This time it was the Newsweek cover featuring Liu Xiang that did it for me this time.

Of course, I wanted to see more. Honestly? It was the legs that did it for me.

Let’s just go away ahead and get this one out of the way right now, shall we? After Louganis, the next swimmer to win my heart was Ian “Thorpedo” Thorpe.

Needless to say, my favorite “flipper” this time around is Michael Phelps. He doesn’t quite have that unapproachable air that Thorpe has. His vibe is kind of more like kinda-hot, kinda-goofy “boy-next-door-makes good” thing. Either way, it’s all good, and may be all gold too?

I think I like him better with a little facial hair, actually.

I may not be a sports-watcher most of the rest of the time, not have I ever been good at it, but I do have some admiration for people who are. When I watch with Parker, and he says he wants to win a trophy or a medal some day, I make sure to tell him all the people he’s watching compete have one thing in common: practice. You want to be good at something, I tell you, you’ve got to practice, practice, practice.

I’m not sure if I’d be in the Olympics if I’d practiced my volleyball serve, but if it meant hanging out in the locker room with Phil Dalhausser I might have been inspired. (It’d never happen. My volleyball serve would still suck.)

So, no volleyball for me. However, I used to play badminton with my sister when we were growing up. Maybe I could go a round or two with Lin Dan.

Or not. He’d probably kick my butt.

Speaking of which, So would Demetrius Andrade. And I wouldn’t last even a fraction of a round. Still, the view would almost be worth it.

Then again, I’ve always been partial to gymnasts, like Chen Yibing.

Or Raj Bhavsar.

That’s enough, for now, I think. I was going to go for at least one athlete from every country, but the Olympics would be over by the time.

So, who “gets the gold” as far as you’re concerned? Who get a “10″?