olympic questions

We are spending a great deal of the weekend watching the Olympics. I have questions.

1. Do you find it somewhat interesting that so many female competitors have flashy manicures? I don't have a problem with it, but I am surprised to see it.

2. Why are we never allowed to see the cheerleaders at the beach volleyball venue? I know they are there, I've seen them line up. I want to see their routine.

3. Don't the swimmers get a headache from wearing their goggles so tight?

4. What are the odds of being able to actually see the Tuvaluan team compete?

5. How many tickets to their event does each athlete receive? I worry that aunts and uncles may get left out.

6. Where do relatives of athletes stay? If, for example, Oldest was an Olympian, would I be expected to pay for a hotel in China for two weeks? Or would Nike cover it?

7. Is there laundry service in the Olympic village?

8. Does it appear to you that most of the uniforms are the same style but different colors? The beach volleyball players seem to be wearing the same suits.

9. Beach volleyball? An international sport? Played in an arena with trucked in sand? Discuss.

10. Water polo. Silly? Or is it just me?

Comments

Anonymous said…
I think I should first mention that I have no access to TV. No Olympics.

And oh, how I long to watch Michael Phelps and Amanda Beard.

I'm back in Germany. Today. Did I mention that?
Jen said…
Can't answer many of the questions but I do know about 11 members of Tom Daley's family (he's the 14 year old British diver) are going out and that their local pub had a fundraiser to help them with the costs.

Bet they are glad the next Olympics are in London so will cost them much less to travel to.
s said…
Regarding #3... yes, they do hurt. I swam competitively for most of my childhood, and those goggles would bother me something fierce by the end of a long practice. But short races, not so much.

I read often but have never commented. So, hi!

Stephanie
alice c said…
Water Polo:
1. Prince William was CAPTAIN of his school team.
2. Players grow their toenails long and then file them into points so they can slash opponents underwater.
Hmmm...I thought that would interest you ...
Neil said…
I read some article in the newspaper about some family going through hell to go to China to see their son compete. I have the feeling that sponsors and the U.S. Olympic Committee are fairly cheap when it comes to the families and tickets for the families.
Mary said…
I am a little discombobulated by Alice's sharpened nails comment.

The Olympics are on permanently here for the next two weeks. I never get excited in the lead up but once they are on I find myself getting interested in the most obscure things!

It is also nice that China is only 2 hours behind us.
Anonymous said…
I just saw a woman interviewing Aaron Piersol - a swimmer- after his semi-final heat. He had just gotten out of the pool and she was asking him questions. I don't think she ever looked at his face! This is one of those occasions where someone should have said "Hey, eyes up here!" It really cracked me up.

-You're not very big and you're not terribly old but your first 2 questions make me think you're just a big ol' girl.
-Those goggles do look tight. Have you noticed how Katie Hoff looks perpetually surprised at her meets?
-Unless you get to watch weightlifting, you will most likely NOT get to see the team - one guy -from Tuvalu compete. By the way would you be chanting 'GO Talavai," or "GO IONA" cause those are his manes.
-I called Cindy at the Olympic Training Center (here in Colorado Springs)and asked her about tickets. She says each athlete is given 2 but can ask for 5. That way Micheal Phleps can get his mom and BOTH of his sisters in to watch him. Isn't his mom just as cute as can be?
-Yes, you gotta pay for a hotel!and yes they do have a laundry room, do it yourself and bring your own soap.
Cindy wants to know just who the hell you are and why do you want to know? When I asked her the last 3 questions - she hung up on me!!!!!
Anonymous said…
I tried to play water polo once but my hores drowned!
Pretty Things said…
Swimming goggles -- they all suck my eyeballs out -- can't wear them. Don't know how anyone can!

Manicures -- I see that on the bodiless hands of jewelry designers in the step-by-step pictures of their tutorials. How anyone can twist wire, cut metal, hammer things (and fingers) and have a perfect manicure, I know not. My hands are working hands that no manicure could fix!
Karen said…
I take it the water polo game isn't the one where a bunch of people are hanging out in the pool and one of them will call out: Marco! and the rest chime in with: Polo, then everyone swims around?

...yeah, didn't think so... uh, not a big Olympics fan. Sorry.
Nora :) said…
Re water polo: have you seen the players' physiques? It's a sport, dude.
Dani said…
You knocked me for a loop with #2. You? Want to see their cheerleaders' routine? How many glasses of wine had you had whilst typing this list? ;)
Anonymous said…
11. Have camerapeople been instructed to depict male swimmers only from the belly button up? This is so unfair. Mary K. in Rockport
Anonymous said…
A further question:
Do the horses get medals at the equestrian events too? After all they work very hard.
Anonymous said…
yeah, water polo? exceptionally difficult sport! You try swimming in the deep end for an hour with one arm, while some one is trying to drown you.

and I don't think NIKE, or any other sponsor, is covering anyone's travel.

b
Anonymous said…
You ask many of the same questions I do--like the relatives and the goggles.
Anonymous said…
Yes they have laundry service. Some company invented a new soap specifically for their hi-tech fiber types of uniforms; but the athletes send out their clothes to be washed.

Beach volleyball is harder than regular volleyball. More running, since there's only 2 of you, and you can't run effectively or jump with all that sand.

And water polo is, like, the hardest sport in the games. Marathon, and water polo, both will kill you.

Why is everyone breaking world records in swimming? What is in the water?
Wendy said…
I cannot watch water polo ever again now that I know about the toenails.

This is the only time I ever care about sports.
Anonymous said…
I heard a story on NPR in which an Olympic swimmer from the 70s said the pool in China is three meters deep rather than the typical two meters, and that this might be effecting the speeds--something about water turbulence?
Caterina said…
shirty - I caught that story too. They claim that deeper water and wider pool is helping the swimmers. Plus the high-tech swimwear.

bb - Your questions made me laugh! But the comments are killin' me :D
KPB said…
All very valid questions.

1. Those manicure make my neck itch. I mean, it's all about wind resistance and here they are with kilos of glitter and gauche glamour on their nails. Hideous.

2. Beach Volleyball. A sport created by fat middle-aged male sports administrators? Dicsuss.

3. Ian Thorpe STILL has cysts on his eyelids from his goggles. Before I knew this I would wait with great anticipation to see a whole nest of tiny spiders explode from his head.

4. Nil.

5. If I don't hear an end to all the moaning about how Australian families aren't getting tickets (or 'good' tickets) to watch their kids I may well kick someone in the head.

6. If you had a child who was an Olympian, so charmed would their sponsors be of you not only would they be footing the bill, they'd give you a corporate box at all events.

7. We're in trouble at the moment for making derisive comments about how well the UK is performing in the pool for a country with few pools and even less soap, so I'm leaving this one alone.

8. There is only so creative you can be with a tracksuit. See #2.

9. See #2.

10. I have a family member who plays water polo. It is vicious. Stupid AND vicious. Now there's something to strive for.


As you were.