Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Boys or Men?

When I was growing up, I always thought that it would be cool to be able to do somersaults in the air. Sadly I never learned, and at this point in my life, I think it's best to focus on my aerobic fitness rather than that kind of high impact activity! Nonetheless, when I was applying for London 2012 Olympic tickets with boyfriend T, a trip to see the artistic gymnastics was a must.

We were lucky to get tickets for the men's gymnastic team finals, although when we applied, we had no idea that Team GB would be competing. Better than that, an outstanding performance by Team GB resulted in them winning the bronze medal :-), something that hadn't been achieved for 100 years.

While watching the performances, a couple of thoughts ran through my mind. I couldn't help thinking that the bulging muscular arms of some of the athletes looked quite unnatural. Indeed, when looking for fun with other guys, I agree with Janet because in general "I don't like men with too many muscles"!

My other thought was that some of the competitors, particularly some of the young Asian athletes, looked more like boys than men. However, whether they're strong and agile men or simply boys with too many muscles, what they do is still mightily impressive :-).

Sunday, July 29, 2012

The Olympic Games come to London :-)

I hadn't been planning to go to the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games last Friday. However, when I heard that there were some last minute tickets available I just couldn't resist! Boyfriend T had told me that he always watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics on TV, so I thought that it would be a nice treat for him to actually be there for once.

It was an fabulous event, although while I was watching it all, I couldn't help wondering what the rest of the world would think about some of the more eccentric parts of the show. For example, what would the world make of the Queen arriving at the ceremony by apparently parachuting out of a helicopter with James Bond? As a Brit, I thought that part was hilarious :-). But perhaps the most spectacular bit for me was having five huge Olympic rings forged in red hot metal in the middle of the stadium:


Presumably some readers saw the opening ceremony? I'm particularly interested to hear what you thought if you're not British, although British readers are welcome to leave comments too :-).