This year's Summer Olympic Games have produced some very interesting results and put on the forefront some extremely interesting sports.

Here are some of the thoughts I've had while watching the 2008 Olympics:

Michael Phelps
The man is truly amazing.  Normally, I would find that to be an exaggeration, but Phelps has proven to be the best swimmer in modern history and, through a mix of dominance and suspense, he's broken Mark Spitz's record of eight gold medals in one Olympics.

Just think about that.  He's been better the absolute best swimmers in the world eight different times in the span of a week.

I'm just glad that Phelps is swimming on the side of the Americans.

Gymnastics
These have been a terrible disappointment for me.

The women's trio – Nastia Liukin, Alicia Sacramone and Shawn Johnson – have not only competed against athletes whom only the International Olympic Committee (IOC) think are 16 (the youngest a competitor can be in Olympic gymnastics), but they have also fought very poor judging in nearly every event.

Liukin, numerous times, has done a routine better than the Chinese competitor and, yet, still manages to get lower scores.  Monday night's judging fiasco had NBC's gymnastics analyst, Elfie Schlagel, obviously livid and the studio analyst, Bela Karolyi, bringing up the word "incompetence" when referring to the judges.

And as for Sacramone, she made a less-than-perfect vault routine and then lost to the Chinese girl who fell flat on her face.

Beach volleyball
Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh are exceptional beach volleyball players.

Their streak, as of Monday night, has reached 13 straight in Olympic play.

This isn't getting the coverage that Phelps' story is, but these two ladies have shown a dominance rarely seen in Olympic athletics.

It doesn't hurt, either, that they're clad in bikinis while doing it.

Softball
It's a shame this sport has been eliminated from Olympic play in 2012.

The U.S. women's softball team has enjoyed dominance seen only by the U.S. beach volleyball duo as the diamond ladies have won gold in five straight Summer Olympics.

Whey then are they eliminating it?  I, nor anyone else I've heard from, have any idea – but it's worth suspecting the utter dominance the U.S. women have enjoyed, and the likelihood of its continuance, played a large role in the decision.

Basketball
Both the men and women's teams have been thoroughly impressive throughout these Olympic Games.

The women are on a streak similar to that of the softball team and the men are fighting tooth and nail for the redemption they've sought for the past four years.

The women's team has a nice mix of experience (Tennessee graduate Kara Lawson and longtime WNBA player Lisa Leslie) and youth (former Lady Vol Candace Parker and her closest rival Sylvia Fowles).

The men have played true team basketball and are showing they want the respect back they lost the past few years.

Trampolining
I had to make mention of this sport.  In all honesty, I didn't even know it was a sport.

But sure enough, as I perused the Olympic coverage Monday night I found women's trampolining.
As I have found out, participants do routines while jumping on trampolines and, obviously, are then judged on those routines.  Little did I know, when I was a child, those hours spent on the trampoline could have equated into Olympic gold.