I LOVE the Olympics!!

I have very fond memories of gathering around the TV and watching the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics. I remember watching brief moments of the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France and the Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. I loved the Dream Team and the Dream Team II, I even had a Dream Team jersey for Hakeem Olajuwon. I guess the first Olympics that I really remember fully watching was the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. I remember being so upset when Oksana Bayul (sp) took the gold from Nancy Kerrigan. I was a huge Nancy Kerrigan fan, I had a Nancy Kerrigan poster in my room that I purchased from a Scholastic book fair and I used to try and do her jumps all the time. I'm sure the triple lutz that I did looked exactly like her's!! I definitely remember everything about the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, and I even had some friends who got to go to the Olympics that year. How lucky!!! My favorite sport in the Summer Games is gymnastics, so I definitely remember the Magnificent Seven win the gold medal in the '96 games. I was so nervous then!! Go Kerri Strug!! I think I knew everything about each of the gymnasts, and of course, I had their poster in my room as well! I remember seeing Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Carl Lewis run in their final Olympics and I was in awe when Michael Johnson won the golds in track and field.

I loved seeing Tara Lipinski win the gold in Nagano in 1998, and at school, we watched Sara Hughes win the gold in figure skating in the 2002 Salt Lake games. The 2000 games in Sydney were great, and I loved the stories about Cathy Freeman and Marion Jones. Too bad now Marion Jones is in jail for using performance enhancing drugs then :(.... I watched the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens with my roommate, Katie, just after we moved in to our first apartment together at the Savannah! We were so nervous when Carly Patterson and Paul Hamm won the golds in gymnastics, but very upset with the men's basketball team for choking and winning the bronze :(

I'll admit it, I'm an Olympics junkie. I bought books about the Olympics as a teen and always read up on the USA Olympians in each sport. Brooke and I are seriously talking about going to a few events in Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Games. :) Anyone want to join us?? Going to see the Olympics is one of my things to do on my "lifetime list".

This year brings new athletes and new records to be broken. I have several goals for this Olympics:
1. Michael Phelps wins all 8 of his races and makes history with 8 golds in one Olympics
2. The women's gymnastics team comes from behind with only 4 healthy girls to beat China in the finals!
3. Shawn Johnson wins the Women's Gymnastics' All-Around gold
4. Garrett Weber-Gale wins at least another gold medal. (I had a class with him, we were both CMS majors at UT)
5. Leonel Manzano and Sonia Richards win medals in track and field, both former longhorns.
6. Dara Torres wins the gold medal in the 50m free-style swim, as the oldest swimmer!!
7. Romanian woman (don't remember her name) now a German citizen who is 33 years old wins a medal in the women's vault. (she was in the 1992 Barcelona games).
8. Laura Wilkinson wins gold in diving
9. Team USA wins in both men's and women's basketball
10. Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor defend their gold in beach volleyball
Most important- THE USA WINS BOTH THE GOLD MEDAL AND TOTAL MEDAL COUNT!

These Olympics have already been great!! The Opening Ceremonies were AWESOME and the swimming is off to an amazing start (especially with the 4x100 relay win last night!!). I am rooting for the gymnastics team to come back with a vengeance and beat the Chinese!

Here's to the Olympics!! Let the games begin.......... or keep going! :)