Sunday, August 24, 2008

The Olympic

I should have done a blog on a day to day basis but decided to just write one long blog about the Olympic. This is the first time I have watched so much Olympic in TV. Partly because it was held in Beijing China and I am Chinese in heritage. Plus I was just in Beijing last year so seeing the city in TV brings back memories.

-The Opening Ceremony was just stupendous. It was breathtaking and just spectacular. To think how many people they used to stage those shows and performances was just mind boggling. Well, China has 1/8 of the Worlds population so finding enough people was an easy feat. I loved the drummers, the tai chi in white performers, the pretty girls in Chinese costumes, the ancient printing press routine, globe with men running around it and that Chinese ex-gymnast "running" along the wall to light the torch. China surely left an impression that is hard to match and beat. We will have to wait for London's Opening Ceremony in 2012!
-Michael Phelps was sensational. Totally an amazing athlete and truly deserving to be labeled as the world's greatest Olympian. 8 gold medals in one Olympic game plus the others he earned from the previous two. Truly a marvel! That relay win over France was surely breathtaking to watch. After all the "talk" of Bernard that they will smash the Americans, it was most gratifying to have them defeated. And what was more ironic, it was Bernard himself who choked and lost to Lezak. He had the lead when he started his relay and lost it. And that win on the Butterfly by Phelps by literally a finger nail was spectacular. Great job Michael! Can't wait to see him mesmerized us again with his brilliance. Then he will surely give the Londeners a reason to say "Brilliant"! And let us not forget that 41 year old American swimmer Dara Torres. To win Silver at 41 and looking great like her. She was just as fantastic.
-Men Gymnastic was always nice to watch. Those perfect physique by those hunky gymnast was reason enough for me to watch even if the Americans were losing. Good thing they won Bronze in the Team Competition and Jonathan Horton got Silver in the High bar. Good job Akexander Artemev on the Pummel horse after his first two teammates totally blew it. That saved them from getting knocked off the podium. Also, what was up with the Japanese gymnast. They all seemed to have long hair and bushy armpits. The hairstyle reflect some of the hairstyle of young Japanese men I know here in Chicago. I guess it is popular to have those long almost unkept hair in Japan. Not quite long like Fabio but more like they forgot to get a haircut in 2 months. And the black bushy pits in contrast to their fair skin was just so distracting. And good job China for winning a lot of Gold.
-Women Gymnastic was very exciting to watch. Seeing Nastia Luikin and Shawn Johnson beat the Chinese in the All Around event was very good. I mean the Chinese did deserve to win the Team competition cause they performed better routines than the American but having the Gold and Silver for the All Around competition go to the Americans abated Chinese pride and dominance for a while. In fact I will go as much as saying that I did not want the Chinese Women Gymnastic to win so much. Why? Cause in my opinion they cheated by sending under-aged girls. Come on, it does not take a rocket scientist to see that some of those girls are NOT 16. Specially He Kexin. She looks barely 14! And what is sad about this, the Chinese will get away with it. Since the government controls everything, they can easily falsify passport, government records and birth certificate to say the girls are 16. And Chinese media can not expose this as a story cause the government controls them too! And if they are truly 16, what is going on with stuff the western reporters dug up in the internet and old news story saying the girls to be younger than 16. And these evidences in the net got mysteriously deleted the next day. Coincidence? I think NOT. If there is a smoke, there is a fire. Amen!
-Volleyball was good to the Americans. Both men and women got the Gold in Beach Volleyball and the Men got Gold in indoor volleyball while the women just got outplayed by Brazil to get Silver. And I must say those men volleyball players are tall good looking men. Yum! It was really good that the American men got the Gold cause their coach had a family tragedy in China earlier during the games.
-Track and field was not my fave to watch on TV. But I still left the tube on while I did stuff in the house. It was nice that American Bryan Clay won the gold in decathalon. woohoo for America. And what was up with the American men and women runners dropping the baton in their respective relay runs? I must say the highlight of track and field was that Usain Bolt guy from Jamaica. The only man who can outrun him would be that fictional superhero "flash".
-Diving was totally dominated by China. They would have had a Gold medal sweep in all the events if not for Matthew Mitcham of Australia who won in the 10m dive event. After each dive when he got out of the water and waved at the camera, I thought he was very gay in mannerism. Lo and behold, a day later I read in the net that he is indeed openly out gay diver. Talk about my gaydar being that accurate. Good for Matthew for being out and proud and also fabulous at diving!
-The closing ceremony was just as spectacular. Good job again China. Love the memory tower and the drummers (again). One thing that left me disappointed was the performance by the British. What was that? It was such a let down compared to the spectacle China put on. David Beckham, Leona Lewis and Jimmy Page on a Bus? Other than David, I don't even know those people. BTW, it was really nice to see the athletes from different nations mingling and just having fun.

(all pics from yahoo olympic page)

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