Thanks for sharing your experiences.

But you didn't touch on the reason watching the Olympics is torture to me.

In the United States, Olympic coverage really should be titled "Coverage of the American Athletes in the Olympics."

For the last Summer and Winter Olympics, I was at my home in Spain and watched the sports I enjoy seeing on a combination of British (Sky/BBC) and Spanish channels. Both the Spanish and Brits covered the Olympics -- all of the athletes in all of the events I watched. Sure, there were occasional features on national stars of each country, but the majority of the coverage was international in nature.

American coverage focusing almost exclusively on American athletes and virtually ignoring the winners from other countries not only sucks by comparison, but also totally misses the whole idea of the games.

I mean I do not need another Mary Louu Retton selling my Stove-Top Stuffing for the nxt thirty years, or replays of the brave girl gymnast who complicated her injured tendons for one more try to "stick it?" for the USA.

Or the impossible movies about impossible teams beating impossible odds. One, a John Candy vehicle about the Jamaican bobsled team was amusing. The others were wastes of film video tape talent and the time of millions.

I cannot stand the network frenzy, the bidding war, the endless scandals that almost tainted Mitt Romney, the ever-blossoming secret deals which, if not strictly illegal, are the height of hypocrisy anc venality.

Someone plese make it stop.

CYCLADES

sounds like a piece by someone who knows what they're talking about. i like it.

What these young women go through to get to this is sobering. Many of them will have injuries that they will carry for the rest of their lives. Their childhoods will have been shaped by this all-consuming drive to please their country, their parents, their coach, and a nation of patriotic couch potatoes.

I'm not sure...but I wonder if a 16 year old is ready for a committment like that. I have to wonder how much of it is the relentless drive of parents and coaches for vicarious glory. Is the sort of committment necessary to be an olympic athlete really healthy for a 16 year old?

Again, I'm not certain - but this article, and others like it cause me to wonder whether we shouldn't at least consider raising the age of participation to 18, at least.

As for the venue, putting the Olympics in a totalitarian state on the make has precident, doesn't it? And we see how well that turned out...

I lost all respect for the bribery-tainted IOC long ago. The fact that they put the Olympics in the home of the laojiao doesn't surprise me in the least.

But of course, we in the U.S. can say nothing since the last eight years of the Bush Administration has made sure that any attempt by an American to invoke international standards of human decency provokes an international spasm of derisive laughter.

Besides, the Chinese own us. We sold ourselves, via our debt to them so the Bush Rangers could buy their 5th yachts.

If there's anything worse than looking back and thinking about a mistake that cost you the gold, it's looking back and wondering why you didn't give it your all, and go for the glory, when you had the chance.

I could've been an Olympic contender myself, once, if I'd have wanted it badly enough.

I was trained for years in TaeKwonDo by a former Olympic silver medalist in the sport, Juan Moreno, who was once considered to be the best in the world. I was good, too- I was smart, a teenager, and a natural athlete.

What I wasn't was confident. I kept making excuses for my not wanting to compete on an Olympic level. I needed to get ready for college, I needed time to work out the usual teen angst issues, etc. but the truth is that I just wasn't confident enough in myself to compete.

I wish I would've been! I'll go to my grave regretting the fact that I didn't just take the plunge and go, or at least try out for them. Those moments only happen once, and once they're gone, they're gone. And what's even worse is that as I look back, I realize that with the tools and training I had, and with a lot of luck, I could have gone all the way to the top of the podium.

Damn!

"Meanwhile, I wait for the utter humiliation of the Chinese leadership and their supporters; and following that the even bigger humiliation of GW Bush and his War Criminal Gang of thieves and scoundrels (for what they've done to the world)."

Thank you for your comments, GSC. Maybe, some day, the Olympics will be held somewhere in India.

I used to love watching the Olympic competitions. But, now, I haven't watched them in years.

Too bad, so sad. The ideal of the Olympics is beautiful. The reality is not.

The first 'good' result that has come out of the Beijing Olympic Games:

"Katerina Emmons spoiled China’s bid for Beijing’s first gold medal by winning the 10-meter air rifle for the Czech Republic."

I really feel sorry for that unfortunate Chinese rifle-shooter who lost out to Emmons - but I'm generally delighted that China did NOT win the first gold medal. Long may such results continue! (For what the Chinese have done to Tibet, this would be only small pay-back).

That loss is a humiliation for the Chinese leadership (and their supporters) only because they will regard it as such** - may there be many, many, MANY more such humiliating moments for them!

(**I'm from India, which has not a hope on earth for ANY gold medals; only rather slim hopes for silver or bronze medals. We'll probably get a few wooden spoons. That's no humiliation or hassle at all for me. (Though I whall feel sorry for our athletes: I only wish they [the athletes] on the team will have a really good learning time at Beijing, and that they are able to escape the bureaucratic hassles that our bureaucrats will for sure have put their way! Next time around, maybe some of us shall get a few medals, in some hues and materials, even gold, silver, bronze, wooden).

Meanwhile, I wait for the utter humiliation of the Chinese leadership and their supporters; and following that the even bigger humiliation of GW Bush and his War Criminal Gang of thieves and scoundrels (for what they've done to the world).

-- GSC