Summer Olympics

Guten Morgen!

I am surprised no one is here talking about the Olympics in Beijing!!!!!!

They start in 2 days :) Here is a time for the whole world to come together
(i know how terribly idealistic that statement is). At least we make a good
discussion around it. I hope you will offer your opinions here for the next two
weeks :)

Here is my first contribution to the thread. Here is a list of all medal winners by
countries. The list comes from the NBC Sports Olympic Website. Look how well all time the
smaller countries like Germany, Great Britain and France have done!!!!!

Of course the USA and the URS have dominated over the years!

All-time Medals
Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
USA 897 693.5 606.5 2,197
URS 440 357 325 1,122
GBR 189.5 245.5 242.5 677.5
GER 179.5 212 226 617.5
FRA 184 192 224 600

I want to see if Phelps can handle the HYPE! :)

I will be following the tennis and the sprints although the time difference wont be that great for me here in the UK.
Great thread John!

What’s great this time is that NBC and other feed providers are offering the Games on regularTV. numerous Cable channels in the USA, and all the video is being uploaded to the Internet.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/

I’m really excited to see that track events. My son Matthew has been running track for Special Olympics and track and cross country for his High School. It will be fun to share these with him!

I enjoy the track also Sandra. I hope you both enjoy watching them.

Cool Sandra, what track distance does Matthew run?

LOL! Ok, remember in Forrest Gump – “Run Forrest Run!?” Well we have “Run Matthew Run!” He has one speed but unvelievable endurance. So he runs the 1600m, 800m and 3200m for track (all in one meet) and Cross Country races are about 5K (3 miles-ish) and he is still ready to keep going. We’ve got to get him into some longer marathon-type races!

Wow Matthew has some serious power and endurance! :) That’s serious stuff!

Hm the Olympics isn’t something that grabs my attention…all I know is I used it as a marker to know when I’d be 8 days away from leaving…that is the only important thing the Olympics had going for me..and wow that is very impressive Sandra! He can really run!

LOL! I keep joking that we’re going to get him sponsored by Energizer Batteries and run marathons and he can be the New Energizer Bunny!

Hey what are you talking about! That’s a cool idea! :) I’d buy Energizer batteries, though make sure that during the commercial he wears a t-shirt that says ‘Sandra is my Mom’ so I knolw it’s him. That should be ok… right? ;)

Sandy,

You got some kid there:) Great idea Marco LOL

Less than 2 days now!!

Remember Beijing is 12 hours ahead of us here in Washington DC and most of the USA.

Who here lives in China? or has been to China or Beijing and can tell us what life is like there now.

My nephew has been there for about a month, touring allover China, since he has to be there for work. He’s the one who sets up the NBC programming for the Olympics. He has a blog, which we have been to, that shows all the beautiful places he has been to recently. He says the people are very gracious, and the hot pots are delicious, as are the other fresh foods he has eaten. He said he hopes the air quality improves, however, in Beijing, once they end factories spewing carbon and restrict cars on the streets. Many buildings are being and have been constructed there with bamboo support structures. The economy is booming. Mao is still considered a great hero in China, too, by some people.
He just loves the Summer Palace and the giant Buddha he saw there, among other sites. I wish I could go there, since I have studied the history of China and have read a number of books on China, too. It sounds wonderful! I guess China is the place to go, as well as Portugal.

That’s something Candy :)

What’s the link to your nephew’s blog?

See the power of Edufire we bring the global family closer together.

Anyone else been or know of anyone who has been to Beijing or China?

I haven’t caught Olympic fever yet but I did throw together this blog post on learning Mandarin last night. :)

http://blog.edufire.com/2008/08/05/the-olympics-are-here-8-free-ways-to-learn-mandarin-quickly/

Yea, Candy – I’d love to check it out!

And yes, he (my son) is an amazing kid!

16 hours to the opening ceremonies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Any thoughts? Who do you think are going to be the big stories.

Here in the USA all we hear about is 3 time Olympian Michael Phelps and his quest to win 9 Gold Medals in Swimming!!!!

How abou the other countries? Who are your stars that we need to look out for?

I don’t really follow sports (except my kids!) so I have no idea who the big stories are going to be. I hope everyone will pitch in and update us on how your country’s athletes are doing and who we should be watching!

Has anyone seen the opening ceremonies ?

What did you think? We will see it here in the USA between 8-12 EST

I only have to wait until 5:00! (Pacific time zone! :) )

We’ve just seen it. Pretty cool. I almost felt like doing the 100 metres into the kitchen to get some munchies! :)

They were very Cool :)

Our thoughts and prayers should go out to the American who was attacked and killed today in Beijing. He was the father-in-law of the American men’s volleyball team coach :(
His daughter was a former Olympian who played for the American women’s volleyball team.