Thurs Aug 14 -- Swimming

Of course, the swimming event was terrific. We were dressed in all USA colors and ready to cheer. We had our white “GO USA” T-shirts with a big American flag on them, we had white American flag caps on, we had two stick flags to wave, and had our big 3x5 flag to hold up as well. There were a mixture of finals and semifinals to watch. The most interesting personal observation I had was how quickly the events seemed to come and go when you were the spectator. Of course, on TV you see the build up, the life history, the commentary. But the real life event is quite simple. They announce your event, you line up, you start and you finish. Hard to imagine how much time and energy had been spent in each of the swimmer’s life before getting to that point. The crowd was predominantly Chinese, as would be expected. So by far, the most exciting race was one in which the Chinese women finished 1-2. The Chinese fans were cheering like crazy, on their feet, flag waving. They both beat an American , but since we were in the “Chinese section”, we were happy for them anyway. And of course, we did get to see Michael Phelps and Lochte in the semifinals of one of the events. Pretty cool.