<p>I am getting so pumped watching the swimming and gymnastics trials. And running last weekend. I just don’t think there’s anything better than the Olympics.</p>
<p>The guys were amazing last night in gymnastics. I bet they can’t believe that women’s is the glamor sport.</p>
<p>OMG, I did not know that Janet swam a 400!!! Wow, just wow.</p>
<p>I do not have the time to watch the trials, so I periodically check Omegatiming for the results. I’m so happy for the local kid who will swim 100 free in London. I hope he gets to the top of the podium. 
Go Nathan, win the 50, too!!! And it looks like Ari qualified in her siganture event. Yay!!!</p>
<p>I’ll watch the men’s gymnastics today. The women looked a little shaky to me last night. High hopes for Gabby!!!</p>
<p>Kid who lives 3 door down from me (and who I used to drive to high school every morning for 2 years) finished 11th in the decathalon trials and so won’t be going to London. </p>
<p>But Curtis had a class moment during the final event. He’s a strong runner and was going to win the final event (1500 meter run); however, he knew he wasn’t going to qualify for the Olympics so he stepped aside and let another player take the race and earn a new World Record for the decathlon.</p>
<p>[Curtis</a> Beach Steps Aside As Ashton Eaton Sets World Record - From Our Editors - SBNation.com](<a href=“Curtis Beach Steps Aside As Ashton Eaton Sets World Record - SBNation.com”>Curtis Beach Steps Aside As Ashton Eaton Sets World Record - SBNation.com)</p>
<p>Another one D2’s high school classmates also went to Olympic qualifyings. He’s long distance runner (15000 meter). Sadly he didn’t qualify either. </p>
<p>But I think it’s pretty incredible that TWO students from a small high school (graduating class size =138) would be competing to go to the Olympics.</p>
<p>WOWM, Thank you for posting that link! I was well aware of the world record decathalon (amazing) but I did not hear about how that race finished. Reading about it didn’t quite make sense to me, but watching the finish on the video it seemed like the most natural thing in the world. I also really enjoyed the Curtis Beach interview. What a great guy!</p>
<p>Exciting stuf today.</p>
<p>A few runners I know are at the trials. Two locals didn’t make the 5000 meter team, but the guy finished 4th and did win his prelim heat over now 5K Trials record holder Galen Rupp. WildChild used to race against Leo Manzano in Texas, and I expect Leo to make the 1500 team for London. He’s a tiny thing! My hero Alan Webb failed to make the comeback I predicted for him and bombed big time in the 5000 meter prelims. </p>
<p>Boy, those swimmers are good looking guys!</p>
<p>I live in Eugene, where the whole city is track-crazy. Believe me, Curtis Beach is a rock star here!!! People love what he did last week.</p>
<p>What do you think about some of these "old folks"who are making their 4th or 5th Olympic teams? I heard that with basketball at future Olympics they can still be in the NBA but will have to be under a certain age (23?). We know a guy who was recruited as a young kid for luge. He pretty much grew up in Lake Placid-but the best lugers are in their 30s’, so he could have to stay in the sport for another decade to have a shot at the Olympics.</p>
<p>Topping!!! Who watched women’s gymnastics last night? The team turned out exactly as D and I wanted. (Even down to the alternates, except that Finnegan wasn’t on our radar screen because NBC didn’t show her much.)</p>
<p>Nastia. Rebecca. What can I say? I wish the commenatators would have made a bigger deal in contrasting Alicia who didn’t make the team but who did a terrific job, and Nastia, who…well…you know…</p>
<p>Swimming! Missy Franklin, HS Class of '13!</p>
<p>I couldn’t watch last nights trials but I looked on-line when I got home and found that our local girl, Elizabeth Price, made the Womens gymnastics team as an alternate! What an experience to have at age 16! </p>
<p>I love the difference between the men and women’s gymnastics events. The women seem so springy and bendy and the men look so strong. I can’t imagine the training that any of these people do to get in that good shape</p>
<p>I heard a local sports talk show host trashing Olympics, saying most events are not real sports. I can understand people questioning whether curling is a real sport. But he also trashing swimming, badminton, etc.
Some of us grew up here in the US thinking the only sports are (American) football, baseball and basketball (maybe hockey, boxing and tennis) and do not appreciate the gift and hard work required for the other sports.</p>
<p>kathie, I was so hoping elizabeth would make the team. I just loved that her coach would cry whenever she did well. She seemed really nice.</p>
<p>missy, I kept seeing Finnegan’s scores flashing up in the arena and wondering why they weren’t showing her because they were pretty good.</p>
<p>Also glad that they’re doing the runoff for the female sprinters and not a coin toss. And Dara Torres is amazing at 45.</p>
<p>There may not be a runoff. The runner initially declared the 3rd place finisher is wanting to back out. It’s all pretty stressful at this point.</p>
<p>For swimming, rooting for Ryan Lochte</p>
<p>Lochte certainly has more bankable looks than Phelps.</p>
<p>Even thought I have a million other things I need to be doing, I just had to look up past Juniors results for the women’s gymnastics (because I feel so bad that Rebecca Bross peaked so early.)</p>
<p>In 2007, at Jr. Nationals, Bross was 1st in the AA and Wieber was 3rd (Samantha Shapiro, 2d, is at Stanford).</p>
<p>In 2008, Jrs., Weiber was 1st, Douglas tied for 16th and Price was 27th.</p>
<p>In 2009, Jrs., Kyla Ross won the AA, Raisman was 3rd (Bridgette Caquatto who came in 2nd is a Florida and they won the NCCA championship this year, I believe.)</p>
<p>In 2010, Jrs. Ross 1st, Maroney 3rd, Douglas 4th, Finnegan 6th, Price 13th.</p>
<p>In 2011, Jrs, Ross 2nd, Finnigan 3rd, Price 11th.</p>
<p>I gues the next one to watch (at least from WOGA [the Luikin gym] is Katlyn Ohashi, who won Jrs. in 2011 and came in 2nd in 2010. Of course, the ones who have a better chance for the 2016 teams are the girls born in 2000.</p>
<p>Read the story about the runoff. Unclear what she would rather happen.</p>
<p>I find the trials fascinating but hard to watch because this is where the actual heartbreak occurs. If you make the team, you go to the Olympics and you have your shot. You may miss the team by a few hundredths of a second or an inch or two and never have another chance because 4 years is a long time for an athlete. Imagine you’re a swimmer and you’re 3rd best behind Phelps and Lochte but not in freestyle so you aren’t in a relay. You have an entire career, a great career by nearly every standard, and never make the Olympics.</p>
<p>^^ This is what I was telling my D yesterday- besides winning a medal in the Olympics, this moment of making the team is probably the pinnacle of an athlete’s career. Seeing the women’s gymnastic team line up yesterday - all fairly young it seemed - sure made me tear up!</p>
<p>Though it’s a little hard to understand some of the events and who they will take to the Olympics, when watching one of the women’s swimming events the other day, it sounded like they would only take the top 2 women in that particular race - but that the 3rd person is so strong (compared to the other competitors in that race around the world) that if she WAS allowed to go, she would likely medal. How horrible to know that you are likely one of the top 3 in the world in that race, but you are denied the opportunity to go and compete.</p>