Olympic heroisms ...

Everybody here is fangirling Usain Bolt for making a show of his breaking the world record on 100 m. Yes, very cool, but my heroes of the day are Jason Warrer and Martin Kirketerp Ibsen, the Danish 49er sailing team. The discipline alone is worth admiration. The boats are totally mad constructions, and my uncle (who is something of an expert in sailing) said that they tend to capsize even when there's no wind at all. Imagine what it means to sail them in a storm with waves that rise 6 feet high! (I might be exaggerating but the sea was certainly turbulent!)


Here's their story:

Jason Warrer and Martin Kirketerp Ibsen borrowed a Croatian boat when their mast split on the way to the start.
[...]Warrer and Ibsen, leading their nearest rivals by 11 points, returned to the dock, swapped boats and raced it back to the startline. Croatia had already been eliminated from the competition.
Fierce gusts and choppy seas contributed to a dramatic medal race in which nearly all the 10 boats capsized at least once and two boats failed to finish.
The Danes finished seventh, nearly 12 minutes behind winners winners Iker Martinez and Xavier Fernandez, but that was enough to provisionally deny the Spanish defending champions gold by three points on their accumulated points total throughout the event.
(source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/sailing/7566734.stm)

Apparently it's still not clear whether they will keep the medal, because of some spoilsports' complaints. I'm certainly rooting for them, because a) fuck Spain and b) omg! Improvisation in the face of adverse circumstances! My heart be still.