We Are … SC!

London 2012 was the most successful Olympics for the University of Southern California.

The final Olympics medal tally is in, and if the University of Southern California were a country, we would finish #11 in the medal count, right after South Korea and Italy, who finished in a tie for 10th place, and ahead of the Ukraine.

USC athletes (incoming students, current students, and alumni) won 25 medals (12 Gold, 9 Silver and 4 Bronze). South Korea and Italy each won 28, the Ukraine won 20.

This makes 100 years of Gold-winning performances by USC athletes, who have won at least one Gold medal since the 1912 Games in Stockholm, Sweden.

Now, we USC Trojans are holding our breath. London Olympics breakout star Missy Franklin has listed USC as one of the schools she plans to visit as she makes up her mind where she’s going to college.

Cal Berkeley, Georgia and Texas are also in the mix.

Hey Missy! Fight on for USC!

On Second Thought …

I watched the group synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics competitions at the London Olympics this year for an extended period, the first time I’ve ever done so, and have come away with a changed attitude – some questions, perhaps, but at least acceptance.

The first time I saw synchronized swimming, my first thought was, “Jeez, look at their hair and eyes! That’s kind of spooky!” because their expressions never changed, their smiles frozen on their faces, their eyes wide open even though I knew they must be smarting for being open in the water all the time.

The first time I saw the rhythmic ribbon twirling gymnastics, my first thought was, “Jeez, is THAT a sport? It’s just ribbons on a stick!” and then when they segued into playing around with hula hoops and volleyballs, it just hammered home the “fact” to me that they were just fooling around.

Well … no more. I’ll admit that the synchronized swimming is truly athletic, thanks to the “split” camera work during the coverage. I mean, they toss their teammate up in the air with their feet never touching the bottom of the pool. And to maintain their position with arms in the air and legs pumping madly underwater? Holy mackerel.

Rhythmic gymnastics is another story. What really caught my eye was the beauty of the participants. Most of the top teams appear to be Eastern Europeans, and wow oh wow, are they made up beautifully. Plus, they demonstrated such grace and form. Athletes? I think it’s quite borderline, myself. They breathe hard afterwards, but then so do ballet dancers.

Whatever … I have new respect for them all. Just goes to show, one has to really watch a sport for a long time to appreciate what they do.

I did, and now I do.

Olympic Gamesmanship

I hate when things like this happen …

Four badminton teams were thrown out of the 2012 London Olympics for trying to lose in their preliminary matches so they would face weaker teams in the next round.

Bye bye doubles players from China, Indonesia and South Korea.

If you watched video of the action (or “non-action” as the case may be), you saw players deliberately making weak shots into the net, or out of bounds. It was so obvious what they were doing.

That irritated Olympic officials, who decided to make an example of them and threw them out of the Games. Cheating? Or gamesmanship? You decide.

Taoufik Makhloufi, winner of the men’s 1500-meter Gold Medal, is proud of, and happy for, his win. And rightly so. Fifteen-hundred meters is a helluva long way to run. But his win wasn’t without a little bit of controversy (and possibly gamesmanship) even before the Algerian took his first step in the event.

See, Makhloufi stopped running in his 800-meter heat, raising the suspicion of Olympic officials. As winner of the event in the African Games last year, he should have qualified for the final in his heat easily.

Consequently, they expelled him from the games, concluding he threw the race so he wouldn’t tire himself out before the 1,500-meter race.

Still, they had a doctor check him out, and sure enough, the medico said he had a knee injury. So, they let him back into the Games and let him run the 1,500-meter finals. Amazingly, his knee had healed in one day. Miracle? Or gamesmanship? You decide.

Olympic Thoughts 2

Some of the athletes participating in the 2012 London Olympic Games have some rather inspiring stories – most leading up to the Games, some following heartbreak at the Games, and some involving both. I found many to be oh, so compelling; here are two that touched me:

Lori “Lolo” Jones: The 100-meter hurdles competitor from the United States has been the subject of much hype during the times leading up to the Olympics. Once considered a serious contender for an Olympic Gold medal, she tripped on a hurdle in the 2008 Beijing Games and finished out of the medals.

She has often been criticized for her values and her looks, and was the subject of an Aug. 4 column in the New York Times. Jeré Longman wasn’t gentle about it, talking about Jones’ failures on the track and subtly making fun of her.

The criticism obviously hurt her; on the Today Show preceding Tuesday’s broadcast, she talked about her disappointment in her fourth-place finish. And she unsuccessfully fought back quite a few emotional tears when she talked about how hard she’d worked and how much pride she had in representing the United States.

Lolo’s problem? She’s being herself. And some people just can’t stand that kind of honesty.

Liu Xiang: One can’t help but become emotional, along with millions of Chinese fans, at the tragic end to Liu Xiang’s 110-meter hurdles career.

After he suffered a ruptured Achilles’ tendon and had to pull up before he even attempted the first hurdle in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, he was primed to repeat his Gold-winning performance in the 2004 Athens Games. But he didn’t get out of his heat.

He looked good, he looked happy, smiling as he poised to explode off the starting blocks. His start was a smidgen slow, but he at least made it to the first hurdle, leaping high to clear it. Unfortunately, he didn’t leap high enough and came crashing down to the ground, rolling over and gripping his right ankle (again!) in obvious pain.

Hopping off the track and seemingly headed into the training room, Liu suddenly reversed his direction and returned to the track, hopping on his left leg alongside the hurdles to the finish line. Brushing aside his disappointment, at least for the moment, he determined to finish the race.

I could feel the tears welling up when he hopped back onto the track, reached his lane’s final hurdle, and gave it a good-bye kiss, his career over, his dream unfulfilled.

It was not a good race. Three more runners fell, unable to finish. But the most touching scene happened after Liu “finished.” Two of his competitors – Andrew Turner of Britain and Jackson Quiñónez of Spain, supported him in their arms and helped him off the track. Competitors, yes, but friends as well.

*  *  *  *  *

The athletes are the Games; their stories are as compelling as the competition and quest for medals.

Olympic Thoughts

Mascots: They’re taking a bit of flack, but I rather like Wenlock (red) and Mandeville (blue), the mascots of the 2012 London Olympics. In short, they represent drops of steel from a Bolton steelworks. Their names derive from Much Wenlock (a Shropshire town), and Stoke Mandeville Hospital. Their Cyclops eyes are camera lenses.

Television: The London Olympics are really messing up my TV-watching schedule. I have four movies, two science episodes and an episode of Warehouse 13 on hold in my DVR because I'm watching the blasted Games at all hours of the day and night.

Strategic Miscue: Ryan Lochte obviously wasn't up to swimming the anchor position in the 4x100m freestyle relay. He was too tired, and he couldn't hold off the French. Consequently, he blew it. I think he should have swum first; but then, I’m not the coach.

Unfamiliar Countries: Every parade of Olympic athletes includes countries with unfamiliar names, mostly because they’ve been renamed. This year’s roster even includes a group called the “Independent Olympic Athletes,” composed of athletes with no national affiliation. As a long-time stamp collector, I’m familiar with practically all of the country names, but had to do some mental gymnastics to make connections this time, especially when it came to former members of the Soviet Union.

Bad Rule: I have to admit that I shed a few tears for American gymnast Jordyn Wieber when she was shut out of the All-Around Final because of a rule that limits a country's entrants to two gymnasts, no matter how good the third one is. I agree with legendary women’s gymnastics coach and current NBC Olympics commentator Bela Karoli that it's a travesty.

Nationalism: So far, not many athletes are choking up and shedding tears on the medal stands when their countries’ national anthems are playing. I think the only one I've seen tearing up on the medal stand was U.S. gold medalist Missy Franklin. Is nationalism and patriotism now passé?

Beautiful Flagbearers: One thing I must say about the parade of athletes in the Opening Ceremonies. There sure were some beautiful women flagbearers. I just loved how the camera found and focused on the especially good-looking ones. It kept me glued to the TV set, that’s for sure.

USC’s Olympic Athletes

Once again, my alma mater – the University of Southern California – tops the list of college student athletes participating in the quadrennial Olympic Games. This year, 40 past, present and future Trojans are representing USC, the United States and other countries at the Games in London, more than any other university in the nation.

Along the way, since 1904, USC athletes have won 262 medals (123 gold, 78 silver and 61 bronze). If USC were a country in itself, medal count would rank us 17^th in the world. If you only counted gold medals, that would rank us 12^th.

This year, 12 Trojans are competing in swimming, another 12 in track and field, 10 in water polo, two each in volleyball and beach volleyball, and one each in soccer and cycling. In addition to the United States, Trojans will be competing for 17 other countries.

On Sunday, USC graduate Clement Lefert won Gold with France’s 400m freestyle relay team. That extends USC’s streak of winning gold medals in every summer Olympics since 1912. Junior Vladimir Morozov won a bronze as Russia placed third in that competition.

Past Gold-winning alumni include:

·         Edgar Ablowich (1932 Los Angeles Olympics, 1600m relay)

·         Bret Barberie (1988 Seoul, baseball)

·         Lee Barnes (1924 Paris, pole vault)

·         Ken Carpenter (1936 Berlin, discus)

·         Rex Cawley (1964 Tokyo, 400m hurdles)

·         Roy Cochran (1948 London), 400m hurdles and 1,600m relay)

·         Clarence "Buster" Crabbe (1932 Los Angeles, 400m freestyle)

·         Bill Craig (1964 Tokyo, 400m medley relay)

·         Janet Evans (1988 Seoul, 400m IM, 400m freestyle, 800m freestyle)

·         Bud Houser (1924 Paris, discus and shotput; 1928 Amsterdam, discus)

·         Lisa Leslie (1996 Atlanta, 2000 Sydney, 2004 Athens, 2008 Beijing, basketball)

·         Pam McGee (1984 Los Angeles, basketball)

·         Cheryl Miller (1984 Los Angeles, basketball)

·         John Naber (1976 Montreal), 100m and 200m backstroke, 800m freestyle and 400m medley relays)

·         Parry O’Brien (1952 Helsink and 1956 Melbourne, shotput)

·         Raphael Osuna (1968 Mexico City, tennis doubles)

·         Bob Seagren (1968 Mexico City, pole vault)

·         Rebecca Soni (2008 Beijing, 200m breaststroke)

·         Randy Williams (1972 Munich, long jump)

Limited space precludes listing the many, many others who have won Gold, Silver and Bronze, as well as those who competed but didn’t win any medals. It should be said that even some of the aforementioned took part in Olympic events in addition to those listed, and won other medals as well.

But one and all, they were, are, and always will be … Trojans. Fight on!

Coke Olympics

Somebody put a lot of work into this Coca-Cola display that I saw recently at Safeway Supermarket. I think it's creatively stunning, myself. Everybody knows now that Coke is a "worldwide partner" of the Olympics (that is to say, they donated many millions of dollars for the right to say that). Nothing wrong with that.

Remember the commercial the Seekers sang?

I'd like to teach the world to sing
In perfect harmony,
I'd like to buy the world a Coke
And keep it company.

In my book, it's on the list of top ten most memorable commercials.