Beijing Games

How fun to watch the games in Beijing. Sure there's lots of politics and propaganda involved. But in the end, it's just a riot to sit down for a couple of hours and catch some mashed together swimming, biking, rowing, volleyball, and fencing beteen the world's best. It is sport...and in the end, it is like a garden salad...just really hard to mess it up.

We were talking over dinner last night, and Laura and I figured that we have between 15-20 athletes competing in the games that we consider friends. So watching the commercials is funny as we will be like, "Oh, there's Bryan...or look at Jake long jumping...or that's a funny shot of Amy." What I can tell all of you as you watch these games is that each and every one of the peolpe we know has given up much, and worked harder than some could even imagine to be there in Beijing. They deserve an unbiased, non-politacal, just for the joy of it viewing of their performances.

Here is a thought that I have used as a balm when considering the games in Beijing. This was brought up to me by a Decathlon buddy while I was still in Eugene, and I have used it to "give myself a little credit" over the past several weeks.

Many consider track and field at the Olympics to be a collection of the best athletes in the world. While many of the best are there, not all of them are. You see, the IOC (International Olympic Committee) only allows three athletes (that qualify) from each country to attend. In the decathlon, the standard for qualifying is 7700pts. If you are from Tunisia, and you score 7700pts in the year leading up to the Games, you are allowed to come and compete in Beijing. In the US, we have close to 30 athletes who will meet this standard. This is why we have the Olympic Trials. There is really no other country in the world that has (or needs) a true Olympic trials. So here is the interesting thing that my friend told me. The IOC allows up to 40 athletes to fill the field at the Games in Beijing. If you were to just go down the list of performances from the past year, and take the top performers regardless of country, I would be writing you from China right now. My score from this season places me in the top 30 in the world. I take this as great encouragement from this season. My only regret is that maybe I should have gotten British or Polish citizenship last year:)

OK, that's all...resume your enjoyment of the games. Blog coming soon about our time at Crater Lake with Curtis and Amanda.

Joe