I have Olympic fever. Up until last night, I’ve had the Games on in the evenings, but I’ve zoned in and out. I wasn’t totally in until last night during the women’s all-around gymnastics championship, where the Americans took Gold (Nastia Liukin from Plano, TX) and Silver. The event really got my adrenaline going and kept me up late. (I’m also intrigued by the whole young-Chinese-gymnast controversy — check out this fascinating AP report.)
The swimming is exciting too, even beyond the whole Michael Phelps dominance. What’s so cool to me is that just a couple months ago, for our August issues of the Advocate, we interviewed Olympians past and present (along with Olympic-level coaches) living in each of the neighborhoods we cover, and some of them are there (specifically at the pool) in Beijing now.
For instance, Martina Morovcova a swimmer for the Slovakian team who lives in East Dallas is there with her coach, Steve Collins who is also the SMU women’s coach. Eddie Sinnott, SMU’s men’s coach and Forest Hills resident is there helping to manage the men’s team in Beijing. Talk about being where the excitement is! If you haven’t already, read more about Coaches Sinnott and Collins, Martina, Gold medalist Ryan Berube, Daniel Watters and speed skier-turned motivational speaker Vince Poscente. Take my word for it — these are truly exceptional people. They all made me feel, when I was interviewing them, like a total slacker.
