One Month 'Til The Olympics!

Today begins the one month countdown to the 2012 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremonies, which will take place July 27 in London! I have loved watching the Olympics for as long as I can remember. This week I have enjoyed watching the swimming Olympic Trials and this weekend I am looking forward to watching the gymnastics Olympic Trials! I really hope Nastia Liukin and Alicia Sacramone make their second Olympic team. The Olympic Trials going on for multiple sports gets me even more excited about the 16 days of competition that will kick off in just one month! I love the nonstop coverage on the various NBC networks. In honor of the one month countdown to London here are some of my Olympic faves:

Favorite Sport to Watch: Gymnastics

It absolutely fascinates me how these girls make flipping on a four-inch wide piece of wood, flying on the uneven bars, and tumbling at great heights seem so effortless! Photo is from Shawn Johnson's gold medal balance beam performance at the 2008 Games in Beijing. Image from USA Gymnastics.

Olympic Sport I love to watch and can actually do pretty well: Swimming

Although I was nowhere near Olympic or even elite caliber I did swim competitively for significant portion of my childhood and adolescence, beginning with a summer league at age 11, then a year round team from ages 12-16, and then the varsity team all four years of high school. High school swimming was definitely my favorite because I got to concentrate on my specialties. My best event was the 500 yard freestyle and I also swam either the 200 free or 200 individual medley in high school meets. So even though I never had any Olympic aspirations I can relate to the swimmers the most. I may not be anywhere near as fast as them but I can do all the strokes and know all the terminology. Image above is Micheal Phelps and Ryan Lochte in the 200 freestyle finals at the 2012 Olympic Trials. From USA Today.

Watching all this swimming makes me miss these days-throwback from one of my high school meets. Check out my pink goggles!

I also enjoy watching: Diving

I am definitely much less adept at this aquatic sport, but love to watch all the tricks they do in the air before gracefully entering the water. Image via USA Diving.

Favorite Olympic Memories:

Atlanta 1996: The "Magnificent Seven" wins the first and only team Olympic gold in women's gymnastics. Image via Google.

Made possible by Kerri Strug's epic vault. Image via Google.

Athens 2004: Carly Patterson wins the gymnastics Individual All-Around gold medal, becoming the second American woman to do so, and the first American women at a non-boycotted Olympics (Mary Lou Retton won in Los Angeles 1984, which was boycotted by the Soviet Union.) Image via Google.

Beijing 2008: Nastia Liukin becomes third American woman to win Individual All-Around Olympic gold in gymnastics. Shawn Johnson wins the silver, making it the first time ever that American women finish 1-2 in the gymnastics all-around! Image via Google.

Beijing 2008: Shawn Johnson finally wins a gold medal on the balance beam event finals, after winning silver in all her other events. I remember being so happy for her! Image via Google.

Beijing 2008: Men's 4x100m freestyle relay wins gold, setting a new world record and out-touching the French in a very intense race. Image via Google.

Are y'all looking forward to the Olympics too? What are your favorite sports to watch? What Olympic sports are your favorite to participate in? What memories from past Olympics stand out the most to y'all?

-L

xoxo