Saturday, August 16, 2008

Some stray thoughts on the Olympics

Speaking as a Canadian, there's not been a lot to cheer for in the Olympics, and without anyone to cheer for watching many of the competitive events is like watching paint dry. (Remarkable how that sectarian need kicks in.) Still, some of the swimming has been quite awe-inspiring, and the floor exercises for this year's women's individual all-round gymnastics finals were absolutely breathtaking (and the right person won, in my view, or at least the one whose performance (this clip is from last year, but much the same routine as we saw last night) I enjoyed most. Some of the competitors, though, looked disturbingly young...whatever their supposed ages, it was hard to call them women at all.)

The opening ceremonies extravaganza made me think of Ancient Rome, so gigantic and monolithic it was. And there was something at once sinister and comically out of proportion about it, like a multi-million dollar Mafia wedding for a particularly vacuous, good-looking teenage couple.

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