Saturday, February 26, 2011
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
This Day in History July 23
On July 23, 1996, at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, the U.S. women’s gymnastics team wins its first-ever team gold.
The 1996 U.S. women’s team, nicknamed the "Mag 7" or "magnificent seven," was made up of seven immensely talented teenaged girls: Amanda Borden, Amy Chow, Dominique Dawes, Shannon Miller, Dominique Moceanu, Jaycie Phelps and Kerri Strug. The team entered the Summer Olympics with the expectations of an entire country heaped on their young shoulders. They were considered America’s best shot ever at an Olympic team gold, something no American women’s gymnastics team had ever won. The American women’s best finish to that point had been a silver at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, which were boycotted by the favored Soviet Union, winner of eight consecutive team golds between 1952 and 1980.
To win the gold in 1996, the U.S. women faced a battle with perennial contender Russia and Romania, the two-time defending world champions. Still, U.S. fans believed the odds were good: The team had deep reserves of talent and each of its members was capable of winning events. When the team competition began, veteran U.S. star Shannon Miller did not disappoint, delivering an impressive performance to place second overall to the Romanian world champion Lilia Podkopayeva. Meanwhile, returning Olympians Dawes and Strug placed sixth and seventh, respectively, while Moceanu came in 11th.
The final event of the team competition for the U.S. was the vault. Fourteen-year-old Dominique Moceanu, the first American to compete, had a chance to clinch the gold for her team with a solid performance, but was unable to stick the landing on her first attempt. As the pro-American crowd gathered in Atlanta held their breath, Moceanu took off for her second vault, and, again, slipped and fell on the landing. This left it up to Strug, America’s second and final vaulter, to seal the win. On her first attempt, Strug also fell on the landing, and heard an alarming pop in her ankle. The team and coach Bela Karolyi were unaware that the team had won whether Strug vaulted again or not, so Strug bravely readied herself to vault on her badly sprained ankle. After executing a perfect one-and-a-half twisting Yurchenko, Strug landed solidly on two feet. She then spun and hopped on one foot towards the judges’ table before collapsing in pain. When her 9.712 was announced, she celebrated in the arms of her coach, who would later have to carry the 4-foot-9-inch "Spark Plug" Strug to the medal stand.
The 1996 U.S. women’s team, nicknamed the "Mag 7" or "magnificent seven," was made up of seven immensely talented teenaged girls: Amanda Borden, Amy Chow, Dominique Dawes, Shannon Miller, Dominique Moceanu, Jaycie Phelps and Kerri Strug. The team entered the Summer Olympics with the expectations of an entire country heaped on their young shoulders. They were considered America’s best shot ever at an Olympic team gold, something no American women’s gymnastics team had ever won. The American women’s best finish to that point had been a silver at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, which were boycotted by the favored Soviet Union, winner of eight consecutive team golds between 1952 and 1980.
To win the gold in 1996, the U.S. women faced a battle with perennial contender Russia and Romania, the two-time defending world champions. Still, U.S. fans believed the odds were good: The team had deep reserves of talent and each of its members was capable of winning events. When the team competition began, veteran U.S. star Shannon Miller did not disappoint, delivering an impressive performance to place second overall to the Romanian world champion Lilia Podkopayeva. Meanwhile, returning Olympians Dawes and Strug placed sixth and seventh, respectively, while Moceanu came in 11th.
The final event of the team competition for the U.S. was the vault. Fourteen-year-old Dominique Moceanu, the first American to compete, had a chance to clinch the gold for her team with a solid performance, but was unable to stick the landing on her first attempt. As the pro-American crowd gathered in Atlanta held their breath, Moceanu took off for her second vault, and, again, slipped and fell on the landing. This left it up to Strug, America’s second and final vaulter, to seal the win. On her first attempt, Strug also fell on the landing, and heard an alarming pop in her ankle. The team and coach Bela Karolyi were unaware that the team had won whether Strug vaulted again or not, so Strug bravely readied herself to vault on her badly sprained ankle. After executing a perfect one-and-a-half twisting Yurchenko, Strug landed solidly on two feet. She then spun and hopped on one foot towards the judges’ table before collapsing in pain. When her 9.712 was announced, she celebrated in the arms of her coach, who would later have to carry the 4-foot-9-inch "Spark Plug" Strug to the medal stand.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Stop Motion
Everybody! You have to look at the following video. It is simply amazing!
Go to www.youtube.com and then type in stop motion whiteboard video.
The first one that comes up is the one.
Go to www.youtube.com and then type in stop motion whiteboard video.
The first one that comes up is the one.
Pointillism
You know what I think is cool? Pointillism. Arists sit there for a lonnnnggggg time trying to make every dot just how it should be. And when those dots are all put together, it makes a wonderful picture. Amazing. Here are a couple of examples-
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
July 21
Got back from Denton,TX. Had tons of fun. We went to Fuzzy's Tacos, by far the BEST taco resturaunt in the history of taco resturaunts, shopped til we dropped, and played tons of super duper fun card games. I am reading the 4th Twilight Saga book, Breaking Dawn. I have read nearly 400 pages just today and hope to finish the book tonight. It is a wonderful book. Out of the 4 books, it is the one where Bella becomes a vampire. (FINALLY!) Summer is great. I now officially have a Facebook page named 'Our Fab Family Blog.' If you have not already, please become a fan of it.
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