Beijing Olympics - my overview

I didn't get to watch anywhere close to what I'd hoped to watch of the 2008 Olympics even though I watched some of them every day. The most exciting athlete of this years games for me was Usain Bolt from Jamaica (he's in the center in this photo). Bolt won the 100m and 200m in record times and also won gold in a relay. He made it look almost effortless and looked like he was having a great time.
On the flip side, the saddest moment of the games for me was seeing Lolo Jones (second from the left) hit the second to last hurdle in her run to go from what looked like a sure win by her, to end up in seventh place. One night last week I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep and that's when I saw her event amd what ultimately happened.

Overall I enjoyed the Beijing Olympics, even though it seemed like the only events I saw were swimming, diving, track and field, and beach volleyball. I wished I'd seen some tabletop tennis and badminton, but I probably should have looked at the televison schedules and planned better. I thought the closing ceremonies were okay, but nowhere near as incredible as the opening ceremonies and I'm not nearly as optimistic about China as a country as the NBC announcers tried to make a case for. I'd feel differently in that respect if China had granted some permits for the people that applied for permits for protests (they had 77 permits, none of which they approved) and if they'd have brought that "ugly" girl (I hope she leaves China and becomes super successful) out at the closing ceremonies as an apology for using another prettier girl (who lip synched) at the opening ceremonies. I think we'll know within five years whether this new face (the Beijing Olympics) that China was trying to present to the world will alter the way they actually act in the world arena and or whether the rest of the world's perception of China has changed.