Olympics Days 3 & 4

Disappointed in the lack of weekday daytime coverage of the Games, but I know most of the live events are over at that time. Makes it easier to stay up watching the good stuff until the wee hours of the morning. Also gives more time for the stardard fare of quality daytime programming. My personal favorite has been "Breakfast with Bond" at 8 am on Spike for the month of August.

Swimming and gymnastics. Hope you like them or your watching something else. The USA had a magical night in the pool Monday (US time). Congrats especially to Grevers, Vanderkaay, and Hoelzer on each picking up their first individual medals. All remarkable athletes who are overshadowed by better known US athletes. 6 medals for USA in 30 minutes in the pool! Incredible. I don't love the gymnastics, but the US story losing their top two competitors (Hamms) was a good one. And the "upset" performance was not fabricated like some of the swimmming coverage. Great result earning the team bronze. And a tip of the Orange cap to former Illini NCAA champ Justin Springs (currently an asst. coach at U of I) on his strong performances last night.

Sychronized diving? Who came up with that? What's next to be synchronized? Weightlifting, Javelin, and Archery would be my picks. Especially sychronized "indoor" javelin.

I think I missed the cross country segment of team Equestrian. I was actually looking forward to it. I see that the US fared poorly and dropped several places in this second of three phases.
Good sites: The Italian gold medalist fencer riding around on her coach after victory in the foil. Excellent feature on the growth of Beijing/Pekin over the last two decades. Reminds me of the transformation of the Vegas strip over that time period. Unrelated tangent- was amused by the scenes of 70's Vegas in yesterday's Bond installment "Diamonds are Forever."Looking forward to seeing the heaviest athlete compete; 6'6" 399lb. judo competitor. I apologize for not having the name yet. I think he might be from Guam. I'll check.

Top 11 update: I have to agree with devoted reader MighTY Mom that Phelps won't actually make many lists. There is a LOT to choose from from both sides of the aisle. I think we should make sure to represent at least five different countries and five distinct sports on each list, if possible. From the male perspective, if you like tall girls...this has been a great Games. Did I mention scandal plagued French swimmer Laure Manaudou? If I did, she is worth mentioning again since she is in so many event finals. And what about Aussie basketball superstar (and WNBA MVP) Lauren Jackson?! Family blog, so I won't include clips from the very well done feature on her in the Australian magazine Black & White. And I think Natalie Coughlin is closing in on a definite spot on the list.

Anxiously awaiting track & field, but I believe we will have to wait until the weekend. See you in a day or two.