The summer Olympics begin in less than a week and we're looking forward to it at our house. For as long as I can remember I've loved the Olympics. Winter Olympics are great, but, to me, the summer Olympics are even more awesome.
I remember, going way back to 1976 now, Nadia Comaneci's perfect 10 inspiring a whole generation of young girls' (me included) interest in gymnastics (dang, those uneven parallel bars are tough). I still love the gymnastics events. Track and field and swimming have our complete attention, too.
In 1996, the Olympics took place in Atlanta. Most of the sports were practically in our own back yard. Granted, it wasn't the most illustrious of Olympic host cities, but we had the good fortune of attending several events. My parents even made the trip to attend a few.
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| Our ticket to a women's basketball event |
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| We found a spot on Peachtree Street and watched the Olympic torch pass. |
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| We attended the men's marathon (no ticket required) |
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| At the marathon, someone allowed us to hold their Olympic torch. I was 4 months pregnant and had a bad case of poison ivy (on my face!) |
Some neighbor friends of our hosted a party for one of the visiting men's gymnastics teams (Romania?). They were nice guys but spoke very little English. One of the team members won the gold medal in the rings event that year - what a thrill it was to watch him win after meeting him in our friends' kitchen just 10 days earlier.
For the last week of the games, we rented our house to a family from Ohio (a connection we made through Robbie's job). It was a ton of work getting the house ready but I'd do it again given the opportunity.
London seems like a great location for the Olympics. Let the games begin!
