Olympics Hooooooooo!!!!

I meant that title like in the way that you say Westward Ho. And not that there's some loose woman at the Olympics. Though, I'm sure there is. Anyway, I've been watching the Olympics since the (awesome) opening ceremonies and something that I've been watching with more and more excitement is women's gymnastics. There are people who know much more about the sport and can talk with a lot more expertise than I ever could. I can, however, talk with great wisdom and experience from the perspective of a person who just totally blown away by these athletes and what they can do. I totally am blown away by our two American stars, Shawn Johnson and Nastia Luikin. I mean, wow, these two young women are certainly the best gymnasts in the world, and watching them has been a joy and a privilege. You can really respect how long and hard they've worked to become as amazingly awesome as they are. After watching the team all-around (where we won silver), the all-around (where Nastia and Shawn went 1-2) and every single other event I could manage to cram into my schedule, I have just grown more and more proud of each of our women, and their skills. Both of them bring different things to the table, but each are so dominant at all of these different events, it just boggles the mind. So, today, learning that Shawn won her first gold of the games, in the balance beam no less, I was just so proud of herI was almost giddy. I was absolutely sure she'd walk away with the gold in at least one event, but I didn't think it'd be the last event of the entire gymnastics competition. Even after knowing the outcome, I'm still going to tune in tonight, and see the final event, and I'll be even happier when Shawn walks away with the gold a second time.
Meanwhile, I have been having some problems in this Olympic year. Basically, I'm an American, and I totally love America, but I certainly have a lot of respect for China, and want them to do well. On the other hand, I don't want them to beat us in the medal race (cause that's all Americans care about anyway), but I don't want China to have it's hopes crushed. What I mean is, I mean, I know that these games are more than just games. The Party (big P) is using it to try to sway the people and cover up big problems they're having. But then again, the spirit of the people are on the athletes, and the athletes themselves feel the pressure of more than a billion people. And now Liu Xiang (the hurdeler) is out with an Achilles problem. The American announcers can barely contain they're joy. You couldn't throw a cat without seeing billboards of him all around Beijing. He was the biggest deal of the Olympics, and I can't help it that I'm a little sad to see him out.