Monday Morning (USA Time) Olympic Tweets- West Virginia Wins Gold

Since we have spent a lot of time covering women's sports so far at the 2012 London Olympics, we have actually come to the realization that we have neglected our own gender!  Hence, we looked at some tweets in the 09:00-10:00 hour (New York time) which focused on men's athletics. Hopefully, American feminist rights advocate Gloria Steinem is satisfied so far!

Before we get to that, in Olympic news, Krisztian Berki (pictured bottom) won gold on the men's pommel horse yesterday, winning the fourth gold medal for Hungary. He won a tie-breaker over Louis Smith of the hosting nation Great Britain. Smith's teammate Max Whitlock took bronze.



Here are the tweets; some contain SPOILER ALERTS:

1) @WVUgymnastics "A Mountaineer takes gold!!!! Congrat Nicco Campriani on your Olympic-record win in 3 men's positions! You make all of WVU proud!" (Campriani, pictured top, who competes for Italy,won both gold and silver today in men's air rifle; he is indeed the first West Virginia alumni to win a gold medal at the Olympics).

2) @InsideGym: "Wondering if that will be the last time we see the amazing Jordan Jovtchev at the Olympics?" (This is in reference to the Bulgarian men's gymnast who was the flag-bearer for his country).

3) @PostSports: "VIDEO. Men's 100-meter sprinters say they weren't affected by a spray bottle from the stands Sunday night" (This is in reference to the bottle-throwing incident from a Dutch person in the stands as Usain Bolt of Jamaica was about to compete in the 100-meter race, which he won).

4) @DMoceanu (Dominque Moceanu): "Congratulations to @MakaylaMaroney on winning her silver medal on VT EF & @jake_dalton for making the FX EF. Way to represent #TeamUSA!"

5) @chicagotribune: "U.S. Judo player expelled from Olympics after testing positive for pot." (The athlete is Nicholas Delpopolo).

6) @SuzyKhimm (reporter Suzy Khimm): "The Olympics are the only place where journalistic objectivity goes out the window." (Hence, the reason why we have posted an image of Sam the Eagle, the mascot of the 1984 Olympics, pictured center, as opposed to Wenlock and Mandeville, the 2012 London Olympics mascot. Of course, we are being ironic as the jingoism in much of NBC's coverage seems over-the-top, having said that, Michael Phelps really did quite well in the pool).

http://www.olympicmuseum.de

http://www.wvusports.com

http://www.dominique-moceanu.com

http://www.dominiquedawes.com

http://www.insidegymnastics.com



7) @dominquedawes (Dominique Dawes): "Gabby is competing in the individual events finals on bars. Stay tuned."

7

Olympics Cities Destination Quiz (5 of 6) Atlanta to Seoul

We could perhaps call this entry "Beauty and the Beast," since we are featuring images of American gymnast Dominique Dawes, 36, and Turkish weightlifter Naim Suleymanoglu, 45, as we look at the distance between Atlanta, where the 1996 Olympics were held, and Seoul, where the 1988 Olympics took place.

Dawes and six other American gymnasts nicknamed "The Magnificent Seven," perhaps in reference to the western movie with Charles Bronson of that same name (well, we don't have time to research and verify everything), won team in front of home spectators at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics .

In recent years, Dawes has become a highly touted public speaker and physical fitness advocate. Her teammate Dominique Moceau, 30, has recently published a memoir called "Off Balance" about her trials and tribulations as an elite gymnast. And, another member of that team, Shannon Miller, 35, has survived a serious battle with cancer.

In addition to the team gold, Miller won gold on balance beam, Dawes won bronze on the floor and another American team gymnast Amy Chow, 34, won silver on bars, an event which was won by Russian gymnast Svetlana Khorkina, 33, a feat she repeated at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The 1988 Seoul Olympics were the first ones to have the United States and the Soviet Union since the 1976 Montreal Olympics, and coincidentally they were the last Olympics between the two countries as the U.S.S.R. abruptly dissolved in 1991.

For those games, which were boycotted by neighboring North Korea, Suleymanoglu, 45, won gold  and set new world records in weightlifter. The athlete nicknamed "the Pocket Hercules," sought political asylum from Turkey's neighbor Bulgaria via Australia due to the fact that Bulgarian citizens of Turkish heritage were being oppressed by the communist regime in Sofia. He would go on to win two more gold medals in the sport at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, then in Atlanta.

The 1988 Seoul Olympics were also noted for American diver Greg Louganis, 52, successful efforts, which garnered him another two gold medals. And, Soviet gymnast Svetlana Boginskaya, 39, who would later represent Belarus, won two gold meals in women's gymnastics in South Korea.

So, today's quiz is just far these two cities are from one another? Is the answer:

A) 7,003 miles

B) 7,123 niles

C) 7,223 miles

D) 7,563 miles

http://www.olympic.org/naim-suleymanoglu

http://www.dominique-moceanu.com

http://www.dominiquedawes.com

http://www.shannonmillerlifestyle.com

UPDATE: The answer is B) 7,123 miles, upon further research, we have come to the unofficial conclusion that Dominique Dawes, who is 5 feet, 3 inches tall, is about two inches taller than Naim Suleymanoglu!

Quote of the Day/Week- Dominique Moceanu

We continue our quotes from American athletes who won gold or silver at Olympics past with a gymnast Dominique Moceanu, 30, a daughter of Romanian immigrants who now resides in Cleveland in honor of the upcoming 2012 London Olympics.

Moceanu was a member of the Magnificent Seven women's gymnastics team from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, which also included Amanda Borden, Shannon Miller and Dominique Dawes. That team won gold over tough competition from Romania, Russia and China.

The gymnast, who is a mother of two, also coaches part-time in Cleveland. Moceanu's coach was Romanian emigre Bela Karolyi, who coached Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton.

Here is Moceanu's quote:

"I was always kinda fearless in everything I did."

We had also considered quoting Borden, 35, a mother of a four-year-old child, who is originally from Cincinnati and now coaches and resides in Tempe, Ariz. Her gym is called, appropriately enough Gold Medal Gym.

Miller, whom we quoted two weeks ago, made news last year as she publicly disclosed that she was battling cancer which at last report was in remission.

http://www.dominique-moceanu.com

http://www.goldmedalgym.com