As a former competitive gymnast, of course my favorite part of the summer Olympics is the gymnastics - specifically, the women's gymnastics events. I was explaining to Sheridan last night that for me, Olympic gymnastics is sort of equatable to a European being excited about the World Cup, or a football nut seeing their favorite team compete in the Super Bowl. :)This year, our team of female gymnasts went to Beijing primed and ready to conquer the gold medal. In the end, we won the silver medal, which is AWESOME, but there were some serious complications along the way - Chellsie Memmel and Samantha Peczik injured themselves IN Beijing right after arrival, and Alicia Sacramone just didn't do her best as the go-to girl.
Poor Alicia is getting thrown under the bus badly for her mistakes in the team finals - she fell on beam and floor (eek!). As if she's not beating herself up enough, Marta Karolyi and some other media outlets are saying that if she hadn't broken her concentration (which was the fault of the event organizers - I disagree), they would have won. I hate for Alicia that Marta is bringing even more focus to her mistakes on a world stage... as if she's not beating herself up enough! Well, in the off chance that Alicia Sacramone reads my blog - girl, I think you're a badass and you should keep your chin high, because you really did do a great job.
Competitive gymnastics is brutal - injuries, pressure, sacrifices, and so much more. When I think of everything these young women have gone through to get to this point, I am in awe. I feel honored that I got to participate in this sport, even in a small way, at a much more novice level... I bet people all over the world feel the same way when watching their favorite sport, that they did as a kid. It's sort of cool that all of us, all over the globe, can share that.
Anyway, I can't wait to watch the men's and women's event finals over the next few days. Should be exciting and inspiring!!
Love, Mer
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