Paris Marathon Training: Week 10 of 18
Today’s target run: 3 hours, 18 minutes
Today’s completed run: 3 hours, 18 minutes
The normal blight of January and February sports action (especially in seasons when the NHL decides to strike) is abated every four years when, for 2 glorious weeks, we can OD on winter Olympic coverage. Yes, the Budman and I caught the opening ceremony on Sky Sports (Kudos to the Italians: creative way to interpret the “doves of peace”, BTW, in the opening cermony).
This is the third set of Olympics that we have spent living outside the US, and as is commonly our tradition, we cheer for not only our Home Country Team (USA) but the current Host Country Team of wherever we are living at the time. Sadly, Our Korean and Taiwanese Olympic teams often do not bring home too many medals (hey, Taiwan had 4 medals in the summer Olympics: 2 for judo and 2 for archery), but that is not what the Olympic spirit is really about anyway. So, this year, we are also cheering for the German Olympic Team as well.
A few fun facts related to Germany and the Winter Olympics:
* Michael Greis of Germany won the first Gold Medal of the 20th Winter Olympics in the men's 20 km individual biathlon event.
* The German Olympic Team is fielding 161 athletes in this year’s winter Olympics.
* Expect the German team to compete well, as always, but this year, it may be tough to repeat the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic performance. During the last winter Olympics, Germany led the overall medal standings with 36 medals — 12 gold, 16 silver and 8 bronze.
* Be on the lookout for the “Speeding Sausage” – do you even know there was such as thing/person? This is the nickname given to three-time Olympic champion Georg Hackl, who is known for the tight fit of his luge racing suit. He’s hopeful of overcoming recent injuries to claim his fourth gold medal.
* Germany’s best medal hopefuls include: Kati Wilhelm, a two-time biathlon gold medalist from 2002, speed skaters Anni Friesinger and Claudia Pechstein (the country's most decorated Olympian), cross country skier Tobias Angerer, and Sandra Kiriasis, a bobsledder who was a silver medalist in 2002 and hopes to win gold in Turin.
So, let the games begin.
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2 comments:
We watched the opening cermonies too and I agree about the "dove"-very cool! I liked the "sparks of passion". People with fire coming out of their hats is always fun to watch. Of course we watch for the sport of it all, but it doesn't hurt to notice that Germany, along with several other countries bring some very good lookin' men too! :o) Our Texan in the speed skating won the gold last night! Chad Hendrick came over to the sport from inline skating only 3 years ago! Hope you enjoy the rest of the games and good luck with your running too! TH
Thanks, Tammy...hope you are well. My running is going well, but I am tired most days right now :) Go figure.
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