This year's Olympics stands as a milestone for Team GB. They currently rank third overall and hold an impressive 22 gold medals. Considering that less than 20 years ago, they only won 1 gold medal in the Atlanta Olympics, Team GB has come a long way. Newspaper front covers have reflected a growing sense of pride and patriotism, particularly after the past weekend's "Super Saturday" when Britain celebrated its greatest single Olympic day in over a century. I suppose I have been lucky enough to pull for a country that has continued to dominate the Olympic stage (or podium) and have therefore been slightly desensitized towards our collection of medals. I constantly update the medal count; sometimes after only 3 hours of not checking, we will have collected multiple gold, silver, and bronze medals. It's hard to image America not being ranked in the top 3 most decorated countries, nevertheless bringing home medals in the single digits.
For Britain, I think the excitement of hosting the Olympics on their own turf and other recent international attentions (the jubilee and the royal wedding) has definitely given the country the boost that it needed.
I didn't know that GB only won one gold medal at the Olympics in Atlanta-- talk about making progress!! When we started watching the Olympics over here I realized that most of the coverage would be geared towards GB (duh). I was a little upset that we wouldn't see any interviewers from American athletes, especially after the Ryan Lochte vs. Michael Phelps race. But I gradually began to realize that seeing non-American news coverage isn't a bad thing-- it's been very refreshing and interesting to see a different perspective and learn about different athletes and their success stories. Especially since we're in their territory, I've found myself rooting for their teams and actively seeking out games they've been playing in. I think they've done a great job hosting the games, and I'm really happy that they have been successful.
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