Does my writing seem a little crisper today? My verbs a bit snappier?

It's probably because I am wearing Kineseo tape, an athletic tape popular with beach volleyball players and other Olympic competitors.

American Kerri Walsh Jennings has a black spider pattern on her right shoulder, German Katrin Holtwick has thin blue strips from the top of her bikini to her bottom, and other athletes at Horse Guards Parade use it in a variety of colors and patterns.

Mei Brownfield, a physical therapist working with the American teams, cut off a piece of the plain black stuff for me to try. Stretching the tape to twice its length, I put it on my right shoulder.

I have a vague sense that something's there but it is neither invigorating nor annoying. Brownfield tells me it has different effects — it can activate the muscle or relax it, depending on how it's applied. But she can't tell me how to put it on so I write better.

—Jimmy Golen — Twitter http://twitter.com/jgolen

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EDITOR'S NOTE — "Eyes on London" shows you the Olympics through the eyes of Associated Press journalists across the 2012 Olympic city and around the world. Follow them on Twitter where available with the handles listed after each item.