It's Gil Stovall, Ya'll!

A few weeks ago Gil Stovall visited my childrens' school. Who is Gil Stovall you ask? He swam the butterfly on the 2008 USA swim team along with Michael Phelps. What's he doing down here in the south, you ask? He was doing a favor for his mom. Isn't that sweet? He actually goes to school one state over from us but he came to our great school as a favor to his mom.

This is his mom giving him (no she is not giving him the "finger") directions to get back home. She is the economics teacher for the elementary children. LiLi has been learning about China and their economic system since school began. Mrs. Stovall even brought each of them a small gift when she returned from China. For those non Olympic enthusiasts (I, so , do not connect with you....I was glued to my tv night and day!) the 2008 Summer Olympics were held in Beijing. China (for those non geographic enthusiasts).

Sorry about the blurriness of the pictures. The batteries in my camera were a little low. He was a big hit at the school. He spoke to everyone in the school first, then he went to every class and answered specific questions and gave autographs. Can you guess what types of questions he got to answer? This is what I heard about. BB's 7th grade class a young lady raised her hand.
Gil Stovall: Yes, what is your question?
Girl: You are hot!
Gil Stovall: Ummm, thank you. Anyone else have a question?

In the 5th grade he got a lot of giggles and whispering mixed in with adoring, worshipful looks. I think the elementary kids were a little more interested in his training.

Building on yesterdays blog about Miss YaYa getting boys to do things for her.....The whole week we were preparing for him to come to our school, she was not the least bit interested.
After he came to the school she took on a whole new attitude.
Suddenly she was very interested in the Men's Olympic Swim Team. She suddenly wanted to go to the University of Tennessee, now. Isn't it great that she is only in 5th grade and wants to jump right into college courses. Her enthusiasm was dampened just a little when I told her that Stalking Gil Stovall 101 had been dropped from the curriculum this year. My girl is no quitter, though. She decorated her notebook with his personal, signed autograph (She got LiLi to ask him to write a personal autograph with her name and a message. Apparently she was struck dumb by his hotness and could not speak for herself). She even wrote his name about 100 times in different styles and colors. Isn't she creative? Anyway, we were impressed by the sincerity of this young man and his dedication to his sport. And, just for the record...he has beaten Michael Phelps a couple of times in the Butterfly..just not at a major meet. He beat him during training. How many of us can say that?
Go Stovall!