When the Cheshire emerges...

I'm talking about the middle section of the Olympics tonight, the guts of it, where the swimming petered out in favour of the track and field in between continuation of basketball and hockey. And we found God residing in a Jamaican.

Through all of it, I've still had the Swisse song in my head almost all the time from the ads. It's so catchy, yet slightly annoying at the same time.

Days 4-6

Hearing about the four badminton teams throwing games made my blood boil. Did they not remember the mutual, unspoken agreement they had taken less than a week ago? It's called the athlete's oath, bitches.

And then one quits the sport in a huff and a puff saying it's destroyed her happiness. Brought it. Upon. Yourself. No sympathy from me. Just a shame the Aussie girls couldn't capitalise on their second chance.

***

It seems in the pool we became the epitomy of that dreaded term. Bridesmaid. The amount of silvers is testament that our talent remains a threat in world sport, but whether the hunger's there as much as it was a decade ago could easily be questioned. Susie O'Neill certainly raised the debate.

James Magnussen was again a a talking point. The Missile misfired big time once again as we all know by now. That 100m freestyle final was absolutely heartbreaking. 1/100th of a second. It's the cruellest of margins and suggestions he touched with a curled hand as opposed to a flat palm didn't help. I think everyone watching would have had to have been at least slightly shattered no matter how they felt about the 21-year-old. I certainly was. Even in post-swim interviews it's clear he's gained a new perspective - on everything, and he'll definitely grow from it. Whether we see him in Rio will be an interesting development.
This photo of him by Brendan Esposito would have to be my favourite photo from the tournament so far and I'll be surprised if another one better comes along. It says so much about defeat, vulnerability and the disappointment of not just one, but a nation.

The best article so far also reflected on the swim meet, blaming poor media judgment for how we viewed their reactions. A great read.

***


On a better note, my happy silver award goes to Jessica Fox with the kayak slalom. Must be a pretty good feeling to beat both your parents at their own game. And what a darling: "This is the most beautiful piece of metal I've ever seen." Wow, I'll be so shattered if she's not a gold medal winner in Rio. So much good to come for the 18-year-old.

Day 7

Channel Nine called it the lucky day, and with the track and field beginning it was going to be for me. It's the first night I could stay up and then sleep in being Friday night/Saturday morning. The Opals were still in the mix so that was good. But the rest of it was NOT lucky. You jinxed it 9, you frickin' jinxed it. The men's team sprint lost. Anna Meares lost (I still can't talk about it). More silvers in the rowing. Magnussen not even in the 50m final. I stayed up until 4.50am for goodness sake and that's what I got. Damn you Brits.

Days 8-9



OK, so with day seven I was trying to channel my anger at the time. Now AOC's John Coates has conceded we won't make top-five. Well, hate to spoil the party but we figured that out at least five days ago. I'd predicted we wouldn't win another, but without much thought. APPARENTLY (I say this with trepidation) we're a shoo-in with a sailing gold medal tonight. Well done to Tom Slingsby, who I understand is chasing redemption for a poor showing in Beijing. As for those to come, like Sally Pearson, I hope they are also better at withstanding the pressure. God I hope she does it.

***

A turning point for me on day eight. I actually shared my brain with the end of the night's AFL game and then an episode of Once Upon A Time. Unheard of. But a part of me is becoming disillusioned... I think it's a mix of Australia not performing all that great and the continued shit coverage.

Yay, someone out there's sticking it to the man! I love Facebook.

Yes, I still want to punch Leila McKinnon a bit. And no, montages DO NOT COUNT in showing us a sport. I have seen no: weightlifting, handball, football, fencing. Hardly saw any tennis - and the men's side had some cracker games (although the Federer-Del Potro game was apparently a no-show on Foxtel's eight channels either).

And with the news updates: DON'T TELL US ALL THE RESULTS AND THEN PROCEED TO SHOW US EXTENDED HIGHLIGHTS. It becomes lost to me and is a waste of people's time. And don't you dare say you have more live footage from 7am onwards because you DON'T. Ever.

Usain Bolt = God.

I'm ending on awesomeness because I'm not all that bitter. The 100m men's final was something to behold. There had been lots of talk but the defending champ stepped up and took it to everyone. Bolt looked set from halfway, it was just phenomenal. And the friendship with others, especially Yohan Blake, was so great to see. Usain Bolt is one of the great personalities sport has possibly ever seen - confident and able to deliver.