Olympics 2012: A Fortnight of Memories (Joy in Repetition Rewarded)

And just like that, the 2012 London Olympics are over and done. A fortnight (two weeks for us non-London folks) has passed and memories have been forged in time. I've already done extensive pieces on my favorite moments so I'll leave you with quick hits on a few more.

Kirani James's win in the 400m. The 1st ever gold medal for Grenada. A 19 year old kid with the weight of an entire country on his shoulders and he carried it proudly.

My dude Cullen Jones racked up two more medals. A silver in the 4 x 100 freestyle relay and his first individual medal - silver in the 50 freestyle.

Cuba's Felix Sanchez wins the 400m hurdles and sheds tears for his late grandmother. I almost wanted to hug him as he bawled during his national anthem. 

Usain Bolt: The Man, The Champion, The Legend

What more can you say? Usain Bolt came to London to be a legend and he did just that. The World's Fastest Man to defend his title in the 100/200 meters and neither race was close. He came, he saw, he conquered.

In the 100, he dusted arguably the greatest field ever by .12 with an Olympic record of 9.63 seconds. Unbelievable that Tyson Gay runs a 9.8 and doesn’t even medal. This might be more impressive than 2008 considering this field was miles better and he was challenged.

He followed that up in the 200 with even more insanity. He won his heat easily without breaking a sweat. Then in the final, he got out quick and left everyone behind to enjoy that cruise to immortality. 19.32 seconds tied what Michael Johnson did in 1996 to set the world record.

This was supposed to be the year he was challenged. His training partner Yohan Blake beat him at the World Championships and the Jamaican trials in the 100/200. Justin Gatlin was back from being suspended and running in top form in the 100. Tyson Gay was healthy and motivated. There’s no way that Bolt would repeat his effort right??

2012 Olympics: What I'm Looking Forward To

The Olympics start today in London and I'm already excited to see what shakes out this time around. Mainly I'm looking forward to see how the first Summer Games is captured in this new social media age. I saw the intrigue and fun from the 2010 Winter Games but now it's going to be even more fun to see the tweets, posts and interaction all around the world.

As far as the Games itself, this is what I'm checking for.