Olympic Spirit

I did this Olympic Spirit layout at Nora's class at the Oasis last Saturday night. I love Nora's style so it was wonderful to get in her scrapping mind and do some layouts.

And speaking of Olympic spirit, how about these Olympic moms winning medals? Did you see that Oksana Chisovitina won silver for Germany in the Vault for Women's gymnastics? 33 years old (about TWICE as old as most female competitors), 5th time Olympian, mother, and competing to honor the country that successfully treated her son's leukemia. She embodies the talent, drive, and passion to be an Olympic athlete and a guiding source of determination is that her "child comes first". And she won silver. And more inspiration comes from Dara Torres, 41 years old, mother, oldest American Olympic swimmer, who retired after the 2000 games and was inspired after the birth of her daughter to compete again. She missed first place by 1/100 of second and won silver in the 50m freestyle, and then later anchored the American Women's 4x100 medley relay to a silver finish as well.

To me, I love when the Olympic spirit comes from the underdog who pulls out ahead on drive and heart. With all due respect to Michael Phelps and his 8 gold medals, I think Jason Lezak embodied the heart and will of Olympic swimming by kicking out that amazing come-from-behind anchor leg on the 4x100 freestyle realy. And frankly, even in that 100m butterfly race where Phelps won by 1/100 of second, was I the only one nearly rooting for Cavic when it looked he would beat the seemingly untouchable Michael Phelps? I could practically hear Do you believe in miracles?! being shouted in Serbia.

And did you see who won Canada's first gold medal for these games? That would be a female wrestler named Carol Huynh, who didn't make the cut for the 2004 Olympic team but didn't quit and focused on making the 2008 team. She upset a world champ (and 2004 silver medalist) who she had never been able to beat. As a daughter of parents who fled Vietnam before she was born, she credits them for not giving up on her dream. Seeing pictures of her crying on the podium was so moving and just capped another amazing Olympic story.

Man, these games are still killing me. I skipped last night to catch up on some sleep but I'm vaguely panicking that I missed something amazing. Perhaps I should DVR the games and get more efficient with my Olympic viewing.