O's

okay. so people don't really understand my obsession with the olympics. this is something i've dealt with for like...as long as i can remember. seriously. as in, when my friends and i went camping in summer of 08, i was freaking out made them rush back so we could watch the opening ceremony.

i remember in 6th grade when i had to do a project with my friend. that was the year jamie sale and david pelletier (who by the way are now married and have a baby!! CUTE!!) got stuck with the silver medal because of a judging scandal by the french judge. that was the year i learned about all the different kinds of sports that were in the winter olympics.

but that wasn't, and still isn't, what draws me to the olympics every two years (winter and summer!). i think that the olympics are so special because it's one of those rare occasions where the entire world - THINK ABOUT IT: THE WHOLE, ENTIRE WORLD (except antarctica) - gets together.

i mean, yeah, i LOVE watching the sports - short track, swimming, gymnastics, diving, mogul, snowboarding, badminton, everything!! but more importantly, people AROUND THE WORLD are glued to their TVs (i mean only some people are glued, i guess, but whatever), watching these sports. people AROUND THE WORLD are cheering for their respective countries, filled with pride for their countrymen (do i sound really cheesy?? sorry!!). people AROUND THE WORLD can understand (for the most part) what is going on - sports, like math and music, can be such an amazing universal language.

i'm not gonna say that the olympics necessarily "brings countries together" - see apolo ohno v. south korea, or super-young-looking chinese gymnasts v. the rest of the world - but honestly, to a certain extent, it does. through the opening and closing ceremony, we're shown the magnificence of the host country, a land that we might now know a lot about. through the games, we learn about what it means to be a sportsman - to clap someone on the back, to help someone up, to hug and smile in congratulations - even if it's someone from another country, someone you're competing against. through the interviews they show, we learn about aspirations, the "Olympic dream," about persistence, hard work, dedication, on the parts of all the athletes.

the athletes and coaches put aside so many differences - in language, in culture, in race, religion, whatever - all that is temporarily forgotten. and i mean, yeah, there's obviously competition because duh it's sports, but...i don't know - i can't even explain it - everyone just COMES TOGETHER FOR THE OLYMPICS.

the extent to which i'm obsessed with this whole "countries of the world being brought together in the olympics" is a little crazy. in sixth grade, when we were choosing what language to take in junior high, i chose french. do you know why?

because i realized, from watching salt lake 2002, that at every olympics, the announcements were all made in english and french (and the host country's language, as i later realized, although that was inapplicable in salt lake because they already did english). that's why i wanted to take french - because, aside from english, it was another "international" language.

i really love the olympics so much. i get goosebumps and tear up whenever i see how much it means for an athlete to stand up there on the podium and hear his/her national anthem being played. i love watching the countries march in in the opening ceremony, everyone in their matching track jackets and stuff, so many countries in the world, one by one. whenever i hear the olympics theme song on NBC (which, by the way, was written by none other than the amazing john williams), i just get SO excited (this year, i just changed my ringtone to that song...LOL).

it's been doubly special for me recently because summer 08 was in china, where i'm from, and winter 10 is in vancouver right now, where i used to live. and maybe i am a little more fanatical about it than normal people.

but still...i just think about the scope of the olympics, about how the whole WORLD comes together for these two weeks of amazingness....

i am speechless and all i can say is that the olympics are seriously the highlights of my every two years.

i know this isn't like my normal entry where i talk about something i saw in the day that made me smile, but really, i have seen this olympics thing for four hours straight for two days in a row now (and there are still many days left of it) so i feel that it counts.

besides, the beauty of the amazingness of the olympics and the world...how can it not be a SMILEY SUNSHINE??

XOXO :) :) :)