Olympic dreams ?

Disclaimer: that 28 miles in the hills was on 5 separate runs. I always total my mileage for the week with a goal of 20 per week. 28 miles in one run -- not that crazy. :)
 
Great thread! It got me to thinking that in my estimation, the purest form of olympic sports is track and field. Not a historian but I believe this is how it all got started. Not that I don't watch or like the other sports but you can't keep me away from the T & F, the basis of olympic sports, running, jumping, hurdles, high jump, long jump,pole vault, discus, etc. Also, I've grown to love gymnastics.
 
Thanks everybody ! I guess a lot of us are Olympic dreamers ! I was surprised to see how close some of our members came to the actual experience .
 
My dream would not include the chance to stay in one of these rooms at the Olympic village. Yuk.

Comfy, colorful private digs and common areas send a winning design message to Olympic athletes in London

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As long as we're dreaming, making the games about competition between amateurs would be fun.

I'd also like to see a medal count, not by country of citizenship, but instead by country where the primary training takes place. Other options would be where athletes grew up, or where they spend most of their time playing and competing.
 
Winter - Figure Skating, solo and couples dance routines. I used to figure skate several times a week on the pond near my childhood home, from about the age of 5. In teenage years, every Friday night was skating night at the local indoor rink. I practiced and mastered skating forward and turning backwards in full stride, cross stepping, a stationary spin (3x was my best), and could skate along on 1 leg with the other leg held 90 degrees behind me. Like all girls my age, I had dreams of taking skating lessons. Family finances were nowhere possible for anything like that. I continued to skate until I went to college.

Summer - Archery. I have a keen eye and of course understand the physics of the sport. I play the virtual archery game within the Sports Champions game on my PS3. I'm getting pretty good at it. :D
 
Grew up swimming (since we lived at a lake) or playing tennis (since we had a tennis court) so either one would be fun. Winter olympics would probably be cross-country skiing since I love spending hours outdoors in the winter.
 
Summer Olympics - - unfortunately body surfing is not an Olympic event. So, I'd choose running in the 100m, or even better, the same with hurdles.

Winter Olympics - - figure skating.
 
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freebird5825 said:
. I used to figure skate several times a week on the pond near my childhood home, from about the age of 5. . :D
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I also grew up skating at a local pond . It was great . All the girls would try figure skating and the boys would play hockey . We skated for hours . Winter is really fun when you are a kid !
 
freebird5825 said:
I used to figure skate several times a week on the pond near my childhood home, from about the age of 5.
Click to expand...

Moemg said:
I also grew up skating at a local pond . It was great . All the girls would try figure skating and the boys would play hockey . We skated for hours . Winter is really fun when you are a kid !
Click to expand...
Every winter the Park District plowed and flooded a large rink at a nearby park. I probably just forget the intermittent thaws that interrupted our fun but it seemed like we were able to skate from December through February/early March. Hockey and some kind of skating free for all where the "it" guy in the middle had to catch and tag someone coming across a no man's land to pass "it" on. Can't remember what that was called - some variation of red rover:confused:
 
My olympic dreams would either be track and field. Something special about considered the fastest man alive. Either that or table tennis as it cracks me up seeing the ball ping pong ball going 100mph and the players standing so far back from the table.
 
I went to the men's downhill in Lake Placid in 1980 and also had tickets for the men's ski jumping later in the games, but I fell sick and sold my tickets to a friend. IIRC the men's ski jumping was about the same time that the USA men's hockey team was playing the USSR so they hung around Lake Placid and enjoyed the excitement (while I was sick in bed watching it on TV).

BTW, while the pomp and pageantry of attending an Olympic games is fun, I can't recommend the men's downhill. You trudge your butt up the mountain to a suitable spot to view the race and then do a "hear they come...there they go" for a couple hours as you see each competitor for all of 20 seconds or so as they wiz by. Much better to watch it on TV where they cover the whole course.
 
pb4uski said:
BTW, while the pomp and pageantry of attending an Olympic games is fun, I can't recommend the men's downhill. You trudge your butt up the mountain to a suitable spot to view the race and then do a "hear they come...there they go" for a couple hours as you see each competitor for all of 20 seconds or so as they wiz by. Much better to watch it on TV where they cover the whole course.
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+1

I think that was one of the things I enjoyed about ski-jumping - you can see the entire event from one spot. We also saw speed skating, hockey, men's moguls and women's figure skating (DW insisted :nonono:). You can see all of those from one spot as well but none of them compared to watching someone launching off a huge ramp and flying hundreds of feet through the air on a pair of skis...
 
How is it that now the Olympians' swimsuits cover more of their bodies while most of the other sports' uniforms cover a lot less? Crazy times.
 
pb4uski said:
I went to the men's downhill in Lake Placid in 1980 and also had tickets for the men's ski jumping later in the games, but I fell sick and sold my tickets to a friend. IIRC the men's ski jumping was about the same time that the USA men's hockey team was playing the USSR so they hung around Lake Placid and enjoyed the excitement (while I was sick in bed watching it on TV).

BTW, while the pomp and pageantry of attending an Olympic games is fun, I can't recommend the men's downhill. You trudge your butt up the mountain to a suitable spot to view the race and then do a "hear they come...there they go" for a couple hours as you see each competitor for all of 20 seconds or so as they wiz by. Much better to watch it on TV where they cover the whole course.
Click to expand...

REWahoo said:
+1

I think that was one of the things I enjoyed about ski-jumping - you can see the entire event from one spot. We also saw speed skating, hockey, men's moguls and women's figure skating (DW insisted :nonono:). You can see all of those from one spot as well but none of them compared to watching someone launching off a huge ramp and flying hundreds of feet through the air on a pair of skis...
Click to expand...
I couldn't get to see ski jump - too many people (Calgary). I could say I saw luge, but it would be a misrepresentation - but I did hear it, lots of noise combined with an occasional blur. Kinda like downhill with a lower see/hear ratio.Didn't matter though. Just being there was the most amazing experience.
 
Re: Placid 1980...
Was my stomping ground. Mirror lake was home to me when I was on the road. Used to hang out at the bar in Saranac, with old timers who were on the bobsled team for the 1932 Olympics... (they settled in Lake Placid).
The Adirondaks is my personal Nirvana.

My sons went to Whiteface on a regular basis for skiing. Bride and self come back from Chicago for the '80 Olympics, but never made it... My best friend, camping/canoeing/climbing partner for years, was dying, and we stayed in Saratoga through the week, so we watched Olympics on TV in his hospital room.

Sorry.. off topic, but ya can't stop memories...
 
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