London 2012

The London Olympics had me utterly captivated, and each evening found us watching NBC until much too late. Since we’re in temporary arrangements as we search for a house, it was very difficult to work out the live streaming via internet, and so some matches/races I followed by watching facebook status updates. But it was nice to catch a few highlights on primetime, such as the Latvians beating the US in men’s beach volleyball on their way to a bronze medal. I believe Pļaviņš and Šmēdiņš became national heroes overnight in Latvia, even if the audible confusion of Americans was somewhat disheartening. Are there really that many people who think Latvia is a made-up country, or don’t know where Latvia is? Some twitter updates had me in stitches, all basically wondering the same thing, how this tiny country with only 2 million inhabitants beat the superpowers.


Source: here

During previous Olympics I remember being very disappointed with the coverage. Latvia is alphabetically located in a group of tiny nations: Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libyan AJ and Liechtenstein. During the opening ceremonies this seems to be the perfect time to cut to commercial break, and so we rarely saw the Latvian athletes walking into the Olympic stadium. This year the opening ceremonies were taped, and they did quick recaps upon returning from commercials meaning Latvia got its five seconds – a proud moment for all of us Latvian-Americans in the US.

Source: here

Even prouder moments were the medals. Pļaviņš and Šmēdiņš went on to lose to Brazil, but in the end went three rounds with Netherland to earn the bronze medal. And in cycling Māris Štrombergs from Valmiera is the ONLY gold medalist in BMX… (the sport debuted in the Beijing 2008 Olympics, but he’s got two gold medals!) Two other Latvians made the team, Rihards Viede and Edžus Treimanis, but they got caught up in a crash in the semifinals and will have to wait another four years for their next shot. Kind of interesting that Latvians are excelling in these extreme sports, don’t you think?

Source: here

I hope that one day I have the opportunity to go to the Games. As emotional as watching the Latvian National Anthem played and the flag raised during the gold medal ceremony on YouTube was, I believe my heart would just burst to be there in person. And I don’t discriminate, I’m just as proud of each and every athlete representing the USA, and my eyes tear up watching almost any athlete up on the podium receive the greatest athletic honor in the world. For a few weeks the economic crisis, the wars being fought in the Middle East, all the usual gut-wrenching drama that unfolds in the daily news was replaced by hope, pride and the belief that dreams do come true. Only two years until the 2014 Sochi Games!

My two gold medalists on the podium