Thursday, July 26, 2012

Five-Ring Love


It’s about that time again and I’m positive all of y’all are as excited for the 2012 Olympic Games as I am.  What better way to bring nearly every nation together for the whole world to watch and cheer on?  I love it!

The saying “you’ll find love when you’re least expecting it” dates back to the ancient Olympic Game days I’m sure.  When preparing to participate in the Olympics you’re head is in the game, not in the game, and love is probably the last thing on these athletes minds.  However, some lucky Olympians brought home more than a gold, silver, or bronze medal; they came home with a diamond.   

·      Marc Seliger and Maureen Heagany
During the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics, Seliger was the goalie for the German National Hockey Team.  Heagany at the time was a college student volunteering at the Olympics as a barista in a coffee shop.  One morning, Seliger went down for some coffee and mentioned that he liked the music that was playing.  Heagany offered to burn him a copy of the CD (this must be before iPods existed) and on that CD she wrote her email address.  It wasn’t before he got back to Germany that he played the CD and realized there was something written on it.  They started emailing, talking on the phone, and before you knew it wedding bells were ringing!

·      Kristi Yamaguchi and Bret Hedican
Yamaguchi and her hubby Hedican met at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France.  Yamaguchi was a gold medalist in figure skating, and Hedican was an Olympic hockey player.  They married in 2000 and clearly had a lot more in common other than being exceptionally skilled on the ice!

·      Olga Fikotová-Connolly and Harold Connolly
Connolly, an American Olympian took the gold in the hammer throw in Melbourne 1956, where he met Fikotová who was a discus thrower.  Their romance caused an immense amount of international controversy because Fikotová was from the Communist-controlled country Czechoslovakia (say that ten times fast).  In 1957 Connolly received assistance from the U.S. State Department and traveled to Prague to make a personal appeal to the Czech president for permission to marry Fikotová.  His permission was granted and there were over 30,000 people at their nuptials.  Sad to say that their marriage ended in divorce in 1974, but Connolly definitely gets an A for effort in my book!

Hope y’all enjoyed this little Olympic love history lesson as much as you will the actual Games!

Until next time,
Elise

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