London Olympics! (Part III)

More favorite moments from the Summer Games:

Swimming

This is not really a favorite moment, but I have another Hong Kong connection. :) Besides the relay medals, Nathan Adrian had a fantastic gold-medal swim as he out touched the world champion by one-hundredth of a second! But there was also something else I couldn't quite point my finger to, until I learned that his mom was from Hong Kong! How cool was that. :)

As a sidebar, he, Missy Franklin and Gabby Douglas should be presented with some kind of smiley awards. They all have wonderfully contagious smiles!

Track and Field

Liu Xiang became the first Chinese man to win a track and field gold by winning the 110M hurdles in Athens in 2004. When he couldn't compete at the Beijing Games in 2008 because of injury, the host country was devastated. Four years later, he came to London in good form until he tripped on his first hurdle and was injured. Instead of staying down and letting officials wheel him out of the stadium right away, however, he hopped his way to the finish line, completing his race despite the pain and overwhelming disappointment. What sportsmanship.

Felix Sanchez was devastated and understandably distracted at the Beijing Games when he learned before his heat that his grandmother had passed away. At the 400M hurdles in London, he ran with a picture of her beloved grandmother and him tucked underneath his bib number, and in shoes with Abuela written on them. When he won the race, he pulled out the photo and kissed it. At the medal ceremony, with the gold medal around his neck and his national anthem playing, he was so overwhelmed that he could not stop crying. A touching moment.

Allyson Felix lost two close 200M races at the last two Olympic Games. Instead of giving up and calling it a career with two silver medals, she kept running. In London, she was the fastest runner and fulfilled her dream by winning the gold medal.

Leo Manzano captured the first medal for the USA in the 1500M event since 1968 by staging an exhilarating run past a handful of opponents in the final stretch of the race, winning the silver medal. As he was running the race of his life, his hometown was cheering him on from a distance. At the end of the race, his folks were as elated as he was.

Gymnastics

I didn't see it until this week but it is worth mentioning. After Team USA won the team gold last week, captain Aly Raisman took off her gold medal and put it on her coach, Mihai Brestyan, because she felt it was as much as his gold medal as it was hers. Her coach (a big guy) gave her a big hug and began to cry. What a thoughtful and sweet gesture by the teenager.

Beach Volleyball

Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings completed their dream run and won their third straight Olympic gold medal. Their gold medal match was also their last match together since Misty was retiring. At the medal ceremony, Kerri was holding Misty's hand while singing to the national anthem. When Kerri was overcome by bittersweet emotions, the crowd picked her up by singing the anthem for her. What an incredible run for the duo and what a nice ending and send-off by the crowd.