Olympics 2008 - Part I

We are recording and watching the 2008 XXIX Summer Olympics and enjoying it, a lot.

As usual, Luis is not as fussy about what he watches as I am, and that broadens his scope quite a bit. But I'm not unhappy with what I watch. He'll also watch something purely for the sexual thrill (yikes... I need some intellectual or other component to any viewing, not just sexual). But I guess that is good for him.

I enjoy the gymnastics, swimming, diving, some equestrian, and that is pretty much it. That sounds so limited, but it is a lot. Luis watches that and the volley ball (there is the purely sexual part - loves the bikinis; I have the theory that the bikini became the uniform to up the viewership), weightlifting, fencing, cycling and rowing. There is probably more, but I don't know what it is.

So a last night we were watching some of the Olympics and the women's weightlifting. My goodness. The physical prowess of these women is staggering, but there is a high price to be paid, to me. The women were no more than 48kg (105.6lbs), and were able to lift as much as 113kg (248.5lbs). Ye gods! They can bench press more than I weight - by 70lbs! That is incredible.

On the other hand, except for one contestant, they were all the most genetically and aesthetically unfortunate women I've ever seen! They had thick, stocky bodies, bulky arms and homely faces. Some had bad hair on top of that. And they can lift a guy up in the air! What do you think their parents are thinking? Their mothers are thinking, "How am I going to get her married with a face like that and no boobs? And what man wants a woman who can bench-press him?!"

They were flat as pancakes, other than slightly overdeveloped pectoral muscles. And I found myself wondering if it was a criteria that they had to be quite ugly to boot. But they really lifted some scary weights.

The swimming has been interesting - to a point. The men's swimming has not been as interesting as the women's. The 400m race underscored how amazing Michael Phelps is as a swimmer. He was lengths ahead of the rest and the other athletes must have been thinking, "Why bother? I may as well hand this guy the medal." There are still more races to see but he seems to be the defacto winner. I'm not saying he isn't a hugely amazing swimmer or that the watching isn't worth it, but it is obvious that no one is as fast or good a swimmer as he is.

The women's swimming was much more interesting to watch as each race had at least three women were right up with each other to the end. It was a photo finish for some and that makes it infinitely more amazing to watch. The women and the men are all super-fit. You can see what muscles in each sport gets the most developed. With swimmers, their shoulders and lateral muscles are huge - and the women, as in weightlifting, give up having breasts for the most part. Would I love to have a lot less body fat? Sure, I would, who wouldn't when overweight? But I like looking unmistakeably like a women and while they are incredibly fit, they tend to look bulky and masculine, with no breasts and huge upper bodies. But then, look at speed skaters. They are all buttocks and thighs. I wouldn't want to look that uneven for anything.

The equestrian has shown Dressage, but if you have ever watched Dressage, you'd know it is one of the dullest things anyone can sit through. Luis was sleeping through it and admitted it was dull. I used to work with a very talented Dressage rider and she said it was like watching paint dry. When the jumping comes, then I'll watch the equestrian side of the Olympics.

As usual, so far, I'm enjoying the Olympics!