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| Ipanema by Vani Ribeiro via Wikimedia - Creative Commons |
by Peggy Robin
Last week I raved about some great Olympic moments….all of
them totally made up. Like Giraffe Team Diving
(see: http://bit.ly/2aTkeFe)
This week I’m not making anything up.
It really is true that Olympic gymnastic phenom Simone Biles can jump TWICE HER HEIGHT:
Bethesda’s own Katie Ledecky was so great in Saturday’s gold
medal winning, world-record-breaking 800m freestlyle final that her nearest competitors
were not even in the same camera frame with her as she raced. The silver
medalist was over 11 seconds behind her.
She beat her own world record by two full seconds.
Michael Phelps proved he is the greatest swimmer of our age,
and may yet be the greatest swimmer of all time….but all the same that does not
give him a pass for naming his innocent little baby “Boomer.” That’s a dog
name, Phelps. You shouldn’t have done it. Your child will grow up to blame you
for it.
Now to a small Olympic mystery: why aren’t the Olympic
medalists getting flowers? And what are those funny little multi-colored
trophies they’re handed instead? The answer: Flowers are a water-devouring crop;
they’re just not in keeping with the environmental sustainability theme of the
Rio Olympics. Instead of giving the athletes a bouquet that looks good for a
few days and then must be thrown away, the organizers decided to give out
permanent souvenirs in the shape of the Rio Olympics logo --three stylized
figures holding hands in a circle-- that double as a medal-holder/stand.
If you have not had time to watch a lot of this weekend’s Olympic events….or you can’t abide all the hype and schmaltz of NBC’s
coverage, punctuated by long, long, longer commercial breaks, you might instead
opt to look Yahoo.com’s slideshow of Olympic “photos of the day”.
Here’s Saturday: http://sports.yahoo.com/photos/olympic-photos-day-august-12-203044153/p-nicole-ahsinger-usa-usa-photo-000000278.html
Occasionally, however, NBC hits the sweet spot with a
mini-feature on a previously unheralded athlete. That’s the case with the story
of Brazil’s adorable swimmer, DinDin the Penguin:
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Still Life with Robin is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays….and sometimes (like today) on
Sundays.
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