Olympic Fever

I LOVE the Olympics! I love watching the competitions, I love learning about and watching sports I never would have been into otherwise (like water polo, or shooting) and I love the camaraderie of nations coming together, and I love cheering for the outstanding athletes of my country.

For the past few nights Jeff and I have stayed up until around one and two o'clock in the morning, watching all the events we can (at that hour, it's been volleyball!). He'll even bring in the laptop and we'll watch the events we missed during the day on nbc.com.

Now, for anyone who may have been watching last night, perhaps you caught the women's team gymnastics event. Coming into it, China was favored to win the gold. These girls, some of them rumored to be underage, have practically been trained since fetuses to be flippin', twirlin', balancing machines. So, enter Team USA. They're feisty and adorable, just putting everything out there, trying to beat China. NO pressure. So Alicia Sacramone, amid the pressure of perfection, falls on her balance beam routine. Trying to shake off the disappointment she obviously felt with herself, Alicia tries to find a moment to herself, tries to pull it together before her next event, and the cameras just won't get off of her.

So, long story short, the team is rattled and makes some mistakes afterward, but still does well and earns the silver medal. Now, there were two things I have to wonder afterward:
#1: since when was earning a silver medal in the Olympics such a terrible thing that the media was tearing this team to shreds afterward?
#2: at what point does the NBC reporter who interviewed Alicia afterward, think that enough punches to the gut are enough? With questions like, "Your team was obviously let down after that fall. How does that make you feel?" and "So, you know that fall may have cost your team the gold, how will you ever be able to look at yourself in the mirror ever again?" By the end of the interview, Alicia was, rightly, in tears, and I was so furious at that reporter I could have decked her. Leave her alone!
What was awesome was that after the medals ceremony, that same reporter then had a go at the whole team. She starts firing away at Alicia again, but this time the team defended her, backed her up, and Shawn Johnson reminded us that, after all, they did win a silver at the Olympics- something to be very proud of.

Someone should have that reporter interview the men's gymnastics team. Watching their enthusiasm and triumph brought me to tears. I'd like to see someone tell them not to be proud of their bronze medals.