Breaking News (Sort Of)!: Co-Ed Swim Relays?

I can't believe I still haven't blogged about the Paralympics. I'm a little bit of a failure. I actually haven't even finished watching the closing ceremony yet; I'm about 38 minutes into it and have been for, oh, three weeks now. It's just so hard to find two hours of free time! But that IS coming... eventually.

In the meantime, however, I stumbled across something today that I'm actually kind of fascinated by. According to an article on NBCsports.com, there was a co-ed 4x50m relay at the swimming World Cup in Dubai today. Teams will be made up of two men and two women and each team can put together their legs however they want, which could mean men swimming against women depending on each team's strategy/strengths. Co-ed relays might end up in seven other major swim meets later this year and, if all goes well, they could eventually show up in the world championships and the Olympics.

Basically, we're very far from having this event in the Olympics, since it would have to be a test event first (and I'm not even sure if Rio is far enough in the future for it to happen there). But WOW. I'm unbelievably thrilled at just the possibility!

Had I even thought about co-ed events in the Olympics until today? Honestly, I'm not even sure. For the most part, gender in sport is looked at from a "men vs. women" viewpoint. And yes, men are overall better athletes, so one man swimming against one woman would be an unfair race, assuming they're the same caliber athlete. World record times for men and women in 50m races differ by two or three seconds. This is pretty on-par with most sports; men just have an advantage.

But if teams are composed of men AND women... well, that's not really an issue anymore. What's a three-seconds-slower time if another team also swims a three-seconds-slower time? It's not like swimming is a contact sport; the women are in no danger of getting laid out by a man twice their size. If these girls can swim fast, they can hang with the boys. Pretty simple, no? The German team at the World Cup had a woman swim their anchor leg and they won by over two seconds.

Call me biased, but I think this could do really great things for women's sports in general. Women can be fantastic athletes, and throwing them into co-ed competition will prove that point. So I'm on board purely for this reason alone; I want to see girls kick some butt. But look at the strategy that's involved!

While smart money and zealous assumptions would suggest an American team made up of famous names like Michael Phelps, Missy Franklin, and Ryan Lochte… a little math says that none of those gold medal swimmers would have made the cut for a hypothetical American squad in London.

Why? When you look at the results you realize that the disparity between men’s and women’s times in the backstroke and breaststroke is greater than in the butterfly and freestyle by a full second or two, so you’d want to put girls in the latter two strokes and the men in the first two.

In London that probably would have meant the Americans starting with Matt Grevers, who won gold with an Olympic record in the 100m back in London, followed by breaststroke bronze-medalist Brendan Hansen in the second leg. Then you’d definitely put world record holder Dana Vollmer in the butterfly (Team USA’s biggest advantage) and Jessica Hardy, who finished seventh in the 50m freestyle as the anchor.

Sure, you might not want to anchor with your weakest swimmer, so maybe you swap her for Cullen Jones – who won silver in the men’s 50m free – but then you risk giving up an extra second or two by swapping out Hansen for Rebecca Soni in the breaststroke. And can you really leave Phelps, Lochte, Missy, Soni, and Nathan Adrian off this team?

Mind = BLOWN. I mean, Michael Phelps is retired now, but still. I'm so intrigued! Can this PLEASE happen?!

What do you think?

Everything is Olympics and Nothing Hurts!

Ack, I know, I haven't written a proper post in a week and a half. And I know, I have two papers due in two weeks that I really need to stop procrastinating on. But dammit, today is the two year anniversary of the Vancouver opening ceremony, and I will blog about the Olympics if it kills me!



Also, I had my volunteer training/orientation today. I don't know whose idea it was to make it on the anniversary of Vancouver, but whoever you are, I like you. Thanks for the extra layer of goosebumps!

Basically, this is the blog post I've been waiting my entire life to write... and I can't say anything. Confidentiality agreements have tied my hands. I'm not allowed to say anything more than "had a great time!" and "I did so many cool things!" and "I learned so much!"

So. Frustrating.

This is like Endurance. But worse. Ugh.

I mean, obviously, I know that the ceremonies are kept hush-hush until they're actually going on, and it's really cool that now I'm considered knowledgable enough to not be allowed to say anything. But I took mental note of some non-sensitive things I can safely talk about.

1. In the room we were led into first -- our future break area -- they were silently airing a clip from Beijing's opening ceremony on a TV as we were all milling around. They briefly showed a little girl singing, and I thought to myself, "oh, that's the girl that wasn't actually singing." Not two seconds later, a girl nearby turns to her friend and says, "That girl isn't actually singing." I have found my people.

2. As they were leading us into one of the sound stages where we'll be working, there was another TV playing a montage of ceremony clips from the past 15 or so years. Montages get me weepy at the best of times. Connect the dots.

3. In one of our sessions, the guy leading us went year by year through the Summer Olympics and asked us our memories. When he got to 2004 (Athens), I raised my hand and said, "A lot of swimming, a lot of beautiful scenery, and in the closing ceremony, the giant torch was put out by a little girl like she was blowing a candle." He thought it was interesting, since they put on these massive performances, to see what people actually remember of them. :)

And my favorite quotes of the day:

"You are now a part of the center of the universe. As we like to say here, 'no pressure! There are only four billion people watching!'"

"The Olympics is the most complex peacetime venture. The only thing more complex than the Olympics is a war."

The only thing beyond this that I will say is that it's looking like I'm actually going to have things to do during my shifts! My first shift is on Tuesday at noon -- the first one for the new casting volunteers! -- and I cannot WAIT!



And now, back to my regularly scheduled homework. (Real post tomorrow, when I'm back to procrastinating.)

500 Days Until Summer

I let the 500-day mark until London 2012 pass by without a blog entry. Shame on me!

I’m REALLY excited for London. I can’t remember ever being this excited about an Olympics this far in advance, and I’m not really sure why I am now. The summer Olympics aren’t my favorite – I mean, I watch them 24/7, don’t get me wrong, but winter is my thing. But I think it’s a perfect storm of circumstances this time around; during Beijing 2008 I was in Italy the entire time, so all I saw were the opening and closing ceremonies, which means I haven’t watched a summer Olympics since Athens in 2004; I have a vested interest in Coach Deem, so I’m itching for track and field to start already; and there’s the possibility (which is mostly just hope at this point) that I could be working there.

I think London will be the first Games I’ve followed since before the host city was even chosen. That was way back in 2004; luckily that was a rather eventful year for me, and I have a surprising number of memories from then. My (Olympics-themed) Bat Mitzvah was on Feb. 7th, 2004. On my birthday (Feb. 21st) that year, a rally was held at Rockefeller Center to support NYC’s bid as a candidate city for the 2012 summer Olympics. It was a gray, dreary, snowy day, but my mom took me! The crowd was massive and I don’t remember a thing about who spoke, who skated, or what actually happened. But they gave out NYC2012 Candidate City flags, which we still have at home. :)



Obviously, NYC lost the bid that fall. But MAN, how awesome would it have been if it won?! (Of course, if I get the chance to work in London next summer, it’ll be better that NYC didn’t win. I want to go places!)

That summer, my grandparents took Molly and me to London. We used to go on a trip every summer, to places a few hours away by car. But this was our big present for our Bat Mitzvahs! It was my first time out of the country (other than Canada), and I was excited beyond excited. The host city for 2012 was chosen sometime in the fall, so when we were there in August, campaigning was in full swing. I clearly remember being in the restaurant on the top floor of a museum for tea time, looking out the window, and seeing a London 2012 sign on a nearby building. And, according to my grandpa's photographic evidence, they were just about everywhere else, too.





Won’t it be amazing if I actually get to go? Talk about coming full circle!

Honestly, I’m planning on getting myself there one way or another. Absolute best case scenario would be if I had the letters “USA” on my back and media credentials hanging around my neck… holy goosebumps just thinking about it, Batman! Second best case scenario? I’m studying abroad somewhere next spring, and a part of me wants to stay in a cheap studio apartment in London for the summer, work, eat nothing but Ramen for a few months, and go to the Opening Ceremony. That’s all I need. My goal is to go to an opening ceremony sometime before I die, and it’s GOING to happen. I have some friends who claim to be with me on this plan, so if four or so of us share an apartment, rent won’t be too bad. Hey, a girl can dream, right?

Slight side note: while walking through JFK airport today, I saw a row of clocks on the wall that were set to the times in different cities around the world. The first two next to New York were London and Rio de Janeiro. Me being me, my first thought is “ooooohhh, the next two summer Olympics!” I then proceeded to look at the other cities… Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Sydney. Host, host, and host. Sad face for New York! Way to be the black sheep!

Otherwise, nothing too major to report. I potentially have stuff coming up, but nothing’s for sure yet, and I don’t want to jinx anything, so I’m biting my tongue for the time being. But until then…

495 days and counting!