I immensely enjoyed the opening ceremonies. I thought the show was fantastic, we enjoyed looking for athletes that I work with (and indeed we saw Stanford Track athletes Amechi Morton and Arantxa King), and I was instantly transported back 20 years wishing I could be there again (but without all the training and hard work).

And though its early, moments that stand out thus far are Michael Phelps post race interview after he didn’t medal in the 400IM (and his ability to pull it all together by the relay) and the composure of the 17 year old defending world champ, Jordyn Weiber when she was interviewed shortly after realizing she didn’t make it into the All-Around final (another stupid Olympic Rule…she finished 4th overall but third among Americans in prelims and thus didn’t make it into finals due to a new rule limiting each country to two entrants). I’m trying to be impressed by Dana Vollmer dominating the 100 fly and winning in a new WR but I can’t quite get past the fact that she is from CAL. And I still can’t believe that they didn’t swim Natalie Coughlin in the Finals. I think that was a huge mistake on many levels (despite the fact that she too is from the school across the bay). I wish I had known there was a sport of white water canoeing. Now that looks fun!

Lastly, athletes need to realize that anyone can read their twitter posts. Some things (most things) are better left unsaid.
Go to http://stanfordlawyer.law.stanford.edu/2010/05/sports-and-law-with-scott-a-blackmun-%e2%80%9982-and-pattisue-plumer-%e2%80%9989-bs-%e2%80%9985/ to read the Legal Matters Q&A with PattiSue and CEO of the US Olympic Committee Scott Blackmun, JD ’82