The 2012 Summer Olympics were held in late July and early August this summer. I might be a little biased, but this reporter thinks London did a pretty good job of following Beijing’s spectacular event in 2008.
British people are quite proud of their country and its history, and they showed that in the opening ceremony with scenes from the Industrial Revolution up to today. Danny Boyle did a spectacular job of putting in any and all things British: from the Queen parachuting in with James Bond, to NHS Nurses, to Mr. Bean. The opening ceremony really did set the stage for an incredible 16 days of sport with all the countries parading in together and then torch being lit up, petal by petal.
The London Olympics was full of news this year with some things you would expect and some that we didn’t. Usain Bolt, 26, won all three gold medals (100m, 200m, 4x1000m relay) for a second time. Michael Phelps, 22, retired after winning his 22nd medal and becoming the world’s most decorated Olympian of all time. The London Olympics was also the first time that both men and women competed in all the sports. Vietnam came close to winning a medal three times during the London Olympics: getting fourth place overall three times. One of these people was shooter Hoang Xuan Vinh who did incredibly well, achieving a personal best, but after getting 658.5 points he lost by 0.1 points to Wang Zhiwei of China.
A lot of attention was turned to South African runner Oscar Pistorius, also known as the Blade Runner, who took part in the Olympics despite have double below-knee amputations. He was able to run in the 400m with the other athletes after his claim that the blades he uses don’t give him any advantage, this claim was accepted and he was allowed to run. It is harder, as you can imagine, for Paralympic athletes to go as fast as a regular runners because they have to get all their power from the hamstrings and hips whereas regular runners can also get power from the thigh, calf, and ankle. Another Paralympic athlete who competed in the Olympics this year was Polish table tennis player Natalia Partyka who only has one arm. She is currently number 32 in the world, which is a big deal for anyone but is especially huge if you are born without a forearm and hand on your right arm.
In the end, the medal tally came in with the US first with 104 medals, and then came China with 87 medals, next was Russia with 82 medals, fourth was Great Britain with 65 medals, and fifth was Germany with 44 medals. For more information and results visit www.london2012.com.
