I Think She Could Bench-Press My Car

I don't normally watch sports. I don't get revved up by the World Series or professional sports, in general. In the college town where I live football and men's basketball are like air to most of my neighbors, but not me. Most of the time, I couldn't care less.

Except for when the Olympics roll around. I watch whatever's on and I'm not partial to any particular country, the USA included. Sure, it's nice when the athletes representing score a medal, but for me that's not what the Olympics are about. I love the beauty and skill and athleticism of every sport involved. This morning, between making batches of ice cream for Flynn's "beach party" tomorrow, I parked my rear on the couch, flipped between MSNBC and USA, and watched men's singles' badminton, women's handball, women's beach volleyball, and the women's clean-and-jerk weightlifting competitions.

I found the weightlifting to be incredibly inspiring. MSNBC showed the women's 48-kilogram weight class. For us non-metric folk, these gals weigh in at less than 105 pounds. Each of these women are tiny little things that can lift over 250 pounds. The gold medal winner, China's Chen Xiexia (pictured above), lifted an Olympic record-tying 115k (247 pounds). She stopped there because she'd already scored the gold. And she lifted those 247 pounds like she was picking up a child. Pretty astounding.

I'll keep her in mind the next time I contemplate skipping-out on my weight-training workouts.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some sporting events to watch...