Olympic Fun

A week ago I thought I'd be watching nothing of the Olympics except the opening and closing ceremonies, and what gymnastics they chose to show us. I was wrong...

I love big crowds, countdowns, fireworks and massive sets - and I loved the opening ceremony! It was totally incredible to watch a very-well-put-together programme. Loved the firework effects, racing across the curved parts of the stadium. And that water thing - "took 6 hours to fill, and now it's gone in 3 minutes!" - that was just wow.

And then my son and I decided to stay up and see the highlights of the first day on Saturday night (so much for "live coverage" promised by our TV folk... we ain't getting nothing but highlights, generally speaking). We may become Olympic addicts!

One thing we found quite amusing, along with the rest of South Africa. Two American commentators were speaking during a South Africa vs Ukraine boxing match. The Americans had this to say: "The South African boxer comes from Soweto, where they have no electricity. When the sun goes down he has to stop practicing. He's not used to fighting under the lights like this." Errr... sorry guys, but Soweto happens to be one of the better-lit corners of Darkest Africa...! But thanks for the laugh.

And then came South Africa's first medal last night - and a world record breaking gold one at that! Our men's relay swimmers were completely awesome, edging out the defending champions (Australia) into a no-medal place finish and even beating the USA, both of whom were slated to win. Awesome swim, guys!

I'm looking forward to seeing what the rest of the Olympics dishes up. Hope we can bring in a few more medals before all is said and done.

(Oh yeah, I should also mention we walloped the All Blacks in this weekend's rugby match. Australia up next!)