"I have been mesmerized for the past few days with the Olympics. Thursday night, when I should have been asleep, I was sitting on the edge of my bed, clutching my pillow with fingers clinched together, hoping Nastia Liukin of the U.S. would complete her last floor exercise without an error.
She did, and it was a beautiful performance, topped off with a gold medal. Silver went to her friend and fellow American, Shawn Johnson, who seemed to me to perform flawlessly. Yang Yilin of China won the bronze, and she, too, looked like poetry in motion.
I really enjoy watching all of these countries perform because it reminds me, as a colleague of mine said, that it’s war between nations but without guns and destruction. It’s who’s the best in one sport or another this year. Maybe in the next four-year cycle, China and the U.S. will be on the bottom of the list, while Uzbekistan and Togo wind up on top. Or maybe not.
Watching Olympic gymnastics has been a tradition of mine for years because I understand what it feels like to do some of the flips and tumbling. No, of course I was never close to being an Olympian, but I did do tumbling in high school. At home in thick green grass near our house, my friend, Ardis, and I would spend hours doing tumbles, cartwheels and flips. Don’t ask me why. It was just fun thing to do back then."
Get the Story:Dorreen Yellow Bird: Athletes 'fight' without destruction (The Grand Forks Herald 8/16)
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