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Olympic Table Tennis

Aug. 18, 2004

Despite skipping the entire Sydney Olympics, I've been watching a few hours of the current Olympics every day. I am pleasantly surprised to find that the gymnastics events are no longer dominated by 14 year olds - there are even two girls my age on the US team. I don't have cable and NBC shows more swimming, which is boring, than anything else. Therefore, I've gone to the internet to satisfy my alternative sport fixation. So far, I've seen Judo, sabre fencing, women's air rifle shooting, and both single's and double's table tennis. I'm looking forward to Taekwondo when it starts.



I used to play a lot of table tennis in high school, and the sport still fascinates me. At the Olympic level, the sport is quite different than the way I played it in my garage. The ball can visibly curve in midair from the spin of the player's strokes, and players will regularly play 10 or 15 feet back from the table. So far, the US has dominated every match I've seen, although I know this can't last.



Is anyone else enjoying the Olympic games? Do you like to watch any of the more obscure sports?