The 2008 Summer Olympics are being held in Beijing, China - opening ceremonies are August 8, 2008. Like many Americans, I am excited to watch the games and root for America’s athletes. You can find in-depth coverage about the Olympics here.
SOME athletes were unable to participate this year. These pictures feature the Red-eared Sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans) training for the Open Water Swimming event.
Unfortunately, they were disqualified when they were unable to clear the obstacle course. Thankfully, America still has Chloe Sutton to represent the USA in the open-water competition (NBCOlympics.com):
On May 30, 2008, the venue hosted its first open-water competition, the Marathon Test Event, which was the last opportunity for swimmers to qualify for the Beijing Games. American Chloe Sutton qualified for the U.S., winning the event with a time of 2:00:48.
The Red-eared Sliders petitioned to add an event to the open-water competition…
…for some reason, they did not receive a response.
August 11th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
LOL. Very cute. I love the shot of the turtle doing a push-up.