Olympic Thoughts
NOTE: I will be talking about results of several events at the Olympics. If you still have footage in your TiVo or haven’t gotten around to watching events online, consider yourself forewarned.
Watching the Olympic Games this year was different than it has been in the past because this was the first summer games that I have watched since I became an athlete. I just passed the 4th anniversary of that fateful day that I started to try running. As a result, while I still marvel at the competitors and their amazing physical abilities, there is also a sense of “I can do that.” No, I don’t mean that I can swim as fast as they can and certainly not run as fast as they can, but I can run, I can swim, I can cycle.
I watched the marathon and triathlon with a different perspective. No longer did I think “How can she run that far?” but rather “I wonder what her training schedule is like.” and “I wonder what they eat.” When there was a crash during the bike portion of the women’s triathlon, I could feel for them, having crashed myself (although luckily not in a race and thankfully not resulting in serious injury). It was a strange sense of camaraderie that I felt with the distance runners and the triathletes, because I know at least a little bit of what they were going through.
However, I could not really relate to Ryta Turava from Belarus who competed in the 20k women’s race walking event. Although she was in the top three for a large portion of the race, at some point she must have begun to start getting an upset tummy because several times she stopped and shoved several fingers into her mouth in an attempt to make herself vomit. I recognize that there are times when you feel so ill that vomiting is the only way that you will feel better. However, I cannot imagine it ever being bad enough that I would try to induce vomiting. I suppose if it was me, I would have continued at that blazing pace (the leaders in the event averaged about 7 minute miles) and the vomit would have happened on its own. The worst part of the whole thing was that the cameras kept focusing on the poor woman every time she stopped and stuck her fingers in her mouth. They were really hoping to catch her puking. Is that great television?
The race walking to me, overall, was fascinating. I imagine that it is extremely difficult to walk that fast and keep that particular form. They had to have at least one foot on the ground at all times and have their leg fully extended when that foot was on the ground. The women who broke form were given stern warnings by having judges run up to them and shove a yellow paddle in their faces. Several women were disqualified for breaking form too many times. I cannot imagine the stress of having to worry about form, in addition to pace, breathing, fluids, and nutrition. Did I mention that the weather for the event alternated between torrential downpour and blazing humidity?
Although the winner of the event was never in doubt, Russia’s (95 pound) Olga Kaniskina was way in front from the very beginning, I thought it was entertaining to watch. However, that does not explain while immediately after the showing on Universal HD, they started showing the race again from the beginning. Entertaining, yes, but not that entertaining.