What's your favorite Olympian/Olympic Moment 2008

[Kiki]

tell me what your favorite is so far or what you're looking the most forward to!

so far mine has been Michael Phelps. I love watching him swim!!

 

[Doozer61]

what kind of game is this?

 

[Kiki]

wadda ya mean? lol exactly what I said!

 

[Doozer61]

will there be a prize?

 

[UberBeaver]

I liked when that dude ran along the top of the stadium with the torch. That was bad ass shit.

 

[Kiki]

yes Dooz, I'll give the winners a Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals.

 

[U2MaNaIcWeIdO]

My favorite so far is the American's reaction to winning the men's 4x100 swimming

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

When Bob Costas' face moved. Once and counting.

 

[anitram]

There has not yet been a moment worthy of a Khorkina. For those unfamiliar, Wikipedia her.

When there is such a moment, I will post about it here.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Shawn





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[*browneyedgirl*]

tell me what your favorite is so far or what you're looking the most forward to!

so far mine has been Michael Phelps. I love watching him swim!!

that has been mine, mens swimming team and partly womens swimming team and men's volleyball which i have to about

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Yeah, the best moment so far was the smummin relay a couple nights ago and Phelps' animal reaction after we cameback and won.

 

[*browneyedgirl*]

and the mens volleyball team

 

[No spoken words]

I like the swummin.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

However, I have a feeling that there will be more U.S. magic tonight!

 

[intedomine]

- Sammy Sanchez winning the men's road race. Of all the gun Spanish riders (Contador, Valverde, Sastre), Sanchez won the gold!

- Togo winning their first Olympic medal, a bronze in the men's K1 slalom

 

[sulawesigirl4]

I quite liked that pommel horse routine by Sasha Artemev. After his teammates pretty much drop the ball, he goes out there and kicks arse. SAVE!!! As much as I am loving watching Phelps (dude is a freaking force of nature), there is something pretty magical about seeing a gutsy young group of first-time Olympians who aren't expected to do squat fight their way onto the podium and being thrilled with 3rd place.

 

[yolland]

Lolo Jones, a strong contender for the gold in the women's 100m hurdles next Tuesday:

Track's Jones goes from homeless to hero

(USA Today, Aug. 11) -- Every morning, when the kids showed up for the church summer camp at the Salvation Army building in Des Moines, Lolo Jones, her sister and brothers were already there...The woman picked by some to win the gold medal in the 100-meter women's hurdles at the 2008 Summer Olympics lived in the basement. "I remember we had to wake up earlier than when the kids started arriving, so they wouldn't tease us," she said. "Me and my brothers would get up and we'd be in the gym before the other kids got there. So it kind of looked like our parents were the first to drop us off at the camp."

A life that included homelessness now resonates with world-stage possibility. "This is not like a Dream Team basketball person that has a multi-million dollar contract," said Kim Carson, another Roosevelt track star who helped Jones since junior high on and off the track and traveled to Beijing. "This is a kid who had nothing." Growing up, Jones attended eight different schools in eight years as her single mother bounced between Texas and Iowa, often holding down two jobs to support her children. Jones' father, who spent time in the Air Force and jail, "wasn't really in the picture much," she said. All the moving and all the change eventually became too much for Jones, who decided against a move to Forest City, telling her mother, " 'Mom, I can't go to a city that doesn't have a track. I'm trying to pursue my dream.' "

The decision began a stretch where Jones lived with three families, including the family of Randy Essex, a former assistant managing editor of the Des Moines Register who now works at the Detroit Free Press. Essex noticed at youth track events his son participated in that no one seemed to be in the stands cheering Jones, a blossoming star. "It was a really family-oriented club," Essex said. "I asked (the club organizer) after practice why there were no parents or adults around Lolo." That conversation eventually led to Jones moving in with Essex and his family for about 16 months, beginning in August 1998. Jones also lived with Kim Walker, a Des Moines attorney, and his wife, Jean. Walker watched proudly as Jones returned to Roosevelt recently to hand over new track shoes to her former high school and a $12,000 check to Renee Trout, a flood victim and single mother from Cedar Rapids. "That's as good a role model as we can ask for, don't you think?" Walker said.

When high school ended, Jones landed a spot on the track team at Louisiana State University—a national powerhouse. At LSU, Jones understood the uniqueness of her situation for the first time. Other LSU students packed up belongings to go home for the holidays. "I was like, 'Wait, I don't have a bedroom to go to back home,' " Jones said...When Jones graduated, she worked minimum-wage jobs to keep chasing an Olympic track dream—an experience she said was more difficult than being temporarily homeless. "It was more hard for me to swallow my pride and take out garbage at a gym when I had an economics degree and Spanish minor," she said. "I had people come up to me like, 'Didn't you graduate? What are you doing working at this gym?' I was like, 'I'm trying to do this track thing. If I get a 9-to-5 (job), I won't have flexibility to leave the country and go to these competitions."

Now, she's sponsored by Oakley and Asics—and has the ability to focus on track full time. "My life changed," Jones said. "I went from eating ramen noodles to steak, fish and chicken—what an athlete should be eating." Sponsorships allowed her routine access to massages, chiropractors and the tools other elite athletes used to maintain peak condition. "It just helped me get the things an athlete needs to be successful," Jones said of the sponsors. "A businessman needs a laptop. Athletes need massages and the right diet."

Jones talks freely about the struggles that led her to China, where she begins competition on Sunday in the opening day of the 100-meter hurdles. "A lot of it is, she's not ashamed of it," Carson said. "Her mom's been honest with her. She understands the struggle of a single parent." In the end, Jones continued to push, balked at chances to quit and traveled from a basement to the ultimate sports stage in Beijing.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

i don't pretend to be interested in a sport that in a week i won't give a crap about... so i'll go with dirk nowitzki.

oh, and that hot paraguayan javeln thrower. and sue bird. i like sue bird. we graduated from high school the same year and i used to run into her at basketball things. shoulda asked her out before she was famous. i'm a douche.

 

[trevster2k]

This is my favourite story until now. I am watching this girl play right now. Her team is leading 2 sets to 1 but trailing 9-5 at the moment. ETA. They won that match.

Deccan Herald - Polish teenager to make table tennis history

There is another paralympian competing next week too.

Disabled pair under radar

 

[europop2005]

womens beach volleyball

 

[speedracer]

My favorite so far is the American's reaction to winning the men's 4x100 swimming

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

Anytime NBC shows the male swimming events and shows their bodies move underwater, is a favorite moment for me.

 

[achtung_girl]

I liked the guy who threw away his bronze medal, after the award ceremony

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

 

[trevster2k]

TWO WORDS:

USAIN BOLT!!

 

[ntalwar]

Definitely BOLT - maybe my favorite from any Olympics. The size of the gap he opened up on the field was unreal!

 

[Carek1230]

My favorite so far is the American's reaction to winning the men's 4x100 swimming

MICHAEL PHELPS!!!!!!! HE IS AN ICON! I'm sure he's encouraged every swimmer to make the extra effort to make that extra stroke to slap the wall rather than gliding in for the finish!!!!!!

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

there was a moment in women's water polo where someone's boob popped out. that was pretty cool.

 

[ladywithspinninghead]

Canada finally winning a medal this weekend!