Once Again Addicted...An Olympics Post

I'm an Olympics geek. I really love watching them. My DH is just as bad (maybe even worse) and so when the Olympics are being broadcast, our TVs are on to watch them. It is a lot of fun. So yesterday, while finally having the opportunity to catch up on doing my laundry, I watched Team Skating, hockey, lots of cross country skiing and speed skating, snow boarding and ski jumping, and occasional glimpses of world powers or royalty.

Congratulations to Poland's Kamil Stoch who won gold in the normal hill
ski jumping competition yesterday. He flew! It was really beautiful. He was
carried around the staging area on the shoulders of the silver and bronze
medal winners. Great job by all!

It's always fun when a nation's powers are there to support their athletes. But there's a serious difference between Vladimir Putin clapping in his controlled manner for Russia as their 15-year-old female individual skater nailed it in their attempt to win their Team Skating Gold Medal vs the King and Queen of the Netherlands wearing orange and supporting their speed skaters by spending long days at the track. Does Putin actually have emotion? His very faint smiles never reach his eyes. The man is like a dead fish - rather frightening and certainly not someone I'd be inviting over to share a cup of tea. The King and Queen, however, are sitting on benches, laid back, cheering and supporting, and yeah - probably very well liked by their people because they come across as very honest and caring.

Dutch King Wilem-Alexander, left, Queen Maxima and Prime Minister Mark Rutte
celebrate as Sven Kramer sets a new 5000-meter speed skating record, winning
another gold for the Netherlands. 

But audience aside, the point of the Olympics is really the athletes and they are having a wonderful time. They are performing in their chosen sports and events and the joy I'm seeing on their faces, even those who are not anywhere close to winning medals, is making these Games well worth watching. I've also really loved watching the easy interaction and support between athletes who are from different nations and competing against each other. They understand that it is a competition, that each of them will have good days and bad, and that their similarities far outweigh their differences. Now, if we could just teach our politicians that little lesson.

Not much gets Putin to smile. I looked through pictures of him congratulating
the Russian team and the US team, getting hugs and shaking hands, and never
did I see a real smile, only a slight upturn of his mouth. Would it kill the guy to
actually be enthusiastic? 

My Sunday was relaxing while doing five loads of laundry. I began working on an illustration I'm doing for B2MeM, watched the Olympics and read my current e-book. I really needed a kicked-back day and I got one. I hope your Monday is totally fab and that you return to your homes after work today, happy with what you accomplished today. Smile at someone today and help make their day easier and happier.