Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson kicked the 7 and 8 year old chick's ass from China in the all around finals.
Gold and Silver.....and both of them actually drive cars.
Now the Spanish Basketball picture is much worse than my headline.....what were those Spaniard's thinking?
And it turns out they did it for money and Pau Glasol of the Lakers who makes about 12 Million a year....kinda apologized....sorta......
But the gym chicks from Iowa and Texas rose to the occasion and the side bar story of Nastia Liukin and her father is truly one for the ages.
20 years ago her dad won a Gold Medal in the High Bar......I understand things are genetic but the odds on repeating within a family in this type of sport...have to be astronomical.
Google the story and enjoy.
Today starts the Track and Field events.....and at this point the United States has more medals than China but China has more gold....but whose counting?
I think when you spend $43 billion you should win the most medals.......and if they can get to 43 gold medals then they can easily amortise the cost at $1 billion per gold medal.
One of the interesting stories of China is that a billion people in the country still live on $2.00 a day.
That only leaves 300 million people who are making REGULAR incomes.....which is the total population of America.....
I wonder what the endorsements are like in China and if those 9 year old champion gym chicks will make millions of dollars?
So many questions......so many people....
and I wonder if the Russians are bitching about Nastia Liukin actually being one of theirs and blaming the CIA for stealing her family.
I'm not sure anybody really notices the tempo of American/Russian relationships and how that tempo is changing on a weekly basis.
The Olympics might have been the perfect diversion for the Russian action in Georgia.
I think they scored a 17 on the bombing ....out of a possible 20.
But really....what were those Spaniard's thinking?
Michael Timothy McAlevey
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1 comment:
"China has more gold....but whose counting? "
Um, pretty much the entire world. I'm not happy about it and I obviously wish the USA were topping the list, but you'd better believe the world is noticing. I was just in Australia and they were in awe at China's domination of the Olympics. Everyone figured China might get a boost from hosting it, but nobody thought the Chinese would rule the gold medal stand like this-- they only started up the Modern Olympics in 1984 after all, and they aren't just beating us, they're utterly crushing the USA here.
What's frustrating is that the USA has so many silver medals but a paltry number of golds in comparison-- sounds like a lot of choking in the clutch. On the one hand, I won't begrudge respect for any athlete who even competes in the Olympics, that's a massive honor. But on the other hand, just falling short, on so many occasions, is just starting to get infuriating.
"and if they can get to 43 gold medals then they can easily amortise the cost at $1 billion per gold medal."
Well, to be honest, the USA spends an even bigger amount on our own facilities and athletes every year. Sure, the financial pools aren't all public money, but winning Olympic medals is an expensive business for anybody. And actually, the vast majority of that money in China has been used for infrastructure improvement, and constructing facilities like the Water Cube and Bird's Nest, which will yield permanent benefit now as athletic facilities and other uses. Not a bad investment, to be frank.
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