So I guess I’ve caught Olympic fever. Two nights ago I stayed up till 2:40am to watch the “Race of the Century,” the men’s 200m individual freestyle final. Ian Thorpe came through in the clutch yet again, and became the only Aussie in history to win a total of five gold medals over the course of a career (Thorpedo got three at Sydney, two so far in Athens). Thorpe beat out “Hoogie,” Pieter van den Hoogenband of The Netherlands, and Phelps the American picked up the bronze. It really was a good race, and I was barracking for Thorpe all the way, because I knew there was no way Phelps was gonna beat both Thorpie and Hoogie, and I’d rather have the Aussie winning gold over the Flying Dutchman (I’m vindicated in not wanting Hoogie to win, because he and the Dutch media were huge jerks at the post-race press conference). And then since I was up that late anyway, I stayed up to watch the next three races, which were all swimming finals as well (two of which were won by Americans). It was 3:15am by the time I got to bed, but that was okay, since I had no classes Tuesday and was able to sleep in nice and late. 🙂
Tuesday was the usual Christian Union stuff, another fine day of hanging out with friends and studying God’s Word. Tuesday evening I spent trying to do more homework while watching the Olympics. I know I’m not getting much done while doing that, but hey, it’s the Olympics! But I actually turned in early, around midnight, so that I could wake up at 3:40am and catch the other Amazing Race at 3:51am, the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay final (Laura & Liz (two of the RA’s) and one of the British exchange students also got up to watch it). Australia has absolutely owned this event the last six years, winning every major championship (Sydney Olympics, Commonwealth Games in ’98 and ’02, World Championships in ’98, ’01 and ’03, Pan Pacific Games in ’97, ’99 and ’02), plus setting a mere four world records during that span, and they were confident they’d win gold again. But the USA put on a bloody marvelous race and upset the Aussies by .13 seconds! I was so excited (everyone else was disappointed though)! I’d been barracking for Ian Thorpe the night before, but this time I was all USA. But it was such an awesome race, as Klete Keller had a lead of over a body length to start the anchor leg, but by the end of the first 50m Thorpe had pulled even. I honestly thought it was all over there, but somehow Keller held on and nudged out Thorpe for the gold. I’d say it was the best and most exciting swimming race I’ve ever seen, definitely at least up there. The Aussies are still in shock over having their dominance of the pool and that event shattered. After letting the amazing race sink in for a bit, I went back to bed at 4am, hehe.
And over the last couple of days of Olympic coverage, they’ve shown some amazing soccer highlights. One came from Italy vs Japan a couple days ago, when one of the Italian players had one of the prettiest goals I’ve ever seen, a bicycle kick on a deep crossover pass. Beautiful! I think a bicycle kick for a goal in soccer is one of the most amazing sights in all of sports, I really do. And then from today’s match between Tunisia and Bosnia were some of the most absolutely bizarre highlights I’ve ever seen. It was tied 1-1 in the 80th minute, when Tunisia was awarded a penalty kick. They converted, but it was called back for Tunisia players trespassing in the zone. They converted the second try, but got whistled again for trespassing. They converted the third try, but this time the side judge waved it off, saying players trespassed again. On that one the ref gave one of the Tunisians a yellow card. On the fourth attempt, the Bosnian goalie saved it, but the side judge waved his flag again, saying one of the Bosnians stepped inside the zone. The goalie saved the fifth try too, but the side judge waved it off again. The sixth try was blocked by the goalie but then the kicker headed in the rebound for a goal, but the side judge waved it off AGAIN. Finally, on the seventh try, the Tunisians converted the penalty kick, with none of the refs calling it back. The Bosnians tied it up at 2 a couple minutes later though, and the Tunisians had another shot on goal in the 88th minute. The goalie dove and blocked it with his head, but the ball bounced straight down off the side of his head, bounced back up, hit the crossbar and crossed the goal line by an inch, giving Tunisia the 3-2 win. I’m telling you, that has to be one of the strangest games of soccer in Olympic history.
John Kerry can’t seem to make up his mind on which version of the Vietnam-Cambodia story he wants to stick to, even though he claims it’s an experience that was “seared” — seared — into his memory. American Spectator illustrates how he also is unwilling to tell the truth of his involvement in a 1971 plot to assassinate six pro-war members of the US Senate. Granted, he did come out against the plot in the meeting, but he’s denied on several occasions that he was even there, despite several eyewitness accounts. And in response to Republicans pointing out that Senator Kerry has an atrocious attendance record at Senate Intelligence Committee meetings over the last several years, the Kerry campaign fired back, claiming on their website that John Kerry had a very good attendance record, and that he was even the Vice President of the committee for the last eight years. Umm, okay. Too bad Massachusetts Senator John Kerry has confused himself with Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey, who is actually the one with the good attendance record, and who actually has been the committee Vice President. John Kerry has never been the VP of that committee. He’s displaying a frightening pattern of lying, especially about simple facts that can be easily checked. And in other news, a British woman was struck by a meteorite while hanging clothes on the line in her backyard. It’s a one in a billion chance to get struck by a meteorite, and to the best of anyone’s knowledge, she’s the first person ever to be struck by one. Maybe she should buy a lottery ticket.