Are the Summer Olympics taking up too much of your time and digital recording space? Want to get right to the nitty gritty? Here are several sports in the 2008 Olympic games, all recapped in 17 words or less. This is a work in progress; I’ll add more as I watch more Olympics.
2008 Summer Olympics in Verse
by Edie Montgomery-Pool
The big red dragon
From seclusion unfurled
Opening its gates
To embrace the world
Phelps swam eight times
Eight times won gold
The world in awe
Watched history unfold
Olympic gymnastics
A glorious scene
China was fantastic
But nowhere near sixteen
Nastia Liukin
Put to the test
As all-around gymnast
She proved she’s the best
A beaming smile
From balance beam‘s ace
Shawn Johnson nailed it
And took first place
Yelena of Russia
Loved by crowds
Broke another world record
Pole vaulting the clouds
Volleyball‘s queens
Won every heat
Walsh and Misty May
Unfamiliar with defeat
A Jamaican giant
With an appropriate name
Made racing look easy
And Bolted to fame
As baseball and softball
Faded from view
BMX racing
Made its debut
In Tae Kwon Do
A national disgrace
That guy from Cuba
Kicked a ref in the face
In ping pong and diving
Hardly a nation
Could compete with China’s
World domination
James DeGale
Fighter from Britain
The middleweight champ
Despite being bitten
Through ten tough sports
He fought his way
World’s Greatest Athlete:
Bryan Clay
Allstars and small stars
Played as a team
For basketball greatness
And took back the dream
Feeling creative? Add your own verses in the comments section. To read more of my poetry, visit the Edie Montgomery-Pool poetry section of this blog.
Edit: 8/23/08 Added verse 4, re: Nastia Liukin
Edit: 8/23/08 Added verse 5, re: Shawn Johnson
Edit: 8/23/08 Added verse 8, re: Usain Bolt
Edit: 8/24/08 Added verse 1, re: China
Edit: 8/24/08 Added verse 10, re: Angel Valodia Matos
Edit: 8/24/08 Added verse 12, re: James DeGale
Edit: 8/25/08 Added verse 9, re: baseball, softball, bmx
Edit: 8/25/08 Added verse 13, re: decathlon
Edit: 8/25/08 Added verse 14, re: basketball
Edit: 8/26/08 Added verse 11, re: tabble tennis, diving
Edit: 8/26/08: This Olympic poem is complete now. I might tweak a few words here and there in the next few weeks, but I’ve now written about all the topics I wanted to include. It’s a very old tradition to commemorate the Olympics in poem, dating back to B.C., so it’s my great honor to be a tiny part of that grand tradition.
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(You may reproduce this poem in part or whole, on or in a website, email, podcast, or broadcast; permission for electronic reproduction is granted on the provision that the website on which the poem is published is not a vanity publisher or a scam poetry contest which requires its “winners” to make a purchase or pay a fee before being published. You may also reproduce this poem in print material for which net profits do not exceed $1,000. Author name must be included in any reproductions, and author must be notified whenever this poem is, or parts of this poem are, used. For all other uses not mentioned here, just ask and I will most likely say yes.) 🙂
August 21, 2008
Categories: Edie Montgomery-Pool, poetry . Tags: 2008 Olympic Poem, angel matos, angel valodia matos, Bryan Clay, china, chinese gymnastics, Edie Montgomery poetry, Edie Montgomery-Pool, Edie Montgomery-Pool poetry, Edie poetry, Edie Pool poetry, james degale, Michael Phelps, olympic baseball, olympic bmx, olympic boxing, olympic decathlon, olympic gymnastics, olympic martial arts, olympic poem, olympic poetry, olympic pole vaulting, olympic racing, olympic softball, olympic swimming, poem, poems, poetry, russian pole vaulter, shawn johnson, usain bolt, Walsh May, Yelena Isinbayeva . Author: Edie . Comments: 3 Comments
8 Olympic Medal Categories I’m Taking it Upon Myself to Add
Olympic medals: I’m handing my own out today, including Most Annoying Journalist Voice, Hottest Guy on the USA Swim Team, and Most Ridiculously Funny Summer Olympics Sport. Read on to find out who wins and who places.
1. Most Annoying Journalist Voice in the 2008 Summer Olympics
2. Hottest Guy on the 2008 USA Olympic Swim Team
3. Most Fun 2008 Summer Olympic Athletes to Watch
4. Most Ridiculously Funny Summer Olympics Sport
5. Most Painfully Slow Summer Olympic Event to Watch
6. Most Underrated Summer Olympics Sport
By far, the “field” part of track and field is one of the more interesting areas of Olympic sports, yet we see a lot of track getting coverage on television, and very little field. It’s a shame this part of sports isn’t given more air time. Here are some deserving yet short-changed sports that need more media attention:
7. Olympic Athlete Most Likely to Say “You Know” 100 or More Times During a 3-minute Interview
And last but not least…
8. Best Blog Post About the Olympics
Did I forget anything? Award your own Olympic medals in the comments section.
If you liked this post, you might also like: 2008 Summer Olympics: The Short Version – The Games in Rhyme
August 17, 2008
Categories: other . Tags: 2008 olympic blog, 2008 olympics, 2008 summer olympics, alex flanagan, annoying olympic announcer, annoying olympic journalist, Chinese gymnastics team, female olympic correspondent with man's voice, funny olympics, hot guys, hot olympic guys, humorous olympics, Kerri Walsh, mary carillo, matt grevers, May Walsh, Michael Phelps, Misty May Treanor, olympic, olympic blog, olympic blog post, olympic diving announcer, olympic diving commentator, olympic medal, olympic medals, olympics, olympics funny, olympics humorous, Ryan Lochte, summer olympics, synchronized diving announcer, synchronized diving commentator, usa swim team, wildman-tobriner . Author: Edie . Comments: 3 Comments