^^ It's VERY common for athletes to be upset with silver. Silver is actually the most bittersweet medal there is. It's because you know how CLOSE you were to the gold, and second place is just reminding you of your failure to win. When one is expected to win gold, only wants to win gold, yes, silver can be a disappointment. Especially when it's a close race/score.

By comparison, bronze can sometimes be a lot more sweet to win because you're happy just to get on the podium. With silver, it's usually just a reminder of being second best.

Once she gets over the emotions of the moment, I'm sure she will appreciate her silver. But it's not fair to rag on her for being disappointed she didn't win because it's a very natural reaction.

I would be fine with second best in the world to me, I would probably be disappointed but I wouldn't show it at the time. Anyway it is more the medias fault who keep saying someone is good enough to win. They put pressure on people and pressure makes people either go better or worse.

As I have had drilled into me by numerous people for the better part of a year (long story ), one's reaction to winning/losing can be a cultural thing as well as a personal thing. While here in America we expect athletes who lose to stuck it up, put a brave face on and grive in private, in many other countries and cultures it is considered dishonest and fake to not be forthcoming with one's emotions, as long as one is not a blatant poor sport.

For instance, on three occasions I have seen Russian gymnast Viktoria Komova break down in tears and sob for an extended period of time because she did not win. The first time was last year, when she lost the gold all-around medal by .033 (the smallest margin in gymnastics today). The other two occasions were this week, when Russia took the silver medal in the team final and then again when Vika won the all-around silver.

The first time it happened, I thought Vika was a bit immature and sheltered and not reacting in an appropriate manner. Now, I've changed my mind. I don't think she's a poor sport, but very hard on herself and very much a crier. To her credit, she has always been able to pull herself together fairly quickly once leaving competition floor and has never said one negative or whiny thing to the media (that honor goes to her coaches, unfortunately).

Does it bug me that her go-to reaction to losing is tears? Yeah, I prefer for athletes to hold it together a little better for the sake of everyone. Does it make her a spoil-sport or a poor loser? Nah.

Apparently Vika went on her Russian equivalent of Facebook or whatever yesterday and posted a message saying that she was sorry that she did not live up to everyone's expectations and that she expects that we cannot forgive her. That is one of the saddest things I've ever read in gymnastics. She's obviously a perfectionist, but she needs a big hug and a lot more positive reinforcement in her life. No athlete should ever feel like they were a failure or do not "deserve forgiveness", especially one who performed as beautifully as Vika did.

Of course, silver isn't always a disappointment. Sometimes, when the gold medalist is so far ahead of everyone else that there is no chance of beating him/her, getting silver is a nice feeling of being "the best of the rest". It does depend on a lot of things.

Anyways, for all the Americans here, I'm going to talk about all the medalists we've had so far...

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As of 8/3/12, the United States lead the medal count at 43, one more than second-place China. Their 21 gold medals are also one more in count than the Asian country.

Here is a rundown of all the medals earned by Team USA up to 8/3/12.

Sat. 7/28
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Men's Archery Team (Jacob Wukie, Brady Ellison, Jake Kaminski) started USA's medal run with a silver medal. They just lost out the gold to Italy, who outshot them 219-218. They can still definitely be proud of their medal, though, as they needed to defeat the longtime dominating country in this sport, South Korea, in order to even get into the finals. Of course, South Korea was there on the podium with them, having won their subsequent bronze medal match against Mexico.

The first swimming event and first gold for Team USA came in the Men's 400m Individual Medley (IM), which was also the stage for the first battle between teammates and rivals Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps. Lochte took the gold medal with a time of 418, but Phelps failed to even make it onto the podium, finishing fourth and proving that, no, he's not a fish and yes, he's just as human as we are. Well, a very athletic human, but still human. Thaigo Pereira of Brazil and Kosuke Hagino of Japan battled it out for silver and bronze, and with times of 486 and 494 respectively, it was a close race for that second spot.

The Men's 400m Freestyle may not have any household names racing, but Peter Vanderkaay proves that he's still okaay and nabs the bronze with a time of 369. Taehwan Park of South Korea took silver with 306, and Yang Sun of China, who is not related to me (I think; maybe we're third cousins or something), took the gold with a new Olympic record of 314.

Relative medal success in swimming bled over to the women's side, where Elizabeth Beisel won silver in the Women's 400m IM with a time of 427. She is sandwiched by two Chinese swimmers: Xuanxu Li, whose time of 491 was good for bronze, and Shiwen Ye, who broke the world record with a time of 443 and a freestyle split faster than even Lochte. She's currently under suspicion for doping as expected, but US swimming team captain Natalie Coughlin feels bad for her that such suspicion has to cloud the achievement, as do I.

Team USA also chalked up a bronze in Women's 4x100m Freestyle Relay (Missy Franklin, Jessica Hardy, Lia Neal, Allison Schmitt) in what ended up a fairly close race for the top 3 spots: their time of 324 was less than half a second over silver medalist Netherlands team's 379, who were behind Australia's team and their new Olympic record of 315.

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Sun. 7/29
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The next US gold came from shooting star Kimberly Rhode, who as I mentioned earlier, shot out 99 of the 100 targets in women's skeet for a decisive victory. Fun fact: in order to prepare for the Olympics, she sought out specific locations to simulate various weather conditions in London, including going up to Oregon to shoot in the rain. Chinese shooter Ning Wei took second with 91 shots, while Slovakian shooter Danka Bartekova and Russian shooter Marina Belikova both tied at 90, with Bartekova winning the ensuing tiebreaker round and the bronze.

US divers Kelci Bryant and Abigail Johnson should definitely be happy with their silver medal in Women's Synchronized 3m Springboard. They were nowhere near close to dominating country China's team's score of 346.2, but five consistent and solid-scoring dives got them 321.9 points and put them five points ahead of the Canadian bronze medalists with 316.8 points.

The medal rush in swimming yields the full spectrum of metals the second day of finals. Taking gold was Women's 100m Butterfly swimmer Dana Vollmer, who broke the world record with her time of 55.98 seconds. In a tight race for the rest of the podium was China's Ying Lu at 56.87 seconds and Australia's Alicia Coutts at 56.94 seconds.

In Men's 100m Breaststroke, Brendan Hansen just sneaked past Hungarian swimmer Daniel Gyurta by .04 seconds to get on the podium with a bronze (59.49 sec). Ahead of him were Australian Christian Sprenger (58.93 sec) and South African Cameron van der Burgh (58.46, a new world record).

Gold eludes Allison Schmitt once more in the Women's 400m Freestyle where she (477) just got beat out by French swimmer Camille Muffat (445, new Olympic record), and she has to settle for silver. Great Britain's Rebecca Adlington (401) took the bronze.

And in an event that some could consider ironic, this time it was the French team that overtook the US in the last leg of the Men's 4x100m Freestyle, winning with a time of 393 to the US's 338. As such, the US (Nathan Adrian, Michael Phelps, Cullen Jones, and Ryan Lochte) took silver here. The Russian team took bronze with a time of 341.

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Mon. 7/30
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In the Women's Judo Lightweight (52-58kg) competition, Marti Malloy overthrew Italian Giulia Quintavalle with a match-ending ippon for the bronze, after losing to Romanian Corina Caprioriu in the semifinals. Caprioriu was then overthrown in the finals by Japanese judoka Kaori Matsumoto, who took gold. France's Automne Pavia also took bronze by beating Hungarian Hedvig Karakas. What, you didn't know that some events award two bronze medals? Well, now you know. As for how that works, look up "repechage" on Wikipedia.

Like the women's diving duo before them, David Boudia and Nicholas McCory of the Men's Synchronized 10m Platform never really had a shot at gold with China's continued domination of the sport, where they earned 486.78 points with their six dives. They were also beaten by Mexican divers who got 468.9 points. Still, their score of 463.47 was plenty for bronze.

Did you know that while the gold and silver medals are worth a good couple hundred dollars each, the value of a bronze medal is only about $5? I mention this because on this day in swimming, the US avoided any of those cheap medals. Missy Franklin kicked things off by winning gold in the Women's 100m Backstroke with a time of 58.33; following her were Australia's Emily Seebohm (58.68) and Japan's Aya Terakawa (58.83) in what was overall a close race.

The US got their first one-two punch of gold and silver in the Men's 100m Backstroke, where Matthew Grevers beat out his teammate Nick Thorman and the Olympic record with a time of 52.16. Thorman's time of 52.92 seconds was just .05 seconds ahead of bronze medalist Ryosuke Irie of Japan.

Rebecca Soni won silver in the Women's 100m Breaststroke, her time of 155 just .08 seconds short of Lithuania swimmer Ruta Meilutyte's time; Satomi Suzuki's time of 146 got her bronze. Don't feel too bad for Soni yet, though...

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Tue. 7/31
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On the men's side of skeet shooting, Vincent Hancock also bagged a gold medal. He only missed one more target than teammate Rhode did, hitting 148 of the 150 shots, and like Rhode, he shot a perfect final round. Denmark's Anders Golding only missed one shot in the final and had a total score of 146 for silver; Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiya and Russia's Valeriy Shomin tied in third at 144, with Al-Attiya winning the shoot-off for bronze.

Gymfan has already done a good coverage of the Women's Gymnastics Team All-Around competition, so let's just give another shout-out to the gold medalists: Jordyn Wieber, Gabrielle "Gabby" Douglas, Kyla Ross, Alexandra "Aly" Raisman, and McKayla Maroney, with their winning score of 183.596. That's over five points above silver medalist Russia's score of 178.530. Bronze medalist Romania's team earned 176.414 points.

Back to the pool we go, and third time's the charm for Allison Schmitt, who finally gets a gold medal around her neck by winning the Women's 200m Freestyle with a new Olympic record of 161. This time, France's Camille Muffat couldn't quite hold up and finished in 158; Australia's Bronte Barratt finished in 181 and just one millisecond ahead of Missy Franklin, keeping her off the podium this time. Don't feel too bad for her yet, either...

Maybe you can feel bad for Michael Phelps, who was beaten in the Men's 200m Butterfly by .05 seconds by Chad le Clos from South Africa (196). Thus, his record-tying 18th medal has to be a silver. Takeshi Matsuda of Japan (121) won the bronze, comtinuing an odd tendency of Japanese swimmers' winning bronze medals.

Caitlin Leverenz won a bronze medal in Women's 200m IM with a time of 295. Ahead of her are some familiar names: Alicia Coutts of Australia with silver (215) and Shiwen Ye of China (257; new Olympic record).

Revenge is a dish best served wet and by the US Men's 4x200m Freestyle Relay team (Ryan Lochte, Conor Dwyer, Ricky Berens, Michael Phelps); apparently, doubling the length of the swim (and changing the order) gave them a massive edge over the French team as they finished 670 to France's 777, taking gold. This is also Phelps's official record-breaking 19th medal, so yeah, let's not feel too bad for him for his earlier Butterfly loss. China's team finished third with 730 for the bronze.

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Wed. 8/1
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In Women's Quadruple Sculls (rowing), the US team (Kara Kohler, Natalie Dell, Adrienne Martelli, Megan Kalmoe) squeezed their way onto the podium with a bronze medal (663). Germany (609) took silver and Ukraine (693) took bronze.

Kristin Armstrong (no relation to Lance Armstrong or his ex-wife, also named Kristin) was the defending gold medalist in Women's Cycling Individual Time Trial and here she made a successful defense, taking gold a second straight time in the event with a time of 3782. Silver medalist Judith Arndt of Germany finished with a time over 15 seconds longer, at 3729. Russia's Olga Zabelinskaya took bronze with 3735.

Another pair of male US divers can be happy to make it to the podium. Their score of 446.7 in the Men's Synchronized 3m Springboard is nowhere near gold medalist China's score of 477, and Russia was also a good bit ahead of them at 459.63 for silver. But their score is plenty for bronze.

Speaking of happy bronze medalists, probably few are happier than Danelle Leyva. In the Men's Gymnastics Individual All-Around, he had another rough pommel horse routine and was 17th after that (the second of six routines). However, he made a huge rally in the next four events, climbing his way back to second with 90.698 points before Germany's Marcel Nguyen overtook him with 91.031 points for silver. In the gold position was Japan's Kohei "SuperMura" Uchimura, scoring 92.690 points.

Same story, different athletes and event: an American swimmer manages to just out-touch his competitor by .01 seconds for a gold. This time, it was Nathan Adrian on the Men's 100m Freestyle, with a time of 47.52, just barely holding off James "The Missile" Magnussen of Australia. Brent Hayden of Canada finished third at 47.80 for bronze.

Today's pool party was pure gold as the Women's 4x200m Freestyle relay team (Missy Franklin, Dana Vollmer, Shannon Vreeland, Allison Schmitt) find the same success in the doubled length that the men's team did earlier. Anchor Allison Schmitt surged ahead of Alicia Coutts from Australia's team to take a new Olympic record of 792; Australia finished with 741. In third was France with 749. This is the first gold medal in a women's relay event for the US since 2004.

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Thu. 8/2
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In the rowing event Women's Eight with Coxswain (the person that sits at the front of the boat and shouts at everyone with a megaphone), the US are the defending champions. Yet another successful defense was made, as the team (Erin Cafaro, Eleanor Logan, Meghan Musnicki, Taylor Ritzel, Esther Lofgren, Caryn Davies, Zsuzsanna Francia, Caroline Lind, coxswain Mary Whipple) led the entire race to finish with 659 for gold. Canada finished second at 606, and the Netherlands finished third at 612. The US has been dominant in this event, having never lost a competitive race since 2006. Also, Zsuzsanna might be the coolest name ever.

As good as the US might be in throwing its own weight around, it hasn't exactly been the best at throwing other people's weight around. That changed when Kayla Harrison won the gold medal in the Women's Half-Heavyweight (70-78kg) judo event, the first gold medal in judo ever for the US. She overthrew Gemma Gibbons by two small "yuko" throws in the final for the win. Taking bronze were France's Audrey Tcheumeo (overthrowing Hungary's Abigel Joo) and Brazil's Myra Aguiar (overthrowing the Netherlands' Marhinde Verkerk).

Gymfan's already covered Gabby Douglas's gold in Women's Gymnastics All-Around quite well, so let's just go over the scores here; Gabby got 62.232 points, Russia's Victoria Komova got 61.973 for silver, and as for bronze, both US's Aly Raisman and Russia's Aliya Mustafina tied for third at 59.566, but Mustafina gets the medal because taking out their lowest-scoring routine, Mustafina's best three score higher than Raisman's. A system that emphasizes risky, high-quality routines over conservative scoring, perhaps.

Time to go back to the pool, where Rebecca Soni is waiting for us at Women's 200m Breaststroke. Remember when I said not to feel too bad for her? Well, here she obliterates the field, takes gold, and sets a new world record with a time of 259. Satomi Suzuki of Japan comes in second with 272 and is the first Japanese swimmer to get a medal more valuable than bronze. Russia's Iullia Efimova, whose name is a nightmare for any font where a capital "i" looks the same as a lowercase "L", took third and bronze with a time of 292.

Men's 200m Backstroke finds the US with a gold-bronze combo; underdog Tyler Clary outswims Ryan Lochte and posts a new Olympic record of 141, claiming gold. Also outswimming Lochte is Japan's Ryosuke Irie, only the second Japanese swimmer to win something better than a bronze medal, with a time of 178. Lochte takes bronze with a time of 194.

Men's 200m IM is the stage of the second Michael Phelps vs. Ryan Lochte race. This time, the two finish with the one-two gold-silver punch, and this time, Phelps comes out victorious with a time of 127 to Lochte's 190. Both of them left the rest of the field quite behind, as third place Laszlo Cseh of Hungary finished at 122 for bronze. Obviously not the best day for Lochte as he takes silver, but he still seems satisfied. As for Phelps, yeah, breaking the medal record is nice, but 19 is just one short of twenty and it just doesn't feel right to stop there... so of course, Phelps doesn't and adds #20 with gold.

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Fri. 8/3
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We go straight to the pool here, where the US scores another gold-bronze combo with Women's 200m Backstroke. Elizabeth Beisel is the lucky bronze medalist, posting a time of 255. Sandwiched between her and the other American is Russian swimmer Anastasia Zueva, with a time of 292. As for the gold medalist... remember when I said not to feel bad for Missy Franklin for missing out on a medal earlier? Well, she obliterates the field here with a time of 206, a new world record. Franklin, who is from the town of Aurora, Colorado that was recently terrorized by a shooting, has become a sort of hometown hero.

20 medals is a good number... but why not go for 21? For Michael Phelps, it's as easy as taking gold in the Men's 100m Butterfly, posting a time of 51.21 seconds. It was also a way of making up for his defeat earlier in the 200m version by Chad le Clos from South Africa. And showing that it is possible, le Clos and Russian swimmer Evgeny Korotyshkin actually tied for second at 51.44 seconds, meaning they both get silver medals and no one gets bronze. I have to see how the medal ceremony for this unusual event looks like... Also, as a fun fact, there are two countries tied for 4th place as well! That aside, anyone trying to match Phelps's medal count now really has their work cut out for them.

The Women's 800m Freestyle is the longest women's swimming event in the pool, and competing in it is Katie Ledecky, who at 15 years old is the youngest of the US Olympians at London. And, of course, what better way to demonstrate her youthful vigor than by absolutely dominating the event, leading from start to finish and taking gold with a time of 863, over four seconds faster than the silver medalist's time of 876? Said silver medalist was Mireia Belmonte Garcia of Spain, by the way. Taking bronze with a time of 832 is Rebecca Adlington of Great Britain.

And from (one of) the longest pool swimming events to the shortest, we go to the Men's 50m Freestyle, where athletes sprint from one side of the pool to the other. Here, Cullen Jones took silver with a time of 21.54 seconds, overtaking bronze medalist and world record holder Cesar Cielo of Brazil by .05 seconds. Ahead of him was Florent Manaudou, winning gold with a time of 21.34 seconds.

Finally, we get out of the pool and onto the field, where Reese Hoffa takes a bronze in Men's Shot Put by shotting his put (or is it putting his shot?) 69' 7 3/4". Ahead of him, Germany's David Storl threw his metal ball all the way to the 71' 8 5/8" mark, while Poland's Tomasz Majewski got just a bit further with 71' 9 3/4". Reese's teammate, Christian Cantwell, whose last name I absolutely refuse to make a pun out of, was a bit short of Reese's mark at 69' 6 1/4", putting him just out of the podium in fourth place. The two Americans were favorites for medals going into the competition, but the cold weather seems to have affected their performance.

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I'll probably do a write-up of Great Britain's medals as well, in honor of the host country and the Brits on this forum.

Gymfan 15. I heard that the Russian coaching staff is trying to go back to the old soviet style of coaching. This might add to the stress-to-win we were seeing during, and after the gymnastics competition.

^^ It's VERY common for athletes to be upset with silver.... When one is expected to win gold, only wants to win gold, yes, silver can be a disappointment. Especially when it's a close race/score.

I would be fine with second best in the world to me, I would probably be disappointed but I wouldn't show it at the time. Anyway it is more the medias fault who keep saying someone is good enough to win. They put pressure on people and pressure makes people either go better or worse.

I agree with you about the media, especially the way the races are called. In the Sydney Olympics when I was watching the kayaking, the commentator calling the race for one of the big TV stations just commentated for much of the proceedings. Until the Australian competitor was announced, and then hear how his voice revved up with well-practised tension. He sounded like he was so over the moon when the Aussie competitor got underway, and so lackadaisical when any other competitor was mentioned that it just had to be manufactured excitement to rev up the home crowd.

As we have been reminded, at 22 million or so, we hardly have the population of countries like Russia, China or America, or even UK, France or Italy to consistently do well Olympic after Olympic. We've done well before, but we are bound to do badly once in a while. I don't think the media should spend so much newsprint and hot air agonising, recriminating, and analysing what they see are shortcomings. They should leave the athletes alone to grieve and get over it in peace.

Also, the U.S. archer who served as a consultant on The Hunger Games, just missed out on a medal.
I think the silver medal thing can also depend on your competition, like stardf29 said. There was certainly nothing to be ashamed of in taking silver behind someone like Michael Phelps. Sometimes I think the problem is the media, I agree. They said Wieber was the World Champion, so she had to get to the individual all-around, when even the best athlete in the world can have an off day.
Did anyone see the end of Men's Whitewater Canoing, with the two-man canoe? Britain went one-two in the competition, and then both teams and their coaches jumped into the water for an impromptu pool party.

I love the Olympics. My favorite Olympic sports would have to be Canoeing, Fencing, diving, and Cycling

I was watching Men's Whitewater Canoing and I just loved it. someone won Gold but I can not remember who.

Happy Olympic watching everyone

The cool thing is that they estimated that, in the team all-around, Maroney went higher than the male champion in the same event, even though the women's vaulting table is lower!

I am looking forward to seeing Gabby Douglas on the women's uneven bars tonight!

Really, really late post, which is funny because I've been watching as much as I can, so I'm going to cover everything I remember. I'm also covering USA athletes for the most part because that's what my USA TV station shows.

~Opening ceremony. I certainly enjoyed it, but I enjoyed the Beijing and Vancouver ceremonies a little more. The beginning was great, I especially enjoyed seeing it transition from the village into the industrial period. But as it went on it got a little too crazy/weird/over-the-top for me. I thought the supposed Queen's entrance was just stupid because it was clearly on a set with a stunt double. But I did love at the end that they chose the future Olympian hopefuls to light the torch.

~ Synchronized diving. I've always loved this event, diving is one of my very favorites and I was so excited for Abigail Johnston and Kelci Bryant taking the silver medal. They looked awesome. The men's synchronized diving was pretty good too. I missed the men's springboard, but I did see the platform and that's always impressive.

~ Men's swimming. I don't have much to say about this (swimming isn't my favorite event) aside from the fact that I think I've enjoyed Michael Phelps more this Olympics than the last one. He seems to have mellowed out a bit and has some humility... crazy considering he's now the most decorated medalist of all time.

~ Woman's swimming. This is the one I've (very surprisingly) enjoyed the most this year. Those USA girls are insanely talented AND they all seem so genuinely sweet and fun. (Anyone watch their Call Me, Maybe video? ) Missy Franklin has been my favorite American athlete this year, followed closely by Allison Schmitt, Rebecca Soni, and the rest of the smiley bunch. And a major shout-out to Katie Ledecky on her Women's 800m Freestyle!!! That was CRAZY. She totally threw the rulebook out the window, swam as fast as she could and held onto it until the end.

~ Indoor Track Cycling: Women's Pursuit. This is the first year I've watched this event and it's kind of scary. I'm sure they stick that close together for aerodynamics and drafting purposes. My husband walked by and was like "They look like they're on light cycles."

~ Men's Gymnastics. Kudos to Danell Leyva on his bronze medal!! By the way, does anybody know when to watch the rings event? It's my favorite in Men's Gymnastics, but I always seem to miss it. Is it even part of the team event rotation?

~ Women's Gymnastics. Go girls!!! Not much to say here that hasn't already been said. Gabby is such a doll and seems like such a great person that I am so thrilled she won. And I really liked Ally's personality as well. She seemed so calm and such a great leader. I loved the shot they got of her calming Gabby down. As far as McKayla's vault yesterday, the media was building her up and putting her on such a high pedistal, I turned to my husband and said "I bet she's gonna fall" and sure enough she did. I really rather wish they wouldn't build these athletes up so high because they don't need that added pressure, but that's the way it goes. I'm thrilled she at least got the Silver Medal, but I know she's disappointed about it. But she also has her perfect vault that got her team the gold medal in the woman's all-around.

Ok, I think that's all of the highlights from me for now. I know if I had been keeping up with my posts I'd have a lot more to talk about and would be able to remember several of the other competitors from other countries as well. Been busy being glued to the TV this year!! Oh, and they're showing Synchronized Swimming on NBC here in a few hours As I don't have cable I haven't been able to watch that one for a few years, so I'm really excited about that.

Yeah, I couldn't post yesterday because I was too busy grieving over Maroney's fall, lol. Just goes to show you that not even the most predicted result is never certain. That's only the second time she's fallen on vault in her entire gymnastics career, as far as we can suss out. That's an incredible track record, but it is just so unfortunate that it had to happen yesterday of all days.

I was venting to some MH friends yesterday about how gutted I was that Maroney didn't win and they were like, "But she still got the silver medal?!" Sometimes when you're so fixated on gold that it's hard to remember that just getting a medal is a huge accomplishment in and of itself. It's no lie that silver is a huge upset for Maroney, but at least she did still get a medal.

She will continue gymnastics; I'm sure of it now. She'll take some time off, heal her back and toes and whatever else is hurting her, and come back next year with a vengeance. I predict we'll never see her fall again, and I think she is on track to become the greatest vaulter of the modern era.

Love ya, Miss Maroney. You're still the best vaulter in the world; yesterday didn't change that.

I Just watched the fencing semifinal match between Zagunis Mariel and Kim Jiyeon

I think confidence is a big factor in fencing. I think that's why

I have really gotten into following the Olympics this time round. It's been a ton of fun, and it's been really helpful to come onto here and read all the different analysis (what's the plural for that word:)? ) and opinions of both gymfan and everyone else. I've never understood the regret of getting a silver before, but now I get it, although silver is still obviously a huge accomplishment. That being said, I'm thrilled with how the USA girls have done this time round! Especially after the guys didn't even get bronze in the team, I was really hoping and praying that the girls would get gold!!! So I was thrilled beyond belief when they did! and when Gabby got gold in the all round, although I wasn't thrilled by the way Ali didn't get bronze...but such is the nature of the games. Makayla's vault in the team was AMAZING!!!!!!! And I just have really enjoyed seeing the team spirit between the girls. I was disappointed for her when she didn't get gold yesterday though... like Fantasia kitty said, she still got silver. Wahoo for her!!

I think like everyone else, I really felt for Jordan when she didn't qualify for the all round, but it thrilled me when I was watching the replays of Gabby and Aly's routines, they showed shots of Jordan cheering on the girls. Like a true friend, she was able to push past her disappointment. Go her!

Anyway, I'm probably just saying things that everyone else has already said or thought, but I've been so excited about it all that I just had to post. Thanks everyone for the discussions and the updates on the other sports. I followed swimming a little bit and randomly watched a couple of other events, and the whole process is just so exiting.

Oh, and the opening ceremony...was amazing. I was watching the live twitter feeds on BBC's web page, and it sounded absolutely bind blowing!

Here's to the rest of the games. May the best athletes win!!!

P.s. gymfan, great avi and signature!

Sheroo of Stormness Head I have also really gotten into following the Olympics this year, although I wish I had even more time to watch them I have still watched a lot of the events. including what I just watched. which is the Men's 10,000m. It was by far the The Most Nerve-Wracking event I have watched.

I was so exited at that last part I could berly sit down.

I also watched the Women's Shot Put and saw

in that event

Then I watched Men's Four Rowing finals

after watching that rowing has become a new Favorite.

So I am really enjoying the Olympics this year an I hope everyone else is too. see ya!

As far as McKayla's vault yesterday, the media was building her up and putting her on such a high pedistal, I turned to my husband and said "I bet she's gonna fall" and sure enough she did. I really rather wish they wouldn't build these athletes up so high because they don't need that added pressure, but that's the way it goes.

I was thinking the same things. I had a feeling something was going to go wrong for her. They were so sure she would get the Gold. You would think the announcers would know by now that nothing in gymnastics is sure.

Apparently Vika went on her Russian equivalent of Facebook or whatever yesterday and posted a message saying that she was sorry that she did not live up to everyone's expectations and that she expects that we cannot forgive her. That is one of the saddest things I've ever read in gymnastics. She's obviously a perfectionist, but she needs a big hug and a lot more positive reinforcement in her life. No athlete should ever feel like they were a failure or do not "deserve forgiveness", especially one who performed as beautifully as Vika did.

I'm pretty sure some countries put a lot of pressure on their athletes. I remember a feature from past Olympics that basically said (or implied) that the athletes (from this country) are told that they are expected to win and if they do they will be helping their country. It might have been Russia or maybe China? It wouldn't surprise me in the least if Vika had so much pressure put on her that anything but a Gold would seem like a failure. Maybe someone told her as much. People tend to have very high expectations for athletes.

Yes, there have been quite a few heartbreaks this Olympiad for our mob as well. On Day 11 some of the angst over the swimming has died down, and the media has stopped trying to band-aid New Zealand onto Australia so that they can claim a combined tally and keep face. Every now and then you do get someone like Ian Thorpe, Usain Bolt, or Michael Phelps whose success has been phenomenal. The USA is understandably proud of him, as they should be. But even Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt will call it a day sometime.

I really think we are still lucky to get what we get. It is fun to be able to show we can be as good as the mighty USA and China on occasion, but if we did it all the time the Olympics would lose some of the fun and entertainment value, don't you think? Win some, lose some. How do the 131 odd countries who tied 74th for bottom place, feel, since they didn't win any medals?

Some of the Olympic highlights for me was the Queen parachuting down to open the Olympic Games - I expect she has a reputation for dropping in. And although it was a skit, a pun on James Bond's 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service', with a stunt double to do the actual parachute drop, it did fit well into the literary themes of the Opening Ceremony. Great Britain, after all, gave the world the English language, itself. I liked Voldemort's unexpected role in proceedings, and also that it started with one of the lions of Trafalgar Square, deputising for Aslan, perhaps.

I was glad that Zara Phillips, the Queen's granddaughter won a silver medal, and the infectious enthusiasm and pride of her royal relatives was a joy to behold. And I was pleased that Saudi Arabia at last included a woman in their Olympic lineup. She hasn't won a medal in judo, her sport, but I was hoping she would, just to face down the opposition she has had to put up with. On another note, a South Korean team found itself having North Korean opponents in table tennis, I think. One of the South Koreans said they felt it was their duty to beat the North Koreans, since they are technically still at war with them. However, the two Koreas are one people with the same language so it was strange for them to have to compete against them.

The thing I didn't like about these games were the petty incidents and squabbles that occurred, such as over clothing. Technologically designed clothing was out so as not to give an advantage, which might be fair enough. But so was an Aboriginal cultural t-shirt displaying the Australian recognised Aboriginal flag, unlike the Saudi imposed hijab for the Judo competitor. It seems that the officials lost that one to the Saudis. Also, an Australian man and his wife, both competing in the Olympics, weren't able to share quarters, and I heard a USA competitor was also disciplined because he met his wife in a hotel. Yet other shenanigans go unnoticed.

About the Saudi athletes--I thought it was better for them to compete in a headscarf than not to compete at all. Its a start.
I'm watching the individual jumping finals today.