respublica

Olympic Time!

I love the Olympics always have, doesn't matter whether it's the summer or winter games. But Dale does not like watching the winter olympics at all because as he said, "Everyone falls and I just can't stand watching people fall."

That's kind of true, especially in figure skating and downhill skiing and the half pipe acrobatics. And speed skating. And ski jumping. Lots of falls. USAToday listed all 21 winter olympic sports from easiest to hardest with curling being the easiest which of course means there is no chance of falling.

It is still on the top of my list of television watching. It begins tonight ahead of tomorrow night's opening ceremonies. Beginning at 7 pm CST on NBC figure skating, snowboarding, and freestyle skiing will air. I just hope NBC will use some of their partner channels this time so we'll be able to see more of the competition in many sports.

The Most Interesting Man in the World!

Saw this on Twitter last night, I photo of Mexico's ski team uniform. While following up on the news that Mexico has a ski team I found this information on one of that country's slalom competitors, Hubertus von Hohenlohe .

According to Yahoo News: "Chances are you've never heard of von Hohenlohe. But check this: he's competing for Mexico in the slalom event, and this marks his sixth Olympic team. He's 55 years old, and he's also a prince of German descent whose full name is Hubertus von Fürstenberg-von Hohenlohe. Forget beer commercials, this cat is the Most Interesting Man In The World."

He'll be wearing mariachi gear and has competed in the Winter Games as far back as 1984 in Sarajevo. "He also raced in Calgary, Albertville, and Lillehammer, then took 16 years to return to the Games in Vancouver. He's never placed higher than 26th in any Olympics. But when you look this sharp, who cares how you finish?"

And, as far as I can determine, Hubertus von Hohenlohe is the only member of the Mexican Winter Olympic team.

No two days are alike

Yesterday->Today.

Beautiful->gray

Here's a question. What is the matter with people?

 

A few Olympic moments you may have missed

And, in case you missed Bronze Medalist Laura Bechtolsheimer of Great Britain riding her horse Mistral Hojris in the Olympic Dressage competition to music from The Lion King here is a youtube video of the same pair, same music, before the Olympics. Lots of talk about her, her horse and the music yesterday.

 

Doing what the Olympic committee should have done

American gymnast Ali Raisman took the gold medal in the floor exercise yesterday and chose as her music Hava Nagila. This music is traditionally played at Jewish weddings and other celebratory occasions and Ali, being Jewish, wanted it to be a response to the Olympic Committee's refusal to mark the 40th anniversary of the massacre of the Israeli Olympic team by Islamic terrorists. More than that, she wanted the music to be a tribute to those who died in Munich.

This floor exercise is fantastic and if you didn't get a chance to see it on tv, take a look. Ali was flawless throughout and the height she got on the routine is amazing.

 

A complicated photo

Last week I shared a rather cool Olympic photo of a smoking gun after a skeet shoot. Here's another great photo but one which I find emotionally conflicting.

Sychronized swimming.

Photographing the Olympics with an iPhone?

We've come to expect the best photos of sporting events to be taken with SLR cameras and expensive lenses, but one photojournalist is in London capturing the Olympics with his iPhone. Many believe the camera in the iPhone 4S is not only the best phone camera on the market, but a darn good camera in its own right.

London Guardian photojournalist Dan Chung has been taking Olympic pictures with the iPhone, examples at the link, and although he adds a clip on Schneider lens and then uses a snapseed processing app, the pictures are of great quality. There are those among us who insist on using the phone for all photos, so maybe we can learn something from Chung and try the app and clip on lens if we want good pictures of moments we treasure.

Skeet

A very cool photo from the Olympics, a skeet shooter's gun after his shots.

Something we may not pay much attention to.

The best two week respite from politics

It occurred to us this week while settling in each night to watch the Olympics, that it was so nice not having to listen to the same old political rhetoric coming from every cable channel, newspaper, website and Twitter. Everyone has been talking about the Olympics. 

I can't recall the same level of interest in other Olympics, yes, they've always held a fascination to many of us but not to this extent. It just has to be the uplifting stories and successes/disappointments which contrast so vividly from the drone of politics.

One issue though. What is with the men's swimming shorts/trunks/briefs? At least the divers' shorts/trunks/briefs. Way to brief and embarrassing. Does the Olympic committee design them and order competitors to wear them? 

The first Olympics on American soil

Was in St. Louis in 1904. If you live in St. Louis you know very well that the Olympics were held on what is now the campus of Washington University. Francis Field and Francis gymnasium were constructed for the games and turned over to the university at the conclusions.

A bit of trivia.

The 1904 Olympics were held in conjuction with the famous St. Louis World's Fair lasted for 4 and 1/2 months  because the organizers of the games attempted to hold an athletic competition each day of the fair. The fair was the big deal in those days.

The Marathon was run in what was described as "brutally hot weather" (sound familiar?) The roads in those days were not really paved so the dust flew in the face of runners who followed automobiles clearing the way. The runner who actually won the event, Thomas Hicks of Great Britain, was given several doses of Strychnine Sulfate (rat poison) mixed with brandy. It was thought that chemical stimulated the nervous system. Hicks had to be supported by trainers as he crossed the finish line and treated immediately by doctors at the scene or he would have died.