I cried the day the Olympics were over

Have you heard that song, "I cried the day I took the tree down"? It is about taking the Christmas tree down at the end of the holiday season. I love that song and it sums up how I feel when the Olympics are over. I cried during the closing ceremonies knowing that the Olympics are now over for another 18 months. So the new countdown begins! lol

What an amazing 16 days it has been. So many broken world records, and some of them 20 or more years old. Wow! Here are just a FEW of the highlights and news stories from these games.

Michael Phelps becomes the first person to ever win 8 gold medals in one single Olympics. He also becomes the first person to have won 14 gold medals in his career. He won all of the 8 gold medals from this Olympics in record time--7 World records and 1 Olympic record. Dara Torres, a 41 year old swimmer, misses the gold medal by .01 seconds.

Men's and Women's USA Basketball teams get the gold medal. The men's "redeem team" show that it is about the name on the front of their jersey (USA) and not the name on the back. The women have won the gold medal in 4 consecutive Olympics, making Lisa Leslie, the only person to be on all 4 of those teams, the first person in history to ever win gold in the same event 4 years in a row.

Volleyball...wow! USA swept the Beach Volleyball arena by getting Gold in both men's and women's. This is the first time a country has won gold in both men and women's beach volleyball. Dalhousser of the men's team was voted Beach Volleyball's Olympic MVP. The women, Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor won their second straight gold medal in beach volleyball which has never been done before. Misty also sprinkled some of her mother's ashes on the sand just as she did in Athens. The indoor men's team wins the gold medal on the final day of competition--the first in 20 years. The indoor women's team wins silver--the first in 20 years. Almost a complete sweep in volleyball for team USA.

Track and field had some serious ups and downs. Team USA go their first ever gold medal in women's discus. Bryan Clay also won the gold medal in the men's decathalon to be named World's greatest all around athlete. Hyleas Fountain originally won the bronze medal in the women's heptathalon but because the woman who did win silver was stripped of it due to doping violations, so Hyleas was moved up to the silver medal. So many downs on the track this year, both the men and women 4 x 100 relay teams didn't even make it to the final because they dropped the batons in the opening heats. What a disappointment. There were several people who were huge medal contenders that didn't even make it to the finals of other races. Also Lolo Jones who was favored in the hurdles and winning but clipped the 9th hurdle and lost her momentum finishing seventh. But the good news is an American, Dawn Harper still won the race. I feel sad for these athletes who work so hard and have that one bum race or that one health problem and are unable to compete or compete like they should. You know they have worked hours, months, days and years for this ONE moment and then in a blink of an eye it is all gone. So very sad. Even with all this let down in the track and field area we still won the most medals of any country and the most than we have for the last several Olympics. So while it seems we failed in many areas of track and field, overall we were actually a huge success. And that we can be proud of.

Fencing, USA swept the women's sabre, 1, 2, 3! How do people decide to do sports like these??? And how do you know you are going to be any good at them when you do decide to do them? Well in any case, they were good enough to win it all! Way to go ladies!

And you can't forget to mention the Lopez siblings. Three of them, all won medals in Taekwondo. The oldest brother Steven had won 2 previous gold medals and ended up getting the bronze this year. Younger brother Mark won the silver medal and younger sister Diana won the bronze also. The coach is their oldest brother, Jean. I think there was even a visa commercial that said something like, "the family that kicks, punches, fights and wins together stays together." Very cute.

The last year for both baseball and softball give the USA a bronze and silver respectively. I think it is silly the way they are being dropped, especially softball. All because it is linked to baseball and the doping violations of the MLB. Also they didn't like the fact that the USA was so dominant and had won the two previous years that it has been in the games. That is the stupidest thing I have heard, didn't the Soviet Union dominate hockey for many years? But yet it was never cancelled. I hope that soon they will reinstate it.

And who can forget gymnastics? The men winning the team bronze medal. They acted like they had just won the gold and a million dollars to go along with it. Probably felt like that to them. I love it when people are truly excited for winning ANY medal, even if it isn't the gold. The all-around competition for women was terrific. I told my friend Denice, that it would be awesome if Nastia and Shawn could go one, two. She told me I was dreaming. I said, "well isn't that the motto of the Olympics? One world, one dream. And the USA motto was Believe. Dream. Achieve. " She told me if they did she would send me a prize. And sure enough they did do it! Way to GO! (And my prize some chinese character stickers...can't wait to use them!) I am glad in the end that Shawn did get a gold medal in something. She deserved it and was solid all the way through. Unfortunately for her, Nastia was just a wee bit better. But what a great competition and it couldn't have happened for two cuter girls! I am glad to hear they truly are really good friends and not bitter rivals. Of course, it has also been plagued by scandal. I feel that in some way the Chinese gymnasts were given higher scores than they truly deserved. I believe also that at least 3 of the girls are NOT 16, no matter what their passports say. I hope that I am wrong, but I don't think I am. And in the end, it would be nice if the USA women's team could end up with the gold instead of the silver due to this. But I don't know if China will ever give up the correct documentation to find out the truth.

I could go on and on, but I think these are some of the best and I am very sad to see them over. I love the Olympics and the fun it brings! I love cheering on team USA and watching us win. The opening and closing ceremonies were delightful and awe inspiring. So with that, the memories of Beijing 2008 fade into the sunset and I must return to my regular schedule.

So long Olympics until we meet again in Vancouver, BC on February 12th, 2010, only 535 days away! lol