I Know an Olympic Gold Medalist

Another Olympic season has come to an end ... sigh.

Ever since I was a kid, I've LOVED watching the Olympics. I remember watching gymnastics with my neighborhood friends in elementary school --we'd clear out the living room so we could compete in our own gymnastics competitions. We'd put tape on the floor for the balance beam, and then for the floor routines we'd start on one end of the room and do our cartwheels and walkovers from one side of the room to the other. Now, decades later ... I'm not about to try a walkover ... but I still get so excited to watch the Olympics! I'm in awe of athletic greatness. Well, now I can say I know an Olympic Gold Medalist! Or more accurately, I knew him. That's Rich Lambourne. Libero for the USA Men's Volleyball Team. Gold medalist. He played volleyball for BYU when I was there. So did Ryan Millar.And the USA coach, Hugh McCutcheon, was the assistant coach at BYU at the time.

It was pretty sweet to watch them win Gold! (Especially after McCutcheon's father-in-law was murdered in Beijing as the Olympics got underway. That was so horribly sad.)

I watched a lot of men's volleyball at BYU. It's not a sport that many Texans appreciate. In fact, I didn't even really know that guys played volleyball until I went to college. But then I became a huge fan. My roommate, Marianne, played on the women's team and her boyfriend (then fiance, later husband) played for the men's. So I got to know some of their teammates, including Rich.

I first met Rich when he was a scrawny freshman. He looked so young and goofy. But when he came home from his 2-year LDS mission we were surprised to find he had gotten all manly and hot. And now he's in the Olympics!! Who coulda guessed? I felt like I was going back in time when I watched him on TV. In fact, I caught myself saying "GO BYU" a few times. I feel so happy and proud for them.

Anyway - no point to this except to say I love the Olympics. Go USA!

And Rich -- if you're googling your name now that you're a bigtime Olympic Gold Medalist and you happen upon this blog -- be sure to leave a comment!