Reiner Klimke’s victory lap on Ahleric at the 1984 Olympics is the stuff of legends. With apparent ease, he and Ahleric performed 75 consecutive tempi changes as the lapped the arena. All while he rode with one and and waved to the crowd. 

To make such an accomplishment looks so effortless is remarkable. Which is why it is still discussed today.

Dr. Klimke was on 5 Olympic gold medal teams (1964, 1968, 1976, 1984 and 1988). In addition, he won the  individual gold in 1984 on Ahlerich and individual bronze medals in 1968 and 1976.

Swimmer Design Metal Wallet by Kyle Design

There is an old proverb that says “Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill“. While this might not always be true, events at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing have made the proverb a lot harder to dismiss completely.

Confuse your younger opponent at the Olympics by offering them a stick of gum from your interlocking rings design gum holder by Kyle Design

Leading the “proverbial assault” was Dara Torres, who at age 41 came within 1/100 of a second of Olympic gold in the 50 free. After 30-something years as a swimmer, she has a lot of advantages over her 16-year-old competitors. First, Torres has the benefit of experience and maturity. Once you get to your fifth Olympics, heck, it’s just another swim meet. No butterflies for her. But at 41, Torres was also less likely than her youthful counterparts to over-train or miss-time a taper, and she is far more likely to pay closer attention to technique, nutrition, specificity of training, and rest and recovery.

Ride a wave of happiness each time you use your Wave Design Refrigerator Magnet by Kyle Design

And then there was Jason Lezak, who at age 32 swam close to the lane line and used the wave generated by the young guy next to him to literally body surf his way to Olympic Gold in the 4×100 Free Relay. As an old guy, Lezak was smart enough to take advantage of the young guy’s disastrous tactical error of swimming too close to Lezak and allowing him to draft.

In the Womens Marathon, 38 year old Constantina Tomescu Dita of Romania pulled away from the pack to win gold by 22 seconds. Thirty six year old Catherine Nderaba of Kenya captured the marathon silver by out-kicking some sweet young thing in her 20’s from China, much to the dismay of the home crowd.

Your Associates will admire your Business Card Holder with US Flag and Interlocking Rings by Kyle Design

Of course, these are just a couple examples. But thanks to the increase in monetary rewards that are now available to athletes in Olympic sports , the trend toward older olympians competing more and more successfully is definitely there, and growing. The trend contrasts greatly with the generally accepted wisdom of 1980. I remember reading an article in which 21-year old Rowdy Gaines was reacting to the 1980 Olympic boycott, lamenting that by the time 1984 rolled around, he’d be too old to compete. That made perfect sense to everyone. Twenty five for a swimmer was OLD. (As it turns out, Gaines proved himself and everyone else wrong, and won 3 golds in LA).

Somewhat surprisingly, it is not only the megabuck athletes that are staying with it. Worldwide there is a whole army of grey haired Masters athletes out there who get up every morning for 5:30 workouts with no other hope than being the best they can be at their current stage of life.

Interlocking Rings Vitamin Case by Kyle Design will hold supplements to keep your body in competitive shape

Those Masters who compete (in swimming especially) have produced incredible results: From Margery Meyer who at age 80 could swim a mile in less than 30 minutes, to Laura Val who at 56 would still make the boys varsity squad at almost any high school in the country, to 40-something Susan Von der Lippe who quietly qualified for and competed in the 2008 Olympic trials. Just like Torres, each of these athletes are doing things that have never been done before. Ever. And their efforts both pave the way and add credibility to the efforts of our current and future olympians– no matter how grey, near-sighted and jowly they might be.

Need a pre-race or post-race gift for a friend? Need a Christmas gift for the athletes in your life? Go to Kyle Designs for one-stop personalized gift shopping.

Technorati: Beijing Olympics, Swimming, Dara Torres, Rowdy Gaines, 50 Free, 2008 Olympics, 4×100 Free Relay, Masters swimming, Olympic Trials, Olympic Boycott, Los Angeles, 1984 Olympics, Womens Marathon, Constantina Tomescu, Catherine Nderaba, Kyle Design, gifts, vitamin case, business card holder, magnetic clip, refrigerator magnet, metal wallet, gum holder, toothpick dispenser, Rings, interlocking rings design, swimmer, christmas shopping, personalized gifts, one stop shopping, US flag design, FINA, Christmas Ornament, NBC Olympics

In the spirit of the upcoming Olympics I’ve been all about watching some of the past great performances on You Tube.  I don’t how I feel about China hosting this year’s games but I do know I’ve been enjoying some of these great memories.  Here is a gold medal performance from 1984 by the original sport diva herself:  Mary Lou Retton. 

With the Olympics just around the corner I’ve been doing some homework on the various cycling events and participants. One of the first events on the Olympic schedule is the men’s and women’s road race. The men’s road race is scheduled for Aug 9^th followed by the women’s race on the 10^th. I’ve worked up a brief profile of the course for you.

The course is one of the most challenging courses of the modern Olympics. The men’s race is just over 150 miles long with over 11,500 vertical feet of climbing. The woman’s race is 77 miles with over 4,100 vertical feet of climbing.  The race starts near the Forbidden City, heading northwest through Beijing and various points of interest, toward the Great wall near the Badaling. The course is relatively flat for the first 80km. It then rises 230m over the next 10km as the course approaches the circuit at 90km.  The circuit is a 24km loop which is ridden seven times by the men and two times by the women. The circuit is basically up one side of a mountain and down the other with no real flat sections.

2008 Olympic Road Race Elevation Profile

The circuit initially rises nearly 1,700 feet over 6.2 miles for an average grade of 5.2%. The circuit accent is followed by a short roller then an 8.2 mile descent to the valley bottom. The decent supposedly heads straight into the prevailing wind in that area, providing little relief to the riders. The finish follows the last circuit decent and appears to have a slight rise to the line. The weather is expected to be hot and humid with pollution being the wild card. The course looks to favor the climber over the sprinter. Position over the last circuit ridge will be critical to have a shot at a medal. The descent to the finish will be brutal.  Only the most courageous will be in a position to contest.

This is a course that could offer an advantage to a team which works together by protecting the strongest rider. The question is will a country’s contingent compete as a group or as individuals? There are a mere three medals to award for this event. Of course that means teamwork will be rewarded with a medal for some and a badge of national pride for others. It seems a little unfair to the supporting riders who effectively will be sacrificing their chance at an Olympic medal.

From news reports, it looks as though Spain has teamwork strategy in mind. The Spanish team has qualified for five seats in the road race including Carlos Sastre, Alberto Contador, Oscar Freire, Alejandro Valverde, and Samuel Sanchez. This is a Who’s Who of professional cycling. These guys are not domestiques and don’t generally perform the supporting role. Any of them has a potential to win or place in the race. How will they decide who leader will be? According to Contador, the “team” will decide during the race who will contest. Leaving one to imagine how this dialog will go down during the event. Somebody is going to be truly disappointed.

Why not introduce a team road event? There is some precedent for it. Team cycling events have been held since the start of the modern Olympics in various forms. From 1912 to 1956 there was a men’s team road race event. Then from 1960 to 1992 there was a 100km team time trial which was subsequently replaced by the individual time trial in 1992. In fact, the US won a bronze medal in the ’84 Olympic TTT with none other than Davis Phinney participating on the team. On a tangent, Connie Carpenter-Phinney won gold in the first women’s road race in 1984. The son of Connie and Davis, Taylor Phinney, is competing in several track events this year in Beijing. Be sure to check him out on the track. I have yet to find out why the team road events were ended though some accounts point to doping or race fixing. It only seems right to acknowledge a team’s contribution in the road race. My vote is for a team medal.

Links of Interest:

• How to Earn a Spot in the Road Bike Race at the 2008 Olympics: http://tinyurl.com/65garq
• According to the official Olympic site, here is the breakdown of slots: http://tinyurl.com/59fqjg
• Explanation of race tactics from Team USA: http://tinyurl.com/5cgmcn

Other Velonoise:

Lance Sighting - Posted on Aug 4^th 2008. http://tinyurl.com/5mppqj

Here is a peak at one of the bikes Lance is considering for the Leadville 100 this weekend. It is the 23lb, 26” Trek

Lance's Trek

Top Fuel 9.8 full suspension bike. He is also considering a Gary Fisher Superfly 29-inch hardtail which might be a better fit for the course considering the trail is supposed to be in relatively good condition baring a few short rutted sections. Included in the post is a blurb about his training

Cadel Update – Posted on Aug 4^th 2008. http://tinyurl.com/5pcva7

Here is a short post about Cadel being fit to compete at the Olympics next week. He is qualified and able to compete in the road race and the time trial. Here is an article which sketches out the whole knee injury situation: http://tinyurl.com/62y6xb.

Here is another interesting article about his wife’s position on the media attention he has been receiving lately: http://tinyurl.com/5jdc8y.

Allez915

Will the world come together for sport. Will the world come together to cheer the victors, and also rans.

I have not talked to many people that are excited about the start of the beijing olympics.  The olympics have always been an exciting time in my house. Two weeks that history is made. two weeks that may never return to the host city or take many many years to return again. i do not think Los Angeles will see the return of the Olympics in my lifetime.

I was only a pup of 15 but i remember it like it was yesterday. The way the whole city shut down except for the Olympics.  All most no traffic. the way the events brought everyone together no matter what country you were from. everyone was on their best behavior like if it was Christmas and peter ueberoth had brought us the best present ever.

Every event had drama every athlete like a actor on the stage of his dreams. i witnessed the end of the first ever women’s marathon in the Olympics. Of course joan benoit won the gold.  But my lasting impression is of that swiss lady Gabriela Andersen-Schiess  stumbling into and around the track heroically finishing the race in 37th.  as she made her way around the track each section would rise and cheer so mightily cheering her on the world stage. i look forward to moments like that. Moments that take time and patience and at once make history.

i for one do not care for the ways of the chinese government but it only makes it easier for me to root against them against the new olympic superpower.

Give me a break!

This is from the LA Times’ series on traffic:

When Los Angeles traffic experts get depressed at the sorry state of the freeways, their minds sometimes drift to the improbable days of 1984, when the Olympic torch blazed through town and the city’s sea of cars parted.

For more than a week, downtown and Westside freeways worked as their creators had intended, whisking drivers from place to place.

The respite from congestion was flickeringly brief, but many still ask: Can the experiment be repeated?

For the 16-day event, transportation agencies put aside turf wars. Employees carpooled or worked staggered hours or took vacations. Truckers shifted deliveries to off-hours. Construction projects were rescheduled. Arterial lanes were reserved for buses. Two-way streets became one-way streets.

Actually?  Despite all the measures, the entire city was braced for the worst traffic in memory.  The staggered hours, shifted truck deliveries, etc. were implemented to keep the already crowded freeways from congealing into a gridlocked meltdown, among other things delaying athletes and media from reaching event venues.  It was assumed that the traffic would still be terrible.  It was a shock, a thrilling surprise, that traffic jams disappeared almost entirely.

But that’s not how young Times reporters and their sources remember it:

“We had essentially no congestion,” said David Roper, retired operations chief for the California Department of Transportation’s Los Angeles division. “What was behind all this was the feeling ‘I don’t want to be the guy who screws up the Olympics.’ “

You cannot be serious. This wasn’t altruism, it was fear!  So many people I knew left town entirely.  Everyone remembers that the 1984 Games made a profit.  What’s often forgotten is that it made a profit from a brilliant sponsorship campaign, and not from ticket sales.  Most Olympic events were not sold out.  Few wanted to brave the traffic.

The reporters’ point is, it only takes a small percentage of drivers to stay off the freeways for the commute to go smoothly for everyone else.  Today was proof.  I had to go downtown for the first time on a weekday since gas prices zoomed past $4 a gallon.  My route is basically the entire Harbor Freeway.  I didn’t go at the traditional peak, but even at 10 a.m., it’s usually blocked from somewhere north of the 105 through downtown.

Not today.  It was clear all the way, even through that crazy stretch where cars try pick their way to the correct lanes for the 5, 101, 110 and the exits.  And I’m sure it’s because of the gas prices. I hear anecdotally  that companies are shortening the work week, instituting telecommuting and making other arrangements to keep their employees from searching for work closer to home.

This is a big, fat, prize-bait series the Times is running.  Obviously, it was conceived before gasoline got so expensive.  The writers might not have expected it, but summer 2008 is going to be another Traffic Miracle, thanks to whatever you blame for high oil prices.  Maybe by the end of the week, they’ll have figured it out.

It’s another week, and another stress-filled Vanderbilt party!  Tests have not gone well, but I press on, eager to please those who listen to my show on Wednesday Nights.  Don’t fret, my music will stay great.

In case you had not heard, I did another show on Thursday, taking over for the Pocket Ninjas.  It went well, as usual.  I had two hours that night, and while I don’t feel like listing what I played, you can find it at wrvu.org, by searching for Jambalaya Jam under the Playlist Archives.  But for now, the list!

________________________________________

1 Sonic Youth 87

    Ok, so I’ve decided that Sonic Youth is actually a great band.  I’ve only been listening to their song from the Juno Soundtrack,  Daydream Nation, and Sister, but they are great albums.  I suppose I should listen to people more often when they tell me to listen to a band.

2 The Shins 30

    Gotta love the Shins, even though that one commercial absolutely butchers “Sleeping Lessons”.  A guy in my hall was obsessed with that song, so he inspired me to listen a bit more.

3 David Byrne 19

    Been listening to his latest album, which was actually recorded for the 1984 Olympics, but the live show never really took off.  This is a strange, but rather listenable, album.  Oh yeah, it’s called “The Knee Plays”

3 My Brightest Diamond 19

    Saw them opening for Sufjan Stevens in 2006, and almost forgot about them until I received their album.  It is really good, quite criminally underrated.

5 Mute Math 18

    Their live show at Bonnaroo in ‘07 was great (Even though it included a streaker of the male persuasion).  See them live if at all possible.

5 Beck 18

    Honestly, I don’t know how I listened to Beck this much.  He’s ok, but I’ve just never really gotten that into him.  Maybe it’ll be a Sonic Youth thing, one of these days.

5 Johann Sebastian Bach 18

    Listening to him for class, the Baroque master that he is, at least according to my professor.

8 Explosions in the Sky 16

    This is my study music.  I like it, but study music it is.

9 Loney, Dear 12

    “I am John” is a great song, a friend alerted me to it and I played it on my radio show Thursday.  So why am I sad?  Because I can’t play it any more this semester…

10 White Blue Yellow and Clouds 10

    I just can’t get enough.

____________________________________________

 So that is what I’ve heard this week.  Next time, on Stalker Anonymous, we learn how to find people on Facebook, and use their identity for your own personal benefit!

Cheers,

Mikil

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