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"After spending an entire day watching Olympic events, I&amp;#039;m beginning to think that I should have taken P.E. class a little more seriously. Did you know a Badminton birdie can travel up to 262 miles per hour after a smash hit? And in the synchronized diving event, athletes are jumping from a platform that is 10 meters in the air\u2014 the height of two stacked double decker buses.  Today I traveled to Wembley Arena where the men and women&amp;#039;s doubles and singles badminton events were held. The most exciting match came when Sri Lanka&amp;#039;s Niluka Karunaratne took on Japan&amp;#039;s Kenichi Tago. The two men put on an extraordinary show for their spectators by hitting the birdie at unbelievable speeds and spending intense periods rallying back and forth. In the end, Karunaratne was able to over come Tago, and Sri Lanka took the win. After badminton I rode the tube to Stratford where I saw the Olympic Park for the first time. The venue is beautiful with plenty of places to eat, drink, and relax, but I quickly had to run over to the Aquatics Center to watch men&amp;#039;s synchronized diving.  Eight teams performed at the event, including David Boudia and Nicholas Mccrory from the United States. As it turns out, I was at the men&amp;#039;s synchronized diving final, meaning that there were medals rewarded at the end of the competition. The goal is to have perfect execution and synchronization. After six rounds of dives from stomach-churning heights, the scoreboard left China in first, Mexico in second, and the United States in third.  I was also able to see the woman&amp;#039;s fencing final. Yana Shemyakina, of the Ukraine, won the gold medal. The win came after a very intense semi-final round between Germany&amp;#039;s Britta Heidemann and Korea&amp;#039;s A Lam Shin. The two fencers dueled it out on the floor for a chance at the gold. After a technical foul, referees, officials, and coaches had to come to a decision on who won the match. It took nearly an entire hour for a decision to be made. The audiences, and athletes, were on the edge of their seats. It was a long day but seeing the United States awarded a medal was well worth it! Tomorrow I have a similar schedule as I watch volleyball, judo, and table tennis. Continue to check seventeen.com/health for my recaps!   "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.seventeen.com/celebrity/advice/a18977/seventeen-olympic-coverage-day-2/>