Mostly About the Olympics

A few things are bothering me about the Olympics this year.

The schedule bothers me, for instance.  I am not going to stay up all night to watch the results, which means that I inevitably find out what happened by seeing it in the headlines the next day, which means there’s no suspense when I go home and turn on the TiVo from the night before.  I miss the suspense.  Not that there’s anything I can do about it.  It’s how it goes.

Another thing that has been driving me crazy is that NBC does not always tell us, the viewers, what race it is if they’re beginning to swim.  You have to either rewind to the beginning or wait for them to finish to see the results and then they will tell you which competition it is.  But they just flash it on the screen.  I wish they’d keep it up there.  I mean, I’m glad that the screen isn’t full of extraneous information, which it always seems to be otherwise, but just a little bit of info would be helpful.

The other thing that really bothers me is the outfits worn by the female athletes in the gymnastics, beach volleyball, and diving competitions.  I’d be fine with it if they weren’t always picking the leotards out of their butts, but they do constantly pick leotards out of their butts!  Shouldn’t we be providing them with outfits that don’t give these world-class athletes a permanent case of wedgie?  I think it’s the least we can do.  You don’t see the male athletes (even the ones in Speedos and leotards) picking at their butts during competition.  Male athletes wouldn’t stand for it.

But female athletes are expected to not only perform but look attractive while doing it.  Case in point: asshole over at the Times of London who asks, about the female swimmers, ’where are all the breasts’?  Yes, he’s making a point about the LZR compression suits, but it’s a stupid way of making the point, questioning their ’missing’ breasts.  I mean, maybe they have something to think about other than whether their breasts are displayed optimally. 

Is it ok to ogle the Olympians?  Sure, whatever, to some extent; it’s certainly equal opportunity.  I’ve certainly heard no shortage of pro topless Michael Phelps photos and video.  But it is not ok to make snide remarks about women’s bodies when they are clearly amazing, fantastic, world-class athletes.  That’s the line.

And it seems to me that a female athlete might perform better in gymnastics, beach volleyball, diving, etc., if she didn’t have to think about her swimsuit riding up her ass all the time.  But that’s just my less-than-two-cents-worth.

I got interested in the differences between men’s and women’s gymnastics the other day and did some reading on Wikipedia about the different events.  I’m interested in the evolution of the uneven bars, even over the past few decades.  I saw Nadia Comaneci’s routine on YouTube, and it looked so strange in comparison to the current competition, especially with the weird wrapping-around-the-lower-bar moves.  I think it’s interesting that the Olympics, which portrays itself as old as the hills, allows for continual evolution in the sports. 

I’d also like to point out that Nadia Comaneci’s leotard did not create a wedgie.

In non-Olympic news, my giant headache is more or less gone, and now is just a dull toothache from the dental work yesterday.  My very first root canal!  I did not know that root canals require four disparate trips to the dentist, so I am nursing a temporary filling for the next three weeks.  But I am glad that the giant headache is gone, and I’m off the narcotics as of yesterday evening.

Back to the Olympics: the NBC streaming video of the events is pretty nice to watch.  No useless commentary, no commercials, and just constant video of the event.  I should have watched it online all week.  Also, a blogger I read regularly is over in Beijing to watch the Olympics and she has some pictures online, if you want to take a look.