Brief observations on the Olympics

Gymnastics must be one of the hardest things to do, athletically speaking. Even the top gymnasts in the world fall down occasionally, despite the thousands of hours of practice and the high levels of concentration involved. And is it my imagination, or are the commentators for women's gymnastics hypercritical and overly inclined to dwell on the mistakes?

Michael Phelps is ridiculously fast, and so were the rest of last night's men's relay team. I find Phelps very likable, too. He's confident without being arrogant.

I was really disappointed that the first evening of prime-time coverage didn't show more replays of the USA women's saber team. They won all three medals for their event, and those were the first medals the US picked up. You'd think they'd have gotten more air time. Plus, to add to my annoyancce, Costas' co-commentator remark regarding the fencers was "Those girls did just fine". No, those women did something pretty damn cool.