Olympics...

Today I sat down to catch up on some Olympic events. It was great! I really marvel at the athletes that give so much of their life training for these events. The part that I was astounded at was the timing. I watched a men's speed skater move from 4th to 12th over .8 of a second. WHAT?! How does that even work! I don't think I even blink that fast! Even better, there were 8 skaters stuck between those two. I seriously had to pause it (thank heavens for DVR!) and make sure I saw the right thing. Totally crazy! As I sit and type this, the Men's Figure Skating is ending. The Gold medalist just won by... you got it! One point! I think it's so amazing that these athletes are so amazing and so prepared that the winners are sometimes a fraction of a second apart! It's such a great victory, but I'm not going to lie. If I was awarded a silver medal over less than a point, I would probably be rather disappointed in myself.
Another thing I've noticed this Olympics are the amount of falls/crashes that have been taking place. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not judging those who haven't had the best of luck, I'm wondering why. Are the courses just that much harder than those of Olympics past? There have been many tragic stories of competitors crashing on the luge run; making the starting points move 5 footballs fields ahead of their original points. Not only in luge, but the women's downhill was just as stressful! Those women were flying all over the place! I felt so bad! On the women's snowboarding finals... wow. I think there were one or two who made it through without crashing! Is this a sign that they should ease up a little on the courses? Or maybe the athlete's need to approach them a different way? I really don't know the answer, but it sure would be interesting to find out!
I love the Olympics! It gives me such a sense of country pride to watch those who work so hard go and represent our country doing something they love! It's such a wonderful event and I'm so glad we get to see as much as we do! Who knows? Maybe they'll head back to Utah again! That would not only be an honor, but another amazing experience! :)