Getting The Shakes From My Olympic Addiction

Getting The Shakes From My Olympic Addiction

Have you been watching the Olympics over the last two weeks? I have.

Here, in Canada, we have had amazing television coverage — three channels covering different events from about 4:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. ET — with many of the events presented live when televised early in the day.

I confess that I have watched more television over the last two weeks than I would usually watch in an entire year. I almost feel like I have a flat somewhere in London, and that I know Prince William and his brother, Harry, more closely than I would ever really hope or desire. After the closing ceremonies today, I am sure to go into some kind of withdrawal. Returning to watching America's Got Talent will most certainly provide very little solace.

There are some Olympic events that I generally like more than others.

I like the gymnastic events, because the training, strength, and dedication of the athletes is beyond what most people could ever muster. The United States Fab Five girls' gymnastics team was outstanding, and very deserving of the gold medal.

The swimming is always a must-see for me. I love to swim myself, and it was great to see Michael Phelps return and win another handful of medals to become the most decorated Olympian of all time.

I also like the diving competitions. However, the divers do have a somewhat peculiar fascination with the little towels they carry around. They dive and then they immediately grab these little babushkas and wipe themselves down. It's as if they don't like being wet. It's diving ... into water. You get wet.

Synchronized diving is a bit odd, but so is synchronized swimming. I don't get the whole synchronized thing. I mean, imagine if there were synchronized hurdles, synchronized pole vaulting, or synchronized weight lifting. All gets a bit weird.

My favourite events are in track and field. I especially like the short races, the 100 metres and the like. In these Olympics, the star of the track and field show was Usain Bolt from Jamaica. The man can run. I suspect that I could have been as fast as he was when I was younger. I definitely did my share of running in my time. Still, I suppose that, if I were to be an Olympian, I would need a better name. Let's be honest, James sounds a bit slow compared to Bolt. James sounds like the name of a slow-motion butler or a sleepy chauffeur. I think I would go with a name like Freddy Fuse. That name has some definite speed in it. Light me up and watch me burn down the track ...

I guess there is some glory in how many medals each country wins. The USA, winning over 100 medals, did very well. Canada won only 18. It was 19, but yesterday they took a bronze medal away from our 4X100m relay team. It appears as if the Canadians had trouble staying between the lines on the track during the race. I can sympathise. Hey, we think out of the box here in the Great White North, eh?

I'm sad to report that only one of Canada's medals was a gold medal — won by Rosannagh MacLennan in women's trampolines. Trampolines? I never even realised that was a sport. I wonder if logrolling will ever qualify as an Olympic sport? We would probably do quite well in that, but then the Brits would probably want to add darts, the French would demand some kind of kissing event, and the Americans would insist on skateboarding or beer-bonging. I guess you have to draw the line somewhere.

All in all, it was a wonderful two weeks, and London did a jolly good job of being host to the world.

Watching all that television for two weeks seems deserving of some kind of medal as well. Maybe a chocolate medal, like those gold-foil wrapped coins you can buy at the Dollar Store.

Next stop, Brazil in 2016 ... pensar nas possibilidades!