Sunday 5 August 2012

Silver is apparently the new gold

Well so said an interior designer in the Homewares store I was in yesterday.

“I went to a Trade show in Sydney last weekend”, she squealed with excitement,  “and I can tell you silver will be big on the home decorating front for years time to come.  It’s definitely the new gold.”

In candlesticks and serving platters maybe but even the Australian Olympic athletes seem to be under the impression that silver medals are the new gold too.

You see after eight days of competition we have little gold to speak of but are right up there on the silver medal tally. Along with Russia, China and the USA. It will be the first time since the 1976 games that we have walked away from the swimming pool without an individual gold medal. 

Shock. Horror. Great Britain, New Zealand and even Kazakhstan are way ahead of us. I am not sitting on the couch yelling Aussie, Aussie, Aussie oi, oi oi but kneeling on the floor crying Aussie, Aussie, Aussie wah, wah wah.

So in an effort to be more sportsmanlike, I would like to congratulate those countries ahead of us on the gold medal table…and there are a lot ……18 to be precise. And a big shout out to the USA who are hanging on to the leader board by one gold medal over China, and to the host nation, Great Britain, for some amazing and spirited performances.

And France - who knew you could be so stylish and so sporty!

I have been unashamedly glued to the TV. I am very competitive. In fact I could easily win a Gold Medal  – for sitting on the couch for extended periods of time yelling at the TV. However, with each Olympics I am inspired to move more.  And now I have found a new sport I am keen to try. I want to take up tossing a ball over a net on a beach even though I may actually be better suited to tossing people around the floor - for reasons I will explain later.

And as you would expect, after so much Olympic viewing I do have a few highlights and lowlights to share. 

The Opening Ceremony
Well done Great Britain. Your athletes uniforms may have looked like Elvis impersonator cast offs but Danny Boyle sure put on a classy and fun opening Ceremony. Queen Elizabeth and Bond were just fantastic as was Rowan Atkinson hilarious. And I loved the fact that talented young athletes who are not yet household names got to light the cauldron. The only lowlight for me came in the shape of a Beatle. And at the risk of sounding sacrilegious, Sir Paul McCartney, I think it’s time to retire…. flogging a dead horse I think it’s called. Yes, I said it. 



The Twitter Games

Isn’t it amazing how much trouble can be started in 140 characters or less. This is the first social media Olympics. A Greek athlete was expelled from the Games for something she tweeted. Then Police had to arrest people in the UK and US for threats sent via Twitter to athletes. Rupert Murdoch thinks the athletes should just toughen up. As he points out, he has received hundreds of death threats since joining Twitter but he doesn't run to the police. Personally, I would like to know why elite athletes are up half the night tweeting and facebooking their fans, friends and family.

A level playing field
Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei had been the only three countries that had never fielded female Olympians in their teams. With all three now including women, these are the first Olympics in which every competing nation, 205, is represented by female competitors. That is a triumph. Now all Saudi Arabia has to do is give women the keys to the car as they are still banned from driving there.


Different shapes
With so much exposed flesh running around you cannot help but admire all the different body shapes.  I am loving what running on sand must do for your body because beach volley ball players have great figures. With those skimpy uniforms you cannot help but notice. Just ask all those men who have filled the stands with each game. I also have been spell bound by the rowing. The athletes  are so long and lean. However, to give us more well padded people hope that we could just walk from our couch straight into Olympic competition, meet  Ricardo Blas Junior a 218k judo player from  Guam.  He was defeated in the second round by someone half his size but skill comes in all shapes and sizes. 



Sportsperson of the Decade
The United States swimmer Michael Phelps. There are no words really but there would not be one person in the entire world who could not given him a standing ovation for what he has achieved. 21 gold medals across three Olympics.  Personally I think his biggest feat is consuming 12,000 calories a day for that many years. Like how?


Best sport of the Games so far

Everyone loves an Olympic underdog (no, I am not talking about Australia here). We all know that large countries spend millions on their athletes to bring home Gold medals. However, think about the small nations who have nothing - no money, resources, training  etc but who still participate in the Games. Meet Hamadou Djibo Issaka, a 35-year old from Niger. He keeps smiling even though he keeps coming last in the rowing.  Four months ago he had never been in a boat.  He won a place at the Games courtesy of a wild card from the IOC ‘in the spirit of universal representation’. His experience until then consisted of watching rowing on television. To be fair, there isn’t much call for rowers in Niger. More than 80 per cent of the country is Sahara desert; there is no coastline, no flat-water lakes, no rowing clubs and no specialist rowing boats. Much of his training was done in a traditional fishing boat.


The fastest man on Earth
Will it be Usain Bolt of Jamaica who wins the 100m final? He is accomplished. Not only is he a five-time World and three-time Olympic gold medalist but he has also been learning Spanish. Why? Because he believes most of the really 'hot' women athletes speak Spanish. Nice to see him so focused on the competition, perhaps just not the right competition. Time will tell.


So onwards we go for the next week of competition.    And a final word to the Australian Olympic Team. Silver is only the new gold in interior decorating NOT Olympic competition. Now that we have that clear. Go on. Get on with it!

News Flash: There is a silver lining apparently. I just found out that the Gold Medals are in fact made of 93% silver, 6% copper and 1% gold.  So there is not much of a difference between the medals after all….maybe our athletes are on to something….no need to exert yourself.....I am only counting silver medals from hereon in. 

So, for those of you who have watched the Games, what are some of your highlights?   And don’t worry I do not take this competition thing too seriously, it’s just sport right? Besides, did you know the world’s richest woman lives here (perhaps she could pay to have those silver medals dipped in gold and we could pretend, lol). 


28 comments:

  1. Great to see that you are enjoying the Olympics Lilly, as we are too. I love the swimming and the track events. My husband is watching the tennis finals right now, and we have plans to go out, hope we won't be too late!

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    1. Hi Christine, I just watched the Canad v Australia Women's basketball game. Missed the tennis but I can understand your husband getting glued to the TV - it is great viewing - can't imagine doing anything like it myself!

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  2. Great post! Very humorous and accurate observations! My favorite competitions so far have been Women's gymnastics and the swimming events.

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    1. Thanks for your comment Debbie. I always love the swimming too and I wish I had seen the women's gymnastics to see the US team get gold.

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  3. Silver is not exactly 'chopped liver'...SILVER IS A HIGH HONOR! Yes. I know. It ain't Gold...! But to be getting a medal at all, Gold, Silver, Bronze...Is Just Fantastic!

    I LOVE the Swimming! And The Diving, too. And some of the Gymnastics...PLUS, quite a bit of the Track and Field.
    I'm glued to the TV, too...Though we here in the U.S. don't get to see things till they have already happened, hours and hours before. I'm not happy about that.

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  4. I'm loving the Olympics too and really enjoyed seeing this post. I agree with you. I was not a fan of Hey Jude and it ran on too long. I loved the Queen and Bond. I'm glad Phelps is going out with a golden bang. Now I hope everybody lets him hang up his Speedo so he can enjoy the rest of his life doing what he wants to do. I'm not big time competitive, BUT I really want to keep ahead of China. :-)

    I think any medal you get is priceless........ well......... actually the winners do get prize money too so not entirely priceless. LOL

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  5. I couldn't stop watching the gymnastics and I enjoyed the swimming events too! The synchronized swimming was amazing when you think about the difficulty level and then to match it with someone by your side.

    That's funny about the gold medal mostly being silver!

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  6. Who is the world's richest woman?
    I have not watch that much of the games. A little swimming, gymnastics and the velodrome. I even missed Mr. Bean but thanks to my daughter and instant messages I found the clip on the internet. We were lucky to see Sir Paul in concert in Chicago last summer. Based on that concert - he is still rocking hard. His performance was vastly better than the 1 British pound song he did at the opening ceremony. My wife and I agree that he should stop dying his hair.
    Now you have thinking of Scrambled Eggs/Oh, my baby how I love your legs.

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  7. An independent Scotland would be well up the medals table...

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    1. So right Mike, Sir Chris Hoy alone would have got you there without Andy Murray being included and anyone else I am not aware is Scottish. Great result for a population of some five million. Bring on Independence hey?

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  8. Hi Lily, I've been so so on keeping up with the Olympics although I do enjoy them tremendously! I hope your doing well, I'm still doing ok myself. I have scans again in a couple of weeks and hope they are good. I am approaching my 1st year of living with cancer...such a sad anniversary date!

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    1. It is great you are doing ok and I am sure that will continue for you. Life changes it is true and my prayers and thoughts are with you that you get great news in the next couple of weeks. xx

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  9. It's interesting to hear many say that it doesn't really matter, it's having participated, silver is fine blah blah.... but deep down, we know it's baloney!

    All those countries I can't even spell, seems to have more golds...sigh.

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    1. Ha ha, funny. At least we have won four more gold in the last couple of days and are now above NZ. The Freanch and Italians hav done incredibly well too. It is just that we are used to winning so many in the pool that it was a shock to us this time around. To have so many world records but not win in the Olympics is odd. It will do them good but I have to admit I love seeing Team GB do so well (I Know it is hard to say) - we remember what it is like to host a Games and it is great to see the support the British are giving all althletes.

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  10. Surprisingly enough Lilly I have become hooked to the (bloody O) games... (What I called them before they began - not now though - am totally addicted!

    Is it me or have the English become a bit more inclusive these days, since the start of the games ??? erm we Scots who get everywhere (as you know Lilly) are actually getting mentioned hehhehe! God bless Andy Murray !!

    I too thought the opening was great too - though I did think the shots of the 'ahem Queen' waving laudilly ?? from the helicopter were just a 'bit' much! Probably my Scottish heritage in being brought up to cow tow too much - hehehe...

    I still want Independence for us though! Oh Yes I do !! ( Hells Bells! gettin a bit political in me auld age).

    Anyway missus, enough moaning! Australia may not be getting many medals but they are known world wide for their fairness and welcoming hearts ... Cheers, Kate xxx.

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    1. Andy Murray did so well, great result for Scotland Kate.

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  11. Loved the picture of the harbor on your masthead, Lilly!

    You gave a great summary of the games so far. I have to admit I haven't watched anything except the amazing little gymnast who won. It's wonderful to see how talented everyone is though, isn't it? Let alone so buffed...

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    1. Jo Dee, its a picture of Melbourne - lovely place. That little gymnast is just gorgeous as well as clever. Looks like a little doll as well as being so talented. Wonderful achievement for her. Buffed is right....

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  12. As you know I have been at the Games and it has been incredible. So good for the UK and has done a lot for national pride. I notice you have got a few more gold medals in the alst couple of days.

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  13. Great Games and the track and field events are my favouite. Those Jamicans have so much swagger hey - well done to the Brits.

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  14. Hey Lilly, CONGRATULATIONS on Sally Pearson's Golden win!!! I can just imagine you cheering in your living room. Yae!!!! I was thinking about you tonight.

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  15. Thanks so much Kay, I so definitely was. How close was it? Lovely girl.

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  16. Bill, her name is Gina Reinhart. She is a mining magnate.

    As for Macca - yes let it be a lesson to all of us - natural is best or at least lighter not darker..

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  17. I've enjoyed everything I've watched - especially Michael Phelps and Missy, track and field, and Gabby winning her two Olympic metals. I loved her hugging her coach and her beautiful smile. She will be especially inspirations for my granddaughter. I just love the athletic prowess on display.
    I would give you a gold medal for commentary in this and previous post!

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  18. Bill, my reply is hereunder as the comments are playing up. Lilly

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  19. I'm an Olympic JUNKIE. It's the only time I watch TV and I make my family watch it with me. When the Olympics are over I generally disappear into my books again. My favorite moment was the Canadian women's soccer team winning their bronze medal. Which kinda tells you where I'm from... :)

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  20. Just wondering how you are doing and if you are having Olympic withdrawals?

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Thanks for your comments.