Wednesday, August 13, 2008

More Olympics

Saw some Kayaking. It's a man-made river with concrete sides and tons of white water. As with downhill skiing there gates that you have to go through, though instead of being stuck in the snow, they are hanging above the water with red and green poles hanging down. The green poles are like down hill skiing, you have to navigate through them. The red ones you have to go through them, but heading up river. Imagine some poles in skiing that you had to travel through uphill. Oh and you can't touch the gates.

I miss the scoring system in gymnastics that scaled every event 1-10. Maybe this is more flexible or something but I can't remember if 15 is good in an event or if you want a 17. I miss seeing people get "perfect tens". And is it me or is the mat for floor exercise completely new? Instead of mats, it seems like a spring board or really taut trampoline. That would explain some of the newer, more insane tumbling runs. And I don't find the little hand flourishes they do graceful at all. They seem like needless additions to tumbling runs instead of an integrated element.

For men, I think the most amazing event is rings. The strength moves are unbelievable. They said that one of the moves one of the Chinese men did was considered impossible two years ago. He hung in the air, horizontal and lifted himself, backwards, into a handstand! Slowly! For the women I think it's balance beam that's most impressive. It's basically floor exercise done on a 4" wide piece of wood.

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