Reasons I'm in love with our Olympians

First, let me express my love for the American women's gymnastics team.

Okay, there's McKayla Maroney's vault. I've watched it over and over again, and I STILL can't see the wires that MUST be there. Either that, or it's CGI.

Note the bit where the one judge's jaw drops open.

That's why Buzzfeed just put together a post about Maroney's awesomeness. It's adorable.

Then there's Aly Raisman's parents being all "parents watching their kid play sports".

But the OTHER adorable thing is how they've been reacting to all this. On Twitter. Celebrities have been tweeting about how awesome they are, and they've been tweeting back.

Okay, so that's gymnastics. Let me now express my love for another local: Kayla Harrison, who lives one town north of me. She has One Of Those Stories -- sexually abused as a child by her judo coach, worked through it, and became the United States' best hope for our very first gold medal in judo.

Which she did.

And in another sport, I dare you to not be amazed by Rafalca and Jan Ebling. Mitt Romney said that he wasn't even going to bother being there to see his wife's horse compete. You should follow that link and see what he missed. He oughta have been there. ANY of you who are even a LITTLE bit horse-people? You're going to love that. Any of you who AREN'T even a little horsey? You will be after watching that.

And that only nabbed them thirteenth place! There were twelve EVEN BETTER than that.

Okay, so that's the Americans. Let me throw a little Australian love out there, too:
Here's Australian diver Matthew Mitcham showing that he's got artistic talent as well as athletic:

Oh, and let me ALSO throw some love over to British weightlifter Zoe Smith who absolutely ripped a bunch of Twitter sexist assholes to shreds.

'Cause, love.

Also, Mexican gymnast Elsa Garcia used the music from Legend of Zelda for her floor routine.

Okay, that's enough love for now, I guess.