fastest sprinters in the world. Lots of talk about the guys from the good 'ol USA taking over the titles on the track, but Usain Bolt and company won the 100M, 200M and the 4x100 relay. We still have some work to do - Bolt said he would be back in 2016 to defend all of his gold medals. By the way, this dude is way to big for his britches!
• As much as the Jamaican's dominated the men's sprints, the US ladies dominated in their events. American's won the Women's 200m, 400m, 4x100 and 4x400 relays. Overall, the women from the States won 58 medals to the men's 46 total. Come on dudes...step it up!

• I'm not a big fan of gymnastics for a few reasons, but the main one is the judging factor. I get really annoyed with any event where the outcome is determined by someone other than the athlete. Despite some questionable scores, both the men and women (girls) from Team USA Gymnastics did very well.
• I watched more beach volleyball than I thought I would. It was fun to follow Misty and Keri and watch them beat the other US team for gold. 
• We are still once again the best in the world at basketball. Both the men and women's teams took home gold.
• Despite zero coverage of the Triathlon in prime time (had to show water polo and equestrian events), both the men's and women's races were exciting. The women came down to a photo finish (still looks like a tie to me) and the men turned in some crazy fast times. 

Start training now...the 2016 Olympics in Rio are only 1446 days away!