Preparation

Cooper prepares for his first flight representing Team Raptor in the aerial competition event. He seems quite unsettled having screamed from the top of a nearby tree for quite some time, but now he appears to be regaining his concentration as he prepares to take off from the Futura Tower above the Wildwood Trail venue. 

The entire venue has emptied following the screaming...perhaps he didn't want to be distracted from the task at hand by seeing his dinner nearby. There will be plenty of competition for dinner from other hungry athletes back at team headquarters.

In other Olympic news John and I watched the street skateboard event last night. John hated the skateboarding, muttering things like, 'there are too many sports' and 'this isn't a sport' and 'all they do is fall down'.I liked it and the spirit of camaraderie and not taking things too seriously, although I looked at it through eyes squeezed shut a lot of the time because of the general craziness of it all. How many broken bones have any of these competitors had? I noticed that none of them wore any kind of protective equipment but also mused about whether that would spoil the spirit of the event. It was  interesting that although though they represented many countries, the majority of the competitors live in Southern California....

All the athletes seem to become used to preparing and competing with injuries. Does the intensity required by this competition rob all these young athletes of their youth and their  joie de vivre ?  I wonder....