Olympic dreams: Part 4

Now it’s time for me to give you the ten summer Olympic events I can most easily imagine myself doing, whether that’s because I have some experience with them, because I think they fit my personality, or just because I think they might be fun.

 

10.  Sailing

I love to watch the sailing competitions.  Boy, do they look like fun.  Cutting through the water on a clear day, leaning out over the side of the small craft to steer it, using your weight to angle the sail and catch the wind just right.

Of course, I don’t know the first thing about operating a boat– it’s complex enough keeping track of where you are going in a motorboat, let alone a tiny sail craft that will capsize if you lean too far.  So I’m under no illusion that it would be easy to learn.

I’d have to start out by asking my girlfriend Megan to give me some lessons in how to pilot a boat– she at least has some experience in the area, even if it wasn’t as tiny a boat as the craft they race in the Olympics.  And that sounds like fun.  : )

Olympic dreams: Part 3

We’re now into events that I have an easier time imagining myself competing in– at least in a dream.  🙂   In this part of the list, the event as a whole might seem fun, but there’s usually one or two things about it that give me pause.

20. Field events

Another big category lumped together. Basically, you have jumping (the long jump, triple jump, high jump, and pole vault) and throwing (the shot put, discus, javelin, and hammer).

I’ve never been terribly interested in these events, but I like the simplicity of just seeing who can jump the farthest or the highest. I used to try to see how far I could jump with a running start when I was a kid (and much more flexible). I liked the feeling of spinning around, too, so I was always entertained by the way athletes use centrifugal force to throw the discus and hammer.

Olympic dreams: Part 2

Continuing up the list– now we’re into the realm of events I still can’t imagine myself doing, but at least I don’t picture them as pure torture– there’s maybe one thing intriguing about the idea of participating in them.

30.  Judo

I’ve enjoyed watching the judo competition, particularly the amazing dominance of American gold medalist Kayla Harrison in her weight class.  But the thought of being caught in one of her game-clinching pins makes me cringe.  Those big fuzzy blue and white robes the judoka wear in the competition look really comfortable, though, so I had to move judo up the list a few notches just for that.

Olympic dreams: Part 1

I love watching the Olympics.  Ever since I was little, I was fascinated by all of the countries and flags, the stats and record-keeping, and the amazing variety of events.  At a time when there’s a lot of negativity and stress in the news, it’s inspiring to see what people all over the world can do when they devote their time and energy to becoming the best at something they love.

It must be an amazing experience to win an Olympic gold medal and realize that all of your hard work has paid off.  Ordinarily I’d say that I have no idea what that’s like, because I’m not athletically gifted at all, but actually, I sort of do in a strange way.  When I was living alone working on my master’s degree in Texas, I watched a lot of the 2006 Torino winter Olympics, and I had an incredible dream one night.

I dreamed that I was being awarded a medal in the Olympics!  The ceremony was just like what I had seen on TV, outdoors in the snow near the Olympic torch.  Usually when I have a dream that’s clear enough to remember, it’s because I become aware that I’m dreaming (and that wakes me up).  But this dream felt real.  I woke up with a smile on my face, because I felt like I had actually experienced winning an Olympic medal.  Strange, I know.

One thing that was never clear in my dream was what event I had competed in.  I think that if I had tried to figure that out, I would have realized I was dreaming, because the impossibility of the scenario would have become too obvious.  😉

I still think of that dream every time the Olympics come around.  During this summer’s Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro, I’ve been changing channels like crazy, trying to see as many different events as possible.  The morning I started this post, I watched eight different events over the course of three hours.  It gave me the idea for a blog post.