Back-handsprings Through Bridgetown: USA! USA! Going for the gold.

I LOVE THE OLYMPICS!! Well, I love the Summer Olympics. We all know that the Winter Olympics is just the equivalent of a less popular, slightly uglier step-sibling.

In all seriousness, I adore the splendor and pageantry of the Olympics. I was a little worried this year because I thought I would be in Nicaragua and miss the gymnastics. BUT I am only going to miss the lame stuff (like track). I will get to see the gymnastics, which is the most important part! Duh. I also really like the swimming. Particularly men’s swimming. Especially the relays. Why you ask? Well, lots of attractive men all in one race? I’ll take it! Can we talk about how good looking Ryan Lochte is? Then can we discuss how badly he dresses and how lame his grill is? If only he had a great NW girl in his life…

History lesson: I quit competitive gymnastics when I was a sophomore in high school. Not to mention, I am 5’8”… not exactly gymnastics conducive. Let’s just say, bars was NOT my strongest event. I was really not a good gymnast, but I loved it (mainly floor and beam), had a blast and made great friends. I wouldn’t trade those years in the gym for anything. Thinking about it now, I specifically wouldn’t trade the summers. We would spend 4 hours together at practice, followed up by 4 more hours together playing and laying at the pool. When you group both hard work and fun together, especially at a young age, the rewards are invaluable. Those summers contain some of my fondest memories.

Enough about me and my non-good at gymnastics past, back to the Olympics:

Let’s note the level of gymnastics these girls are doing. Height and skills that I can’t even comprehend! I think standing back-tucks are hard (I’m tall. Give me a break). How about a perfect standing full on beam? Yeah. Beam. And that isn’t even near the most difficult skills we are seeing.

Gabby Jo is my mom's favorite. Mostly because her middle name is Jo. Priorities.

I could talk gymnastics all day, but instead how about a more universal topic? Hair.

One thing you are allowed to trash is gymnastics hair. When we were kids we were not allowed to compete with messy buns. (Think late 90s/ early 00s when the messy bun was in the height of popularity). We of course fought back, but I will say, my ability to make a good slicked back ponytail came in handy when I was a cheerleader. Sometimes I even see lingering signs of “good hair ladies” coming through as a cheer coach. This was a blanket comment that we heard growing up from our gymnastics coaches.

Go ahead and make fun of the clips and the glitter. But it is something that has been around for a long time. And to tell you the truth, I would be a little bit disappointed to see it go. Final note: Marta Karolyi should take a call from the head coach of Mac Gymnastics. Meg could teach her a thing or two about encouraging her athletes to have “good hair.”

PS. You have no idea how obsessed my sister and I were with the magnificent seven. It was ridiculousness. I hope we will get to be equally obsessed with this team of five!