Journal - Olympics

Today I am going to write about an Olympic athlete that I admire. This topic is a little bit tough for me because even if I watch the Olympics, I don’t really have a favorite or the one that I admire solely. I use to like Michael Phelps because of all the medals that he won and how he loves his mom as well. But with the whole controversy about him doing drugs and things like that kind of threw me off about him being so admirable. The same goes for me with Ryan Lochte. I mean he is cute and a great swimmer as well but he does not have much of a great personality for me. For someone to be admirable to me, he or she must be dedicated to the sport, and must have a great attitude and morals. Someone who can be a role model to kids, not someone who would boast about their achievements, or do something controversial just because they got famous. Another problem that I encountered with this topic is that the sports that I watch in the Olympics are very limited. I watch swimming, ofcourse, as well as gymnastics. I like tennis as well, and taekwondo but I am not very familiar with the athlete’s name. I can only name two other athletes that I would admire and they are Gabby Douglas, the gymnast, and Tom Daley, the diver. Let me tell you about a little bit of both, and I will go about why I admire them. Gabby Douglas is a gymnast that represents the United States of America. She is originally from Virginia and she is 17 years old. According to her website, Gabrieledouglas.com, she won 2 olympic gold medals. Both in 2012 for All-Around Gold Medalist, and for the Team Gold Medalist. She is the first African-American gymnast in Olympic history to become the individual all-around champion. Now the introductions are over, let me tell you why I admire her and how I became to admire her. I first knew about her during the Olympic try-outs. I clearly remember that I was at ESPN Zone in Downtown Disney eating and the try-outs were on. It was really good and the portion that it was in was gymnastics. I have always been fond of gymnastics so I proceeded watching. She is the only athlete to ever stood out to me. She stood out because during her performance her energy is through the roof and her smile is just captivating. She is one of the gymnast that I have ever seen smiled for that long during a round in gymnastics. She was amazing, and I love a person and an athlete that can smile and not too serious. I also remember reading about her on People Magazine on how she grew up and how she came about being an athlete. Her personality and her life is just so genuine and I love that about her. She is a great inspiration to children and to anyone who would like to pursue gymnastics. She is also colored which is encouraging to many minorities in the United States. Next is Tom or Thomas Daley, he is a diver from England. I know unpatriotic of me. He is 18 years old and he is amazing. I first heard of him through Tumblr.com because everyone was fan girling about him and how he is cute. But as I look more into his background he has break in to so many records while balancing school. Also his story with his dad was publicized as well and it was heart warming. His dad died when he was younger and he always used him as an inspiration when he competes. I like his drive, I like how he looks like, and he is an amazing diver.
"About Me." Gabrielledouglas.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2013.
"Tom Daley." TomdaleyTV. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2013.