I'm Carrying a Torch for the Olympics

I'm not part of the official relay or anything, but I am carrying a torch for the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Because I LOVE the Olympics. Love them. And as the advertisements ramp up and Olympic athletes grace every other magazine cover, I feel like making a paper chain - you know the ones you made before summer break in elementary school - to count down the days. But alas, I'm fresh out of construction paper so I'll just light a candle (small torch) and practice humming the Olympic music. Bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom...

I'd like to pat someone on the back for deciding to stagger the Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics so that I can have Olympic fever every other year. At first I thought it might be overkill, maybe the lack of waiting would take away from the charm, make the Olympic Games common. But you know what? That's impossible because there is just something magical about the slopes, rinks, tracks and fields. There are very few Olympic sports that I would sit and watch at any other time, but throw flags on people's backs, point the cameras at their families, let me know that Ecuador has never won a Winter Olympic medal and I'm all in. In fact, it's almost frightening how much Olympic coverage I can absorb over a 16-day period. The last Summer Olympics in Beijing took place while I was on my honeymoon - in Vancouver actually - and although I loved all the honey and the mooning and that marvelous city - every spare minute in the hotel room (not every! keep it PG) I had the T.V. tuned in. I believe that I saw Michael Phelps win every one of those 8 gold medals.

Now, one and a half short years later, I get to do it again. Unlike other sporting events, and I say this as a complete and utter sports fan, the Olympics are always about sport. They highlight everything that rocks about athletic competition, amateurs, phenoms and comeback stories, hard work and pure emotion, both agony and joy. Who doesn't get goosebumps when watching the medal ceremonies? Those athletes are as happy and proud as it seems possible to be, but then - what makes the Olympics what they are for me- it's about so much more. Cheesy as it may be, whole countries watch and triumph and fall short together during the games. I cheer like hell for random American ice dancers, and bobsledders and biathloners (skiing and shooting? who okay'd that? I love it.) Even if I'm not always on board with my country, I'm always blissfully on board with its Olympians.

Of course there are things to complain about, and I know the Olympics are flawed. They've been the forum for international disputes, racism, drugs, terrorism and hideous uniforms. But for me, the Olympics are still 99% the lovely, pure athletic bonanza they are supposed to be. I love the totally crazy opening and closing ceremonies, (keeping obscure acrobatic troupes relevant) the 15 and 17-year old kids doing ridiculous things and becoming perposterously famous (despite feelings of inadequacy when I recall what I was doing at 15,) the NBC late-night recap show, that Ecuadorian biathlete shooting and skiing her way to an improbable bronze medal; and by God  I love that dramatic music. Bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom...

Starting Friday, if you should need me, I'll be in front of my television and on the edge of my seat. Go Olympics! Yeah world!