Olympics.

There's something about the games that gets us creating emotional bonds with people we've never met. I had a smile on my face watching that old dude win a bronze medal in a kayak for Togo, and I've never met him. He could be a cock. He could be a racist, he could have kiddieporn on his computer, shit he could even pee in the shower. It doesn't matter. I just care that he tried his best to do something no Togoan has done before, and he succeeded. In that brief moment, when he snapped his paddle over the front of his boat and raised his arms in pure ecstasy, we had a bond. I respected his ability and his effort and his shiny costume. The Olympics are pretty amazing.

Rarely do we get so see something that unites so many of us. Some would say the Rugby World Cup aligned us as Kiwi's, but I say bullshit. I'd say there were more people who don't care about Rugby than there are who don't care about the Olympics. We were expected to succeed at the World Cup but the Olympics were different. It was us against the world, 4 million vs. the 1.5billion of China; we couldn't possibly have a shot. Nations like the United States put hundreds of times more money into high performance than we do, even Australia's sports funding supercedes ours without breaking a sweat. I think it's the smalltown complex that bands us together, as a nation we love sticking it to the man and proving people wrong, what better stage than with (literally) over a billion people watching.

I'm not going to say some typical shit about how it's things like the Olympics that make me proud to be a Kiwi, even though our success has been overwhelming. I'm not going to boast some statistic about our per capita medal count. In the real world, nobody cares about anyone who didn't win. The 2008 Olympics will (if anyone ever cares) be remembered as China's games. Fair enough. They, as a sporting nation, are better than us.

The Olympics were cool, in hindsight they're over pretty quickly and I think it's important that everyone sits down and watches at least some of the games, and not just to see New Zealand. It's about an appreciation for the years of gruelling work that goes into such outstanding success. Imagine being the best in the world at anything. That's what the Olympics is about to me, and I have a deep amount of respect for anyone who can devote their lives to such an achievement. So respect to all the athletes at the games, but total and complete admiration for those who won gold. It's about winning and doing it under pressure, the Olympics is the ultimate pressure and those athletes are the ultimate success.