Who ever decided that all of the flips, jumps, splits and spins that Olympic female gymnasts do on their floor exercises (which I really like) would be even better if they did them while balanced on a six inch wide beam five or so feet off the ground? Talk about a formula for 'slip and fall.' You don't see figure skaters twirling on an icy beam. Many years ago I heard Mary Lou Retton, who was a great gymnast in her day, give a motivational speech on fighting through the pain. She gave graphic explanations of some of the wrist, ankle knee and other pains she was feeling as she did her routines and I find myself wondering how many Olympic athletes are competing in pain? Not just gymnasts. Just about any track and field event has the same possibility for impact pain. So I have decided that the swimming races are my favorite events to watch. I think those swimmers are much less likely to do damage to their joints, unless, of course, they bang their head against the pool wall at the end of a lap. I haven't seen anyone do that yet though. I'm reserving my opinion on the synchronized diving, or any diving for that matter. There's always the chance, when they go into a somersault right off the diving board, that they will smack the back of their heads on the diving board on their way down. Ok, now that I've given you all kinds of things to worry about, I'm turning off the TV. Enough Olympics for tonight.
No comments:
Post a Comment