Taking Care Of Business: France Bows Down To The Americans

Correspondent Written on August 10, 2008

Speechless. Breathless. Heart is still pounding. It is 12:06 am and I still can’t believe it. Being a fanatic of the Olympics I always watch the most disputed Olympic events; gymnastics, basketball, volleyball, diving, track and field and finally… swimming. I’m not much the competitor either, I mean sure I take pride in my country, but I know there is no way the United States can take every event, because unfortunately we are not phenomenal at everything, as much as most of you would like to believe otherwise. I have a great appreciation for sports, and for other countries in sports but tonight, well tonight was not one of those nights.

Having been left a little let down by the gymnastics competition, with America placing second after China in the preliminaries, I kept the program on to watch live swimming. I fully acknowledge that most of the things that occurred to the American women in gymnastics were out of their hands, what with injuries plaguing them, and having been shaken up by all this for their first Olympics, but as a former gymnast myself, I know they can do better. They felt pressured and faltered a little but they are now the underdog, and as most greats in history, they are bound to make a comeback. Generally, I wasn’t too keen on watching the swimming, because Americans were not in some of the heats anyway, and its never been a particular interest of mine.

Something I heard suddenly caught my attention.On television, one of the broadcasters announced that one of the French swimmers, Alain Bernard, competing in the 4x100m freestyle relay, made a rather peculiar statement. Confident. Cocky. Conceited. Like most things French. When asked about whether the Americans were a big threat, Bernard responded, “The Americans? We’re going to smash them. That’s what we are here for.” Now I’m not one to get heated over stupid commentary, but I have to say, being a home-grown, American girl-next-door…I was a little taken aback. My outrage only increased when I heard that prior to the relay, one of the French swimmers had even spit in the Americans' lane during warm ups! So the rest of the relays came and went. I was waiting for the 4x100m freestyle relay. To be honest, I watched the other relays, both male and female, and could not tell you what happened in them. I was gunning for that 4x100m freestyle.

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written on August 10, 2008 Sports