U-S-A

Who doesn't love the Olympics? Seriously. Every four years, during the Summer Olympics, there is a feeling of intense patriotism around the whole world. I guess technically it's every two years, but for some reason, I feel like it's more prevalent during the summer Olympics. Names like Gabby Douglas and Michael Phelps can be heard everywhere and you can hear people talking about back handsprings and the breast stroke way more than any other time of the year. Most importantly, it's fun. It's fun watching sports you previously knew nothing about (gymnastics), or sports you have a connection to (track).

Here are some things the Olypmics has made me realize:

- Dreams really can come true.
 I just love seeing the passion and determination every single athlete has during their events. It's hard to not get teary eyed when you see them win their race or get the gold. It's truly amazing to see their life-long dreams that they have been working toward come true. 

- I am terrible at geography.
Yeah, I probably can't find majority of the countries competing on a map. It's bad. I'll be the first to admit it. I am terrrrrible at geography. Maybe I'll make it a personal goal to be better at this by the next Olympics. The athletes are training for their events and I'm training to be good country finder.

- I can't really name the country that belongs to the flag.
I test myself sometimes when I watch the Olympics on TV. I'll spot a flag and try to guess what country it belongs to. I'm not very good. I can get some major ones like France, Italy, Australia, and Japan, but other than that I'm pretty much stumped. 

- I wish we watched more obscure sports.
Why do we wait four years to watch gymnastics on TV? Maybe that's what makes it so exciting, we anticipate it for four years and it's fresh in our minds. It never ceases to amaze me what these athletes can do. Every single event I watch I find myself thinking - and oftentimes saying out loud, "wow, how did they do that?"

I'm really looking forward to all the track events to start. I especially love watching the high jumping since that was my event in high school. These people jump so high, it's crazy.


What is your favorite event to watch in the summer Olympics?
Which do you prefer.. summer or winter?

 PS. Check out these reallllly cool swimming pictures!