Gymnastic Fantastic

In all my childhood Olympic gymnastic fantasies, there were never any 71-cent beers, a feature that made my Olympic gymnastics reality all the more special. Don’t worry, when I attended the women’s gymnastic qualifier round the other night, I did not abuse the bargain at the concession stand and try to lead a chant about the balance beam being approximately the width of your television remote control (did they mention that figure on NBC this year? They have for every other summer Olympics). I did, however, feel very lucky to watch the competition. I never thought I would attend an Olympic event in my life, though the Games deeply inspire me every two years. Despite seats near the top of the venue, we had a great view and watched the athletes dazzle us with their spangles and tumbles. Our fav was a tiny (aren’t they all?) girl with dreads from Greece, blowing my belief that 342 hair clips and one white scrunchy per athlete was a uniform requirement.