Wow! Those were quite the Olympics. The past two nights I've just kind of stared at my blank TV wondering where all the volleyball highlights were. Thankfully, American's who thought they couldn't get enough of Misty May-Treanor will get to see her chasse on the new season of Dancing With the Stars!

Since Sunday's Closing Ceremonies, a few questions have been on my mind (other than what the point of interviewing Michael Phelps in London was. Did anyone get anything out of that other than to confirm that there is in fact a British equivalent to Ryan Seacrest? Lucky them...). Looking forward to London in 2012...

1) How can London top Beijing's Opening Ceremonies? Aside from raising King Arthur from the dead and having him pull Excalibur out of a stone before using it to light the torch, I'm not sure we're going to see an Opening Ceremony like that again. If London's bit during the Closing Ceremonies was any indication, they're going to rely on a theme of "China's show may have been exotic, incredibly choreographed and awesomely inventive, but we have celebrities you recognize." Although Beijing did have Jackie Chan singing on Sunday!

2) What will the featured events be for the Brits? After 2004, China made a concentrated effort to focus on gymnastics, diving, table tennis and badminton...and it paid off in a huge gold medal haul. But the UK cleaned up in track cycling, they're definitely going to want to do well in soccer, and I'm sure they'll be a factor in rowing. If you go to the London venue page, they are hyping the velodrome and its 6,000 seats. Great news for cycling fans.

3) Will there be any new events? BMX and open water swimming had pretty exciting debuts. I've heard rumblings that golf and squash are on the list. Anybody know of anything else? I imagine darts would be a great sport to debut in London.

4) Speaking of open water swimming, I wonder where it will be held. The Thames? Maybe 10K out from the city in the English Channel and just have the athletes swim in? OK, probably not.

5) Will the pool be as fast as Beijing's? A majority of swimming races at these past games saw world records set. A majority of those had more than one person or relay team surpass the existing w.r. Sure the LZR suits helped, but there was no doubt that Beijing built a fast pool. I imagine London will look to do something similar.

6) Can the U.S. track team get back on track? Granted, on paper they did pretty well. But to track aficionados (and NBC studio hosts) we could have done a little bit better. How will USA Track & Field respond? Maybe Jerry Colangelo is available...

7) And finally, going beyond 2012, does Russia deserve to host the 2014 Winter Games? They blatantly broke the Olympic truce on the night of the Opening Ceremonies by invading Georgia. Sochi, the site of the 2014 Olympics, lies just several miles from the Georgian border. Yet IOC president Jacques Rogge felt content to save his criticisms during these past Games for Usain Bolt's post-race "antics." Please. What will it take between Georgia and Russia to affect the 2014 Winter Olympics? Let's hope something is worked out and aren't raising eyebrows in a few years as we can watch Vancouver hand over the flag to Sochi.

But until the next Games, I'll be rooting hard for Chicago's 2016 bid and keeping my eye on that Taylor Phinney kid. I hear he's got potential.

Early-morning start times for triathlons finally pays off. Due to the time difference between the States and China, West Coast tri fans will be able to catch the Olympic women's race starting at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, streaming online on NBCOlympics.com. The men's race will start at the same time on Monday night.

East Coast fans will obviously have to tune in at 10 p.m.

Television coverage for the women will be on NBC Sunday night and early Monday morning. Men's race television coverage will appear on MSNBC sometime on Tuesday morning/early-afternoon.

The full broadcast schedule and links to online video can be found here .

Here's a slideshow of the American athletes at the Opening Ceremonies and in training.

Both races will take place at the Ming Tomb Reservoir . It features a one-lap swim leg, six-lap bike leg and is rounded out with four laps of the run course.

The media pounced on the story that several American cyclists arrived at the airport in Beijing wearing masks that covered their noses and mouths, and, consequently, the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) pounced just as quickly to un-embarrass itself.

The NY Times article linked to above reads:

But U.S.O.C. officials were apparently unhappy with their choice, scolding the cyclists for walking off the plane wearing the masks because it might embarrass the host country, Mike Friedman and Bobby Lea said. The cyclists said they did not remember the name of the official who spoke with them.

Except that the USOC gave them the masks. And told the athletes to wear them if they felt they needed to.

Earlier in the article, Times reporter Juliet Macur writes:

The United States Olympic Committee had issued the specially designed masks to protect athletes from the potentially harmful air here. The U.S.O.C.’s lead exercise physiologist, Randy Wilber, had advised the athletes to wear the masks on the plane and as soon as they stepped foot here.

Apparently, the USOC's exercise physiology department isn't communicating effectively with it's p.r. department.

The cyclists did apologize, but it remains to be seen how this will affect the rest of Team USA over the course of the games.

Has the USOC warned other athletes that if they need to wear the masks, they should do so in private? Will other athletes be overly cautious in putting them on so as not to embarrass the Chinese organizing committee?

For the athletes who train at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, the environment is decidedly different than those who train along the highways of Los Angeles, let alone Beijing. Is it worth not competing at full lung capacity in a race you've spent your entire life training for so as not to embarrass your hosts?