Olympics!!!

Yes, the Olympics gets not one, but three exclamation points. As a Canadian, the winter olympics are my favourite, because it’s where Canada seems to shine more in the different events. But I’m excited for this for so many reasons.

1) Drama – It’s the inherent, pulse pounding drama of watching your country’s representative pushing themselves to strive for a medal. It’s the politics of were the competitors scored properly. (the best example of this is in skating, which is drama for so many reasons).

2) Danger – I don’t mean to minimize how highly trained these athletes are, but some of what they do looks so incredibly dangerous. Check out slopestyle snowboarding, which has competitors traveling down a steep slope at high speeds and doing incredible jumps and then just for good measure, balancing on a beam as they continue down. It’s possibly my new favourite sport to watch, but the ski jumping also looks insane and then there’s luge.

3) Heroism – I watched one athlete finish his slopestyle event, while clutching his back. He’d injured his rib before the competition, but showed no signs until he’d passed the finish line. These events remind me what the human body can do when pushed to it’s limits, and sometimes past them. It’s also the courage it would take to step out onto a world stage and know this is your only chance to compete, to quash nerves and bring your best. I’d crumple under the pressure.

4) Beauty – We’re looking at highly trained athletes at the peak of physical fitness. There is a lot of eye candy.

 

I’m in. Right now the Olympics is the most compelling show on TV and I’ll be glued to it till the end.