Way to go France!

Tags

Olympics, postaday2014, sports

As of today Friday at 10:22 a.m, France has won 15 medals at Sochi, hooray! The medals are of the gold, silver and bronze variety and are in Alpine skiing, Biathlon, Cross-Country skiing, Free-style skiing, ski jumping and Snow boarding. I was very proud of the 4 medals that I had written about earlier, now I am just tickled all over proud for the French athletes and France. I know that compared to the 25 medals that the United States has won, 15 isn’t really something to hooray about, but France isn’t one of those countries that you associate with sports anyway. So when they win, I get a little more excited for them than I would for the U.S simply because historically, winning a lot of medals is how the U.S rolls, France not so much.

I realize that every medal is special, but I have always rooted for the underdog. For instance in men’s hockey, I’ll never forget the year 1980 when the young American hockey team of college amateurs took on the Russian team, career Olympians, and beat them for the gold, that hockey game was EPIC precisely because the Americans were the underdogs.

I sort of feel that way about French athletes, they always seem to be the underdog, so when they win, it is for me, even more special. Hopefully no one in France is reading this, they might be a little put out with me, or perhaps they would laugh and say “mais oui” lol

Hooray for France!

Tags

athletes, Biatholon, Olympics, postaday2014

Not to be mean, but the French are not really medal winners in any of the Olympic Games. This is usually why I think that I get so excited when one or two of my fellow Frenchmen achieve any one of them; gold, silver or bronze. Yesterday I got to watch a young French man, Martin something or other, win a Gold in the Biathlon! And then his teammate Jean-Guillaume Beatrix won the Bronze! Two medals for France, hooray for them!

I have to say that this year I was disappointed to not see any French participants in figure skating, speed skating or skiing. Perhaps they were there but failed to qualify for the final rounds. I remember the days of Picard skiing, and we had a few excellent snowboarders, but this year all of the French names were representing Canada.

Well I am proud for France, we got two medals so far and that is a feat in and of itself. Who knows the Games are still in progress so I may have to come back and edit this post. I definitely hope so. Fingers crossed for the athletes. I hope that everyone watching is enjoying the accomplishments, courage and sheer determination of all of these young athletes. My hat off to every single one of them

The Sochi Olympics

Tags

figure skating, Olympics, postaday2014

I have become a fan of the young Julia Lipnitskaia, the 15 year old Russian figure skater. My emotional reaction to her reminds me of how I felt watching Michelle Kwan when she was justing out. I think that it is always magical when the sports world introduces its newest young talent. We, the audience, get to spend years following their successes and progression into the mature and amazing sports star.

This video is of Julia’s short program, granted she had a small wobble on one of her landings, but the rest of the program was just so lovely and graceful. I couldn’t help but think as I was watching Julia skate; she is so tiny, yet a tiny powerhouse of strength, jumping into the air and twisting her body two or three times and then landing on a thin piece of steel, the skate’s blade. That got my focus on her feet with the heavy skates at the end of her thin legs, those legs bely the power necessary to throw those feet up and around with such command and precision.

I heard one of the commentators talk about the Winter Olympics of 2016 as being her Olympics for sure and I am sure that we are definitely going to be following her even beyond that, she is only 15 and already setting the world a buzz with her raw talent, imagine what it is going to be like with a little maturity added in to the already precious talent.

I love figure skating even though it is so stressful because I never want anyone to fall and they do, I always feel so badly when they fall. I hate falling, it stinks but it happens, why can’t falling only happen during practice?

the Olympic games

Tags

Olympics, postaday2012

• What Olympic sport do you most enjoy watching?

• June 24, 2012

• Favorite Olympic Sport
• Gymnastics – Battle Creek

  My favorite is women gymnastics, followed by men gymnastic and then all the different types of diving. Gymnastics is my favorite event because not only is it beautiful to watch but you get to be reminded of the strength, determination and remarkable focus these young ladies have within and have demonstrated faithfully for far longer than just these few weeks of intense competition. It is incredible what the human body and spirit is capable of doing.