Comments on: Unsung Heroes

By: Karen

Karen — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:09:35 +0000

Congrats to all the athletes what a truely amazing accomplishment and experience. I loved how everyone I talked to seemded to be into watching them just as much as me. Even those who typically don’t watch sports. When the relay swim team beat France to me was truely a magical moment that I feel lucky to have witnessed and made me feel proud to be an American.

By: Mary

Mary — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 22:35:07 +0000

For grace under pressure, I continue to think of Sylvie Frechette, of Canada’s synchronized swim team in the early 90’s. She went to the Olympics just days after her fiance had committed suicide, and competed to what should have been a gold medal, but was cheated of it when one of the judges pressed a wrong number on the computer scoring system. Astonishingly, even though the judge recognized her mistake, Sylvie was not recognized as the gold medalist until much much later. No complaints, head high and gracious.

By: Lee

Lee — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 04:43:03 +0000

After all the hype around training of US elite women for the marathon I thought it was stunning that even the faves can get hurt or sick and a Constantina Tomescu can come from nowhere to leave everyone far behind. And it’s a comfort to me as an aging athlete that even if I might get hurt before a race and not be able to run, it happens to everybody – even the best in the world!

By: Stacy Koepplin

Stacy Koepplin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:26:02 +0000

I would have to say the women’s 8+ (rowing) and Michelle Guerette (the woman’s single scull) who won silver. I love the 8+ who were finally able to beat the Romanians and the Dutch and avenge their loss in Athens. I also loved that most of them sung (and sung loudly) the national anthem. When I was training with the team to sing or not to sing was a big debate. I think that after you have won a gold medal for the United States you can’t help to be moved to sing at least the “Land of the free, and the home of the Brave!”. As Michelle Guerette missed gold by .43 seconds in an event that is historically weak for U.S. rowing. You go girl!

By: Pam

Pam — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:35:51 +0000

They are all heroes in my opinion. Anyone that works that hard to even get to the Olympics, never mind winning a medal is a true champion. Cheers to Dara Torres – she is a true sportswoman! Michael Phelps – amazing! But, I have to agree with Marliss above regarding the favorite Olympic moment. I really enjoyed watching the Women’s Marathon and was blown away by the speed and determination of the Romanian who won. As a 49 year old runner (soon to be 50) she really gave me a reason to work on my speed!

By: Marliss

Marliss — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:59:51 +0000

My favorite moment was when the 38-year old mother of a 17 year old son won the Women’s Marathon.

By: Maggs

Maggs — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 10:04:57 +0000

Rohullah Nikpai, 21 yr old from Afghanistan-bronze medal taekwondo
Natalie du Toi, lost her leg and still swam 10K
Maarten van der Weijden, overcame leukemia to win gold in the 10K swim
Oksana Chusovitina, 33 yr old german gymnast. Won silver on the vault. Moved to Germany for her son to get medical treatment.

By: Leigh Ann

Leigh Ann — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:59:43 +0000

Dara Torres was my own personal inspiration….as an old time swimmer myself, (and only slightly older than Dara) she provided great inspiration. But as others have said, she has priorities soooooo right. The glory isn’t in the gold, the glory is in the effort and the personal committment to get there. Her committment was not just to herself and her goals, but to sport as it should be played!

By: Rhea Kaci

Rhea Kaci — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:51:29 +0000

My favorite moments were the minutes after He Kexin of the Chinese women’s gymnastics team lost her grip on the uneven bars during the prelims and fell. I saw such sisterly sympathy and understanding from all her teamates. NBC commentator Tim Daggett exclaimed, “Yikes that was far!!” with such sincerety nanoseconds before she slipped, and then he sympathized with a comment on how they had seen her do that move a million times before without falling. I admire the sportsmanship of our former olympic team commentator, regardless of which team he’s watching. I’m really happy to see Missy Park’s comment on the Chinese gymnasts and divers.

Runner-up moment: the giddiness of the US women’s beach volleyball ladies when they won! Such giggling and jumping was the opposite of their intense ferocity on court.

I love how the Olympics makes everyone sit an inch taller, no matter who’s face is on screen. Sports are sports, whoever the players.

By: Valerie

Valerie — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:40:23 +0000

That’s what I love about the women’s races. Most of us watch out for everyone else. I never worried about my daughter doing women’s races and triathlons when she was young because I knew if something happened, someone would help her. Generally, the front runners don’t help, but that’s what was amazing about Dara. She is a front runner, yet she’s still looking out for and taking care of her competition.

Ann – thanks for being a great sportswoman. Encouraging and checking on your fellow racers is certainly worth the few minutes added to your time.