Olympic Spirit
I was going to do a post on the snowboarding halfpipe competition I watched last night. It was the women's event and I thought they were awesome. Between the tricks and the fact these women could give any man a run for their money was just great. Plus I really loved the whole skater punk attitude they brought to the Olympics. It's refreshing to see athletes that are competitive yet a close knit community. Plus having a bit of that ghetto/hip hop attitude at something as "old fashioned" as the Olympics is really cool.
However, I then wathced the pairs figure skating competition. Normally, that sort of thing isn't too interesting to me. Figure skating has become more about jumps and how many triples you can do versus the beauty of the sport. However, the last couple to skate amazed me. Or I should say, the woman of the pair did.
They were a Chinese couple. They were going to try a quad throw, which has never been done. When the attempted it, the girl CRASHED. HARD. On the replay you could see the way her leg buckled and landed funny on her knee. She could barely move around. She went back to the trainers to look at her leg. Now, according to the rules, they could actually start their program again where they left off. I figured there was no way this girl could compete. She looked like she totally messed up her knee and was in a lot of pain. However, this gal toughed it out and finished the program. She did all of her jumps with one minor slip from then on. At the end of the program, the crowd gave them a standing ovation. Hell, I wanted to get up and give her one. It was one of the bravest performances I've ever seen. To top it off, they won the silver medal.
Just goes to show you how much heart some of these athletes put into what they do. It was the agony of defeat turned into the thrill of victory all in 5 minutes. I'm glad I decided to watch.
However, I then wathced the pairs figure skating competition. Normally, that sort of thing isn't too interesting to me. Figure skating has become more about jumps and how many triples you can do versus the beauty of the sport. However, the last couple to skate amazed me. Or I should say, the woman of the pair did.
They were a Chinese couple. They were going to try a quad throw, which has never been done. When the attempted it, the girl CRASHED. HARD. On the replay you could see the way her leg buckled and landed funny on her knee. She could barely move around. She went back to the trainers to look at her leg. Now, according to the rules, they could actually start their program again where they left off. I figured there was no way this girl could compete. She looked like she totally messed up her knee and was in a lot of pain. However, this gal toughed it out and finished the program. She did all of her jumps with one minor slip from then on. At the end of the program, the crowd gave them a standing ovation. Hell, I wanted to get up and give her one. It was one of the bravest performances I've ever seen. To top it off, they won the silver medal.
Just goes to show you how much heart some of these athletes put into what they do. It was the agony of defeat turned into the thrill of victory all in 5 minutes. I'm glad I decided to watch.
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