Woah, well, they’re over now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This time I decided to not blog during the games and just… let them play out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, I decided to really make an effort to watch the Paralympics, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3 years ago I actually couldn’t. Comcast was giving me weird errors whenever I tried to stream them. But this time, it was smooth sailing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Woah, what a learning experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyhow… too much to talk about in one post, so I’ll talk Olympics first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few thoughts… it was fun, although I deliberately saved some stuff to stream for later, like the surfing and sailing. That stuff I will watch eventually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The gymnastics were fun, as I tweeted, though I did lament the lack of Russian athletes. I’ll spare any talk of political stances. I’ll just say that it’s a shame that Russian athletes, who are largely innocent bystanders in the global political arena, were punished for government actions that they obviously have no control over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And beyond that, the gymnastics really lacked for a legit competition against the US. Traditionally, that would be Russians, natch. Their style stands as an effective counterpoint against the US’s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Without the Russians and their expertise-not to mention their influence, women’s gymnastics teetered a bit too far in the US’s favor. There was a real danger of the competitions becoming “The Simone Biles Show”, instead of an edge-of-your-seat competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I get the appeal of Biles. And TBH I have no idea who the current crop of Russian gymnasts are. But still- in my mind there will always be an asterisk next to the 2024 gymnastics results. Maybe not in others’ minds, but in mine- yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And overall, the lack of Russians really… took something away from the rest of the field. I don’t know what it is, maybe just a lack of Russian-ness, I guess, but I missed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I found it weird, truly, that the lack of Russian athletes was never mentioned during any of the broadcasts that I saw. It was like… there was some kind of unspoken rule that they weren’t to be mentioned, at all, even in passing, like the country didn’t even exist. It was kind of creepy TBH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well… overall, tho, the Olympics were a fantastic experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One personal takeaway: I guess I’m not over being an athlete, myself. At one point, I guess probably 10 years ago, I had thought so. Now, I’m thinking not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I guess I was missing something in my life and the Olympics and a few other things, like reruns of Liv and Maddie<\/em>, re-awakened it. IDK. So now I’m thinking it’s probably a good idea to start thinking of myself as an athlete again, perhaps, rather than just some guy who exercises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I guess what I came to is the realization that I’m not “too old” to be an athlete, at least in my chosen sports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When it comes to something like TKD or Karate, it’s probably possible to be good if not competitive for a long long time. It’s not for nothing that Eastern Martial Arts flicks are filled with “Old Master” type characters. It’s much easier to be a good TKD practitioner in your 60’s than a good rugby or basketball player, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe it’s time that I started taking the martial arts a bit more seriously. Especially since it’s obvious that I age slower than most men do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n IDK, it’s a thought, and one worth a lot of consideration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking of exercise and gymnastics… I was stunned to see some of the Pilates moves I invented being performed on the floor by a few of the gymnasts (!), during actual competition! I’m not sure of how to account for this- maybe they were gymnastics moves that I retrofitted into my routine? Or, were the athletes taking queues from me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n IDK, I saw at least a few of them being performed on the balance beam, and more than once by Simone Biles herself. Obviously, she did them far better than I ever could, but I was gobsmacked just watching her do them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I don’t know what to say about this, but I guess I’ll just… leave this here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But I will say- I don’t remember them being performed in previous years. So… there’s that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I may actually rewatch the gymnastics competition to get pointers on how to do my own moves better, incredibly. Absolutely unreal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I still exercise, ofc. I continue to get stronger, doing the exercises I do and continue to invent. This year I’ve made more of an effort to cut, also. We’ll see about that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ultimately, I will likely need to start a running routine as well- as was pointed out to me several times by some of track and field athletes- um, thanks, though I want to continue to become stronger first. Also, I have an exercise bike that I use daily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But yes, running is on the schedule, over time. IDK, I just find pilates… fascinating. I got some new ankle weights this year that I love. I will probably combine them with some of my old ones after awhile to really push things to the limit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And I just love too much the other workouts I do. IDK, we’ll see. But someday yes, running will be a thing, and yeah, I’ll probably enjoy that as well, but there’s no reason to master everything at once, and probably good reasons not to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But yeah, there you go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It struck me halfway in between the “regular” games and the Paralympics that this was probably they real reason for the games. It wasn’t about… the athletes. Is was about the audience. It’s about popularizing movement, and athletics, in the world of the common man (i.e. me).<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s the symbolism of the gold medals. It’s alchemy. Alchemy, like the name of Liv and Maddie<\/em> star Dove Cameron’s album. Is about turning straw into gold, right? The straw being us, the commoners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And I got sucked directly into it, without me knowing or realizing it was happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well… this is not a bad thing to get put in the middle of. Absorbing the life energies of thousands of world class athletes has unlocked something inside of me, and I guess I’ll use it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, that’s enough for now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I will resume these thoughts later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Woah, well, they’re over now. This time I decided to not blog during the games and just… let them play out. And, I decided to really make an effort to watch the Paralympics, too. 3 years ago I actually couldn’t. Comcast was giving me weird errors whenever I tried to stream them. 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