Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Greatest Olympian Ever...

Michael Phelps captured gold medal number five of the 2008 Olympics last night/today. Adding those five (so far) to his six from the 2004 Olympics now makes him the greatest Olympian ever. At 23 years old. And he's broken the standing record in every race in which he's competed.

My family has spent the evenings watching these games. I choose to because this is history, not just for the US, and for the individuals of every nation that competes, but for the world. The outbreak of war in Eastern Europe is yet another sign of the times. (My regular readers (all three of them) will know what time that is.) The older I get the more attention I pay to the world around me, sometimes wishing I had started paying attention sooner.

One of the special reports I heard was how Peter Uberroth almost single-handedly saved the Olympics as we now know it. He was the organizer for the 1984 Olympics, and was subsequently named Man of the Year that year for his success. I remember those Olympics. I lived in L.A. at the time, so we were inundated with anything and everything Olympics. That was the year of Mary Lou. The men's gymnastic team also won gold that year, including Tim Daggett, whose voice you hear calling the gymnastics events this year. I think I still have newspaper clippings!

What's your favorite Olympic moment?

2 comments:

mtnchild said...

. . . and we watched the Olympic torch pass from a street corner in Burbank - do you remember? I've see n two torch runs in person, the second being in Klamath Falls.

Hugs, Mom

Jen FitzGerald said...

No, I don't remember that, darn it!

Jen