sportsmanship.

what did I do today, dropped by charles and keith to look at shoes. But my mom ended up buying a pair instead. Then went to pick up Aaron and Ben because they wanted to tag along to the beach and Aaron claimed that Arthur asked him to come. It was just a few of us.

Anyway, back to the olympics. I watched a bit of the Russia vs Italy Womens Volleyball in the morning. It was pretty even but I think Russia won. Russia looked really good. There was this massive chick who was a really good spiker. And the Russians were super tall, so they could probably get in some good blocks.

After I came back from the beach and showered etc, I watched some of the swimming. The 400M IM's for women and I forgot what else. HAHA 100m butterfly for the men I think. I forgot what else, oh yeah and i forgot when I watched the 400m freestyle. Should be yesterday. HAHA anyway, the butterfly, backstroke and breast-stroke techniques from the people in the Olympics are so lovely to watch. The fluidity of their movements is just so graceful. Especially the taller participants. Katie Hoff, the world record for 400M IM. To see the green line showing where she was as she broke the world record is so crazy because it’s with a crazy speed that already beats everyone else by so much. And some people are already swimming so fast anyway. It’s just so surreal to see someone able to swim that fast and with that much power.

I also watched the Men's gymnastics. Germany, Korea, Ukraine, Belaruse and Romania were the ones who competed yesterday. I must say I'm sad I didnt watch China though, they were the best (I sort of expected it) after the 5th rotation in the score tables and I wanted to see how they performed. Yknow, with their reputation in gymnastics, and their acrobats etc. I watched the High Bar and the releases are terrifying. The sommersaults and twists on the High Bar are amazing! Like you cant help but think, how the fuck did they just do that. Then I watched this particular German guy on the Pommel Horse and he made a mistake and had to get off. But the way they all get off when they trip up, is so in control. Like, they just do some handstand or something and land off. Anyway, and he shouts just once, and when the camera goes back on him, he winks at the cameras. HAHA its nice to see people arent always so bitter and stuff. Belaruse did quite well on the High Bar, thats what I thought. They looked really comfortable on it. All the releases and dismounts were smooth. And the last guy was fantastic, shit being under all that pressure to save his team and everything? AND also having such a great run on the high bar? Gosh so cool.

Then this korean dude fell off the high bar when he did one release and I was like SHIT, wont that be so scary? His fall was like.. face right into the matress. Spectators keep talking about many people making mistakes on the High Bar. It’s hard enough as it if it’s like they think it’s so easy. I would get so dizzy and scared out of my wits if I was on the high bar like that.

And I watched the vaults, and the first Romanian guy cramped up as he ran, and he still tried to jump off the vault to get some points. I felt so bad for him, yet kudos to him for still going for it and doing all he can. Apart from that, I thought the Romanians did well on the vault compared to the other countries. OH and its a little funny to watch the guys' faces when they're on the steel rings. They look SO stiff and a little constipated. It's so crazy how perfect everything has to be. Like the legs have to be level with the shoulders etc etc. But when their form is really precise, it looks brilliant. So surreal to see people with that much strength in their shoulders and their arms.

You should watch them on the parallel bars, especially when they replay it in bird's eye view. Their toes are always pointed, legs are straight as a board, knees are stuck together. And when they call something a fall, the person seems to always save himself so well. Their posture is so.. dont know the word. Exact. It's so lovely to watch, graceful but in a manly way. HAHA if that makes sense. I wish I saw the Russian women's gymnastics.

what else did I watch properly. I watched the women's volleyball match; USA vs Japan. Big height difference, which makes it so much easier for the Americans to block the Japanese. I want to see the Americans go against the Russians. would be a good match I think. Americans were really good, their coach is some legendary ex-volleyball player. Chinese I think. Anyway, the team from Japan was so prepared against the spikes from USA though. Shit, they have some crazy reflexes. Americans had some nice variety though, they started to tip the ball instead of spiking it, like the Japanese expected. But I dont know why they stopped. The Japanese had some brilliant blocks though, weird because I expected more from the Americans seeing as they've got much taller players. The match was so tight, like 3-3, 4-3, 4-4, 4-5, 5-5. One point differences. It's insane. That game was good, some great dives, saves and blocks. And this match was only the Preliminaries for Pool A.

HAHA the japanese coach is called ShoiShi. Imagine saying that 20 times. 1st set went to the US: 25-20. 2nd set went to Japan: 20-25. Then US won the 3rd set: 25-19. And in the 4th set, Japan had like a 5 point lead until the Americans kicked their ass once they reached the 20's. Such a comeback. So Americans won the set 25-21 and won the match 3sets to 1.

I watched the Basketball too, same time as the volleyball so had to keep switching channels back and forth. I'd LOVE to play like that, with serious matches and everything. Both sides shot quite a lot of 3's. Really nice ones too. I noticed Latvia first, then watched Russia more closely after. I thought Latvia was really good, they caught up to Russia from a 10 point lead but Russia beat them in the end. Latvia moved around a lot, which was good because it gave the player a lot of options. But Russia had a firm defence. Score was pretty tight in the beginning though.

I thought Russia would win easily, have it in the bag (like the commentator said too) but they kept doing silly little mistakes like bad passes, missing easy layups on fast breaks etc and there were loads of turnovers. Shit, Latvia's 3-pointers are so beautiful. Swishes everytime.

Anyway! Thats all about this Olympics talk. Probably boring everyone. hahaha
Pictures are up on facebook. Bye!