I’m personally excited about the 2012 Olympics, because I overall love sports. I’m not an athlete myself, but I get quite into the games. For the 2008 Beijing Olympics, I was literally glued to the screen. There’s something about watching athletes from all over the world compete together that fascinates me.
People all over the world have a fascination with the competition that challenges the minds and muscles of some of the world’s most talented.
“I always watch the Olympics with my family because it’s kind of a tradition,” says Audrey Latimer, 21. “We start watching the night of the opening ceremonies and then every night until the closing ceremonies. We all get super into the swimming events because those are the most exciting.”
According to http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/2012/countries there are a total of 203 countries participating in the 2012 Olympics, and more than 10,000 athletes will be competing in 300 events. Some key athletes on Team USA are, Michael Phelps, LeBron James, Wallace Spearmon, Sanya Richards-Ross, Phil Dalhausser, Serena Williams, and other talented athl etes representing our country.
“Being an athlete myself, I know what it feels to train for a sport, but to train for the Olympics would be a whole different story,” comments Chris Whitehead, 20. “It would consist of training for four years consecutively, long hours at the gym trying to prefect your craft so that you can represent your country to your best ability. The Olympics is the biggest stage, the pressure is at its highest and you are facing the best competitors in the world.”
One thing I love about the Olympics is watching what the many different countries excel in. From watching previous Olympics competitions, I know that USA tends to dominate the swimming competitions. China does extremely well in gymnastics, and many of the European countries reign over soccer.
“The Olympics brings nations together with people from many different countries all participating collectively, which is a wonderful thing,” says Sahur Mohamed, 21.
The anticipation for the 2012 London games started from the moment they found out they were the hosting city. I remember being in London last year and reading the countdown stating that 413 days were left until the opening ceremonies. This isn’t the first time London has hosted the games, with one dating back to 1908, and the other in 1948.
The city will literally be turned into Olympia, as regular venues will be turned into Olympic Venus. For example, Hyde Park (London’s Millennium Park) will be turned into the triathlon, and 10k open water swim venue.
I could only imagine the chaos that will go down in London Town as people from across the world flock to the Olympic site. I couldn’t even fathom what it would have been like if Chicago got the 2016 bid, worse than the NATO summits that I know.
All eyes will be on London come Friday July 27. Make sure you tune in, cheer on Team USA, and all the other countries participating in the summer games. The closing ceremony is August 12.
