A salute to medal-winners (from each medal-winning country) of the 2012 London Olympics.<br /><br />My intent is to show that despite what your local sports media may present, the Olympics are an *international* competition between athletes, and not a means for nations to play "US vs. Them" and try to outdo others on a "Total Medals" table.<br /><br />If I didn't include your favorite athlete, I apologize. With over three hundred events, I had to draw a line somewhere. Firstly, I wanted to include every nation that won a medal. Next, a Silver is obviously better than a Bronze, and Gold trumps them both (I trust the color-coding of my captions is understandable). After that, since I wanted to salute individual athletes, individuals took precedence over teams wherever possible. Then I considered presenting the diversity of the competitions, and finally it was just a matter of personal whim. I also think that the horses in equestrian competitions deserve as much credit as their riders.<br /><br />Three special athletes are included, even though they didn't win medals. Sarah Attar and Wojdan Shaherkani are the first female athletes from Saudi Arabia to compete at any Olympics. Brunei and Qatar also sent women to the Olympics for the first time, but the women of those countries aren't strangers to international competition. Marathoner Guor Marial would have represented South Sudan, but that country is too young to have the required National Olympic Committee. He could have run for Sudan, but as a refugee from the Sudanese Civil War whose family was slaughtered by Sudanese troops.... After a last-minute push to the IOC, he was allowed to comepte as an Independent.<br /><br />The music, appropriately, is the "Triumphal March" from Verdi's "Aida".<br /><br />Thanks also to the many fine photographers whose work has brought, and will continue to bring, the Olympic Games to us.
