The Olympics Aren’t So Bad After All

Post author By Catherine
Post date Thursday, August 2nd, 2012
11 Comments on The Olympics Aren’t So Bad After All

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how I wasn’t the least bit excited about the Olympics. After reading comments from those of you who gave me some really good reasons to watch, I have embraced the Olympics and am even watching men’s swimming as I write this!

On a completely shallow note, it’s not like I have some deep-rooted interest in swimming. I just like looking at these guys. I could watch them read the phone book, and in the case of my beloved Ryan Lochte, I don’t even know if he can do that. All I know is, he must be pretty special for me to overlook his ridiculous diamond grill.

Another reason I’m digging the Olympics, of course, is the accomplishments made by these people. You can’t help but stare at these athletes and appreciate the years they have devoted to their sport while balancing family life, or school, or other obligations, and that has made watching various events worthwhile. In some cases, like the teens on the winning U.S. women’s gymnastics team, it’s exciting to think about what they’re going to do in the future, and how awesome it must feel to be a gold medalist when you’re still in high school.

As much as I am digging some events, others leave me cold. Beach volleyball is a snooze fest, as is the bicycle racing. On the other hand, I find rowing to be far more exciting than I thought, and the same with water polo.

The best thing to come out of the Olympics is it’s really getting me motivated to be more active. I was always playing outside as a child and was on the varsity tennis team all through high school. But during college, I found myself putting the racket down, and I never picked it up again. Now at 27, I am nowhere close to being in as good shape as I was during my non-stop tennis days, but I am now determined to get out there and play again, and I’ll be dragging my soccer-playing 10-year-old niece with me.

Is anyone else enjoying the Olympics for the first time like I am? What’s been your favorite event so far? Who are you rooting for? And let me just say this now: if the comments section turned into a pic spam of oh, I don’t know, Ryan Lochte and other hot swimmers from around the world, I wouldn’t mind.

Tags 2012 Olympics, London Olympics, maybe the Olympics aren't so bad, Ryan Lochte, sports

By Catherine

Catherine is a Southern California based freelance writer, whose work has appeared in everything from the New York Times to Entertainment Weekly. The highlight of her life (so far) was being featured on MSNBC for a story she wrote on Hello Kitty wines...she knew one day her love of all things HK would come in handy.

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11 replies on “The Olympics Aren’t So Bad After All”

I found myself watching the weightlifting- particularly the women’s weightlifting events. It’s amazing to me to see a 117 pound woman lifting 289 pounds over her head. Damn. I always like watching the gymnastics. I caught some of the women’s shooting competition where Kim Rhode won her fifth medal, hitting 99 out of 100 targets. I initially found the fencing and judo to be boring but it grew on me. I’m looking forward to watching the track and field stuff now!

And okay, I pretty much root seriously for the women and lick my lips for the men, but oh well! I decided that the Chilean gymnast Enrique Tomas Gonzalez Sepulveda is my Olympics Future Husband.

The guy has a moustache, a silver hoop earring, and a cute little run when he vaults. I’m in love.

Zoe Smith rocks my socks:

While we can’t get enough of the supportive messages (seriously, keep â€˜em coming, I think I speak for all of us when I say my self-esteem is currently at an all-time high), what we aren’t so crazy about is the few ignorant twerps making rude comments….Â The obvious choice of slander when talking about female weightlifting is â€œhow unfeminine, girls shouldn’t be strong or have muscles, this is wrongâ€. And maybe they’re rightâ€¦ in the Victorian era. To think people still think like this is laughable, we’re in 2012! This may sound like a sweeping generalisation, but most of the people that do think like this seem to be chauvinistic, pigheaded blokes who feel emasculated by the fact that we, three small, fairly feminine girls, are stronger than them….we don’t lift weights in order to look hot, especially for the likes of men like that. What makes them think that we even WANT them to find us attractive? If you do, thanks very much, we’re flattered. But if you don’t, why do you really need to voice this opinion in the first place, and what makes you think we actually give a toss that you, personally, do not find us attractive? What do you want us to do? Shall we stop weightlifting, amend our diet in order to completely get rid of our â€˜manly’ muscles, and become housewives in the sheer hope that one day you will look more favourably upon us and we might actually have a shot with you?! Cause you are clearly the kindest, most attractive type of man to grace the earth with your presence.

I am usually not into mustaches, but I am totally digging his! And yay for Kim Rhode, who trains in the city I live in (or at least does some of her training…somehow, she is connected to a shooting range here!).