Olympic Musing

"Short people got no business" unless you count Olympic gymnastics. When exactly did the vertically challenged take over the sport? I remember that before there was an Olga, a Nadia and a couple of American midgets that made the front of the Wheaties box, there was Ludmilla Tourisheva. She was tall, lean and graceful as a gliding bird. She also had hips, boobs, a butt and looked like a grown woman and not some squashed down version of the feminine gender. Gymnastics were, admittedly, different in Ludmilla's day. They were more about style than athleticism. No one was doing triples and "sticking the landing" when Ludmilla was flaunting her stuff to a black and white screened television audience. Not that I'm really complaining. The kids today are so proficient they make gymnastics look like circus acts. They are unbelievably good. I guess my question is, can you not be a gymnast if you are, say, five foot eight or taller? Do you get kicked out of the gym if you have a growth spurt at fourteen? "You understand, dontcha kid? Short people don't get many opportunities so we can't let you normals horn in on our gig. Volleyball and hoops are in the gym next block over."

(I can't say volleyball without thinking of sports infirmities like tennis elbow and volley balls.)

While I was either bar building, watching the PGA golf Championship or sipping wine and eating finger sandwiches at B and L's house, I missed what is being called "the greatest (swimming) relay race ever. Five teams broke the existing world record and the U.S. won by a fingernail over the French team. The U.S. team's final swimmer overcame a huge lead by France's world record holder in the hundred meters to give his team the victory. Kudos, I say kudos, even if by missing the event I have to turn in my official pro sports couch potato card and go back to qualifying school. Maybe by watching the entire remainder of the Olympics and a Sox game or two, I can get my card back in time for the NFL season. I'll give it a shot.