Behdad Salimikordasiabi
He's drawn super heavyweight, Iranian fame
And crumbled the uneasy challenger's claim.
Assertive and burly,
He began training early
By carrying the ponderous weight of his name.
Four years ago I wrote three Olympic observations in the form of limericks. Oddly enough, they still apply this year. So I dusted them off and am putting them back on the blog shelf. Then I added a couple more in honor of all the hours we've spent watching the games...and Geiko geckos and a conspiracy to get us to watch upcoming Bourne movies...and inarticulate Chevy truck owners...and other advertisements ad nausea... oh well, Olympics, I said.
Men's Gymnastics--The Chinese
They're doing remarkable things
On the horse, on the bars, on the rings
Their leads are commanding
They stick every landing
They've balanced their Yangs and their Yings
His perfect, elongated torso
has been featured as never before, so
When his swimming suit slips
Down toward his hips
The length of it seems even more so.
Badminton Scandal
These famous badminton abusers
Looked much more like
cruisers than
bruisers
Their plays were so lame
They were kicked from the game
For trying to be the best losers
Gabby Douglas
The smile is as big as the girl
With a twist and a leap and a whirl
She swings and she soars
While the crowd stands and roars
For their fabulous,
high-flying squirrel
Shelly-Ann Fraser
The 100 is no piece of cake-a
You cannot afford a mistake-a
Just a cool running leap
for a clean medal sweep
It's Jamaica, Jamaica, Jamaica!
Ok, readers, if you want to add your own, send them to me in a comment and I'll post them...
Here's one from Carina:
In London the people are running
And swimming and boating and gunning,
But here I'm just beat
Walking out in the heat
Only watching and cheering and sunning
Then I wrote one for the runners:
Though chased by a feverish
pack...
a Kenyan in front and in back...
Tirunesh Dibaba...
from Addis
Ababa...
took off with the first gold in track!
This one's from Matthew
There once was a runner from Wales,
Who trained with his dogs on the trails.
When his races were run,
He didn't win one,
"I'm sorry I only chase tails!"
And another from Carina
There was a young lady from Perth
Who knew from the day of her birth
She was born to compete
Flying fast on her feet
Could she be the next fastest on earth?
Here's one to celebrate golds for Phelps, Franklin, Ledecky
We don't, in one night, as a rule
Make such a big splash in the pool
But Phelps took a gold
Then was followed, I'm told
By two girls not yet out of school
And one for the hours of diving...
There were few dives the diving team wouldn't do
And fewer than that that they couldn't do!
So, fearless and brash,
They made a big splash
Which is precisely what they shouldn't do
For Beach Volleyball
Remarkable cheering, I'd say
For Kerri Walsh and Misty May
Whose volleyball shorts,
quite the barest in sports,
Add meaning to "hip-hip hooray!".
Trampoline
They snickered when China's young Dong Dong
Was announced, but his program was strong strong
His daring routine
On the high trampoline
Beat them all, so they didn't laugh long long
Granada's First Gold
And, speaking of Olympic names
We can't forget Kirani James
Who ran for Grenada
As hard as he otta'
And earned the most famous of fames.
Here's one from Rinkly Rimes...who lives in Australia
Two sailors from my local area
Have beaten Taiwan and Bulgaria
The hopes of us all
Were pinned to their 'wall'.
Though others were quite a bit hairier.
To David Boudia (who beat the Chinese world champion to win a gold)
In the platform semi’s he nearly lost out
But Boudia’s grand final we all talked about
When the flawless Chinese
Began feeling the squeeze
And his gold-medal smile soon succumbed to a pout
The Fastest Man
Like lightning, he bolted, then chattered
Of every world record he’d shattered
The mighty Usain
Left them all in the rain
And, to him, that’s the one thing that mattered
Wardrobe Malfunctions
When the suits of the polo teams
Are held on the body with strings
It's hard for them all
To keep watching the ball
Cause' they're worried about other things
And finally…I write one to all
the Olympians
Alas, the Olympics are over
Say goodbye to the white cliffs of Dover
And to every athlete
Who went down in defeat--
All those who are not “in the clover”
No camera was trained on your face
No multitudes cheered for your race
Yet you ran in a manner
That would honor the banner
Of the country that gave you a place
And as fame is obscured by the years
So also, your pain and your tears,
Will yield to the glory
Of a much larger story
Olympians, you share the cheers!
The Final Five
