The Olympics Are Over

Last night marked the end of the 2012 Olympics.  The past two weeks had gone by so quickly, and it was a fun ride. 

My favorite highlights (in no particular order):

- Michael Phelps.  After a slow start at the 400 IM, Phelps went on to win four more golds and two silvers.  He is now the most decorated Olympian ever, and he had elevated his sport to amazing new heights.  People kept asking him if he was really done and he said yes.  I hope he meant it and never came back, because it's rare that an athlete can go out on top. 

- The U.S. women gymnastics team.  What a wonderful bunch of girls - they worked together to win team gold, and then Gabby, Aly, and McKayla went on to win their own individual medals.  Even though Jordyn Wieber didn't qualify for the all-around and faltered during the floor exercise, she had shown so much class and team support.  I hope she comes back for Rio.  By the way, if you haven't seen the memes going around of McKayla's pouty face during the vault medal ceremony (she won silver after falling on her butt during her second vault), you have to check these out. 

- Missy Franklin.  She was the breakout star of the swimming team this year, with her great attitude, big smiles, and five medals.  She won the most golds for any female Olympian - four golds, and she also has a bronze medal.  To think she's only 17 and will most likely be back for Rio. 

- Synchronized swimming.  I was so excited to catch some synchronized swimming.  Only in this sport will you see crazy amounts of makeup and insane outfits.  Plus what they do look easy, but it's incredibly hard.  The Michael Jackson routine performed by the Russians was my personal favorite.

- U.S. diving.  After failing to win any medal in the past two Olympics, the United States overhauled their diving program and the results were four medals.  Kelci Bryant and Abby Johnston won silver in the 3-meter springboard, and David Boudia and Nick McCrory in the 10-meter platform and Troy Dumais and Kristian Ipsen in the 3-meter springboard won bronzes.  The most amazing medal was obviously David Boudia's gold in the individual 10-meter platform.  Boudia was the last diver to qualify out of the preliminaries, but fortunately for him no score carried over.  He performed the best six dives of his life in the finals, and narrowly edged China's Qiu Bo and Great Britain's Tom Daley for the gold. 

- Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings.  Watching these two win their third gold medal was fantastic, especially since it's the last Olympics for Misty May-Treanor.  They really have a very deep bond, and it was a pleasure to see how hard they worked.  Despite all the brouhaha about the bikinis, no one would mistake Misty and Kerri as anything but serious athletes. 

- The U.S. women.  The U.S. women won 29 of the team's 46 golds.  If the U.S. women were their own country, they would tie for third with Great Britain for the number of gold medals.  In some sports the women clearly outperformed their male counterparts - boxing, beach volleyball, gymnastics, soccer, track and field, and water polo.