Three time Gold Medalists

Last night was one of the most eye-catching and inspiring displays of tenacity and devotion to sports I have seen during these Olympic games. Three Americans performed at the peak of their sport and were able to bring additional gold medals home to the United States.

My favorite performance of last night was the gold medal game of Women's Beach Volleyball that pitted the best two American teams against each other. The team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings met their fellow Americans, Jennifer Kessy and April Ross, on the sand court to battle it out for the top spot in the world of Beach Volleyball. Now I must confess that I was a bit bias rooting solely for May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings to win the match. I have long been a fan of their team, finding an insurmountable amount of honor and patriotism in every second they played. Over the past twelve years, May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings have gone undefeated in the past three Olympics. This duo has only lost one set during that period of time putting themselves into a whole new division in the beach volleyball world. I think that if May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings were not considered to be the best beach volleyball pair yet, some major recalculations would need to be done. These two women have battled injuries, given birth to multiple children, fostered their new families, as well as inspired a nation of young women to follow their dreams. Now having won their third straight Olympic gold, May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings will no longer be playing beach volleyball competitively. They will continue their strong friendship, but more of their time will be spent away from the training facilities. Walsh Jennings may make an appearance at the next Olympics in Rio de Janiero, but May-Treanor will only be a spectator in 2016. I think that their performance on the volleyball court has never been short of amazing, and I know that May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings will forever be one of my favorite Olympic teams.

The other amazing Olympic achievement that was accomplish last night was the Men's 110m Hurdle gold won by Aries Merritt. Merritt ran this race in an astonishing 12.92 seconds blowing away the competition. What makes me such a fan of Merritt's is the fact that this hurdler hails from Bryan, Texas. This means that grew up in the neighboring town of College Station. For that reason I will cheer from Merritt during every race he runs as should every Aggie and Texan.