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The City That Never Sleeps
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posted : Tuesday, September 2, 2008
The Big EI8HT
Yes, finally. I promised myself that I MUST at least update 1 post about the 2008 Bejing Olympics, but never seem to get down to doing it. I always say that I'm busy or too tired or too lazy. But really, even as I found so many things to blog about each day, I just couldn't be bothered. Yes, tsk tsk. I know.
ANYWAYS. Zhang Yimou has done it yet AGAIN! Throwing the audience off their feet appears to be his forte and his err, past-time. The long awaited Opening ceremony was a well-worthy wait as the world was first introduced to the history of the great China. But first, not forgetting the 2008 strong crew of drummers who produced only ONE sound. And who can forget the wonderful display of in which 29 footprints representing the 29 times the Olympics has been held walking to towards the Birdnest Stadium. The famous 四大发明 of China were showcased so exquistely. First up was paper making. Gosh, that was awesome beyond awesome! (But then again everything was awesome beyond awesome..) I especially love the part where the dancers twirled so gracefully on the huge paper and leaving their mark - literally - as they painted with one hand and still continue to dance oh-so-effortlessly! 5 stars for WOW-factor, mann. Next up was the printing press thingy. Everyone (except Kou) who watched the Opening told me the same thing: they sincerely tot that the individual keys of the "printing machine" were all controlled by technology. (How can Man do this kind of coordination?!) But guess what? At the end of that performance each key opened up to reveal the beaming faces of the Chinese HUMAN performers with the pride for their country written all over their faces. Kou reasoned that becoz there was human error, it just had to be done by Man. So he was right. I must say tho, that fact probably makes us even more awed. My mum kept saying how much she loved the 和 word the performers so expertly showcased. I rmb the Tang Dynasty performance in which so many ppl were dressed as the disciples of the Great Confucious. My mum's friend said that each costume was made to be almost exactly the same as what the ppl wore in the past. Their costumes weighed at least 5 kg if I'm not wrong. WOW right? The importance of the tiny details that don't escape Zhang Yimou's eagle eye is suddenly blown up by ten-fold. One of the most colourful thing during the Opening, I felt was scene of the inside of the Forbidden Palace. "Typical Zhang Yimou", Kou kept saying. The bold splash of bright colours has always been a "Zhang Yimou thing" as Kou calls it. Did you catch Curse of the Golden Flower? Mann, I've never seen such displays of colours inside any palace before! Even the pillars are multi-coloured! OK. Digressing far too much! Back to the topic! It's cool to see the soldier throw the Chinese flag outwards during the flag raising ceremony. I asked if we do that in Singapore too, but Kou said that if a Singaporean soldier did that same thing with our flag, he'll prob get charged or something. I was like "OUCH" and cringed. But Kou agreed with me (for once!) that it's cool to throw up the flag as it opens out so majestically in the strong wind. It was moving sight, to see the Chinese so united and so full of happiness that their country is hosting the 2008 Olympics. As the 2010 Youth Olympic Games draw near, I'm beginning to wonder if we Singaporeans will be just like the Chinese? Or even more proud of our very own country? In any case, I really can't wait for it! Arr, I told myself not to spend too much time talking about the Opening as I meant for this post to be about The STARS of the Olympics. Well, I guessed I got too excited just thinking about the Opening ceremony. Haha. Of course I'll mention MICHAEL PHELPS first. How did you guess it? Haha. Yes, that 1.93m tall swimmer stole the limelight with his never-before achievement of EIGHT GOLD MEDALS outta 9 main competitions. (I know you know, but I can't help emphasizing it AGAIN!)    Two words: Absolutely sensational.I most distinctly rmb the time he almost lost his 2nd and his 7th gold medals to France and Milorad Čavić. I was jumping up and down like a crazy monkey becoz he was lagging behind France. But a huge THANK YOU to Jason Lezak for helping USA to catch up and narrowly beat France, and keeping Phelps' 8-gold-medal dream alive. Lezak proved that anything can happen in a competition. We should never be too early to judge the outcome or any competition until the winner has successfully crossed the finishing line (per se) before the rest. His memorable "swimming blind in the last 100m" is also unbelievable. To not be able to see anything ahead and still managing to clinch Gold! SIX outta five for WOW-factor!! The Olympics continued on the weekdays when we all had to go back to sch. More than unhappy, I was devastated that I couldn't see Phelps LIVE in action. Haha, I rmb praying for him everyday while in sch coz I was afraid that he couldn't achieve his target! Maybe that was coz I saw him get bronze for one of the events which led me to believe that Phelps' forte is not short-dist races. Then again, he could have been exhausted becoz his races were lined up back to back. Many question the fact that Phelps was probably on drugs that's why he could swim so fast. Dun worry, Phelps gets tested for drugs twice every month so there will be no such thing mann. I was discussing with my friends whether he suffering from Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in his early years had anything to do with his amazing speed. After all, as quoted from wiki, "He started swimming at age seven, partly because of the influence of his sisters and partly to provide him with an outlet for his energy." Maybe becoz of his ADHD that rendered him extra extra energy for his swimming! If that really is the case, then I'd say this is a blessing in disguise. Mum said Kou had hyperactivity as a child as well. He had like a 3 minute attention span or something. Whoa.
  Lin Dan aka Super Dan did it again with his superb speed and agility, beating down the World 2nd Lee Chong Wei!! I wasn't rooting for China or Malaysia, but I was rooting for Lin Dan alone. Kou accused me of fan-girling, but a little of it never did kill anybody right? ;D I didn't know that his frame was that bulky (not that I mind...) and I also didn't know that Faye Wong is his die-hard fan and that he is really really very sweet to his girlfriend Xie Xingfang who's also an Olympian. The 2 seem to have been attached for the longest time and I wish them all the best! Haha. Phelps is also rumoured to be with Stephanie Rice (if I'm not wrong), not that I mind again. I think it's so cool for athletes to have partners in the same sports as themselves. They can train tgt and never have to worry abt spending too little time with each other. Cool + sweet = cweet. Or cwool? Ok nvm! o_OI wonder whether it's just me or is the world more keen to beat China during this year's Olympics? China always has a clean sweep of gold medals (even surpassing their 50th mark this year), but this time I feel as though the Chinese athletes might have encountered stronger opponents? I could see the world fighting hard to 'snatch' the gold medals from them, some failed and others succeeded. Every time we watch an Olympic match with China as 1 of the competitors, we'll inevitably say things like, "Oh dun need watch already, we all know who the winner's gonna be." But if China does lose (for e.g. only), do you feel like cheering for the opposing team? I've pondering on this for quite a while now. Maybe it's the so-called 'underdog' syndrome. I'm not saying that the others are underdogs -no way - I tot of this coz China is really that good. I've no idea how the Chinese athletes are trained, but they are just so darn good mann. What is it that they do and the others dun, that makes them so outstanding? I think this is gonna remain a mystery for a very long time.
There are always sports that the other countries dominate in, like swimming, water polo, athletics and of course, basketball. Anyone watched the Gold Medal match of basketball? Boy, was it AWESOME. I spent 75% of the time watching at the edge of my seats. USA finally won back their Gold medal after losing to the strong defending champion - Spain. Well, I'm not ashamed to admit that my eyes were on Kobe Bryant whenever he was in the court. I recall this 17-yr-old Spanish boy (who turned pro when he was 14) being a hot favourite of both Spain and the commentator. He kept going on and on non-stop abt "Rubio the 17-yr-old...blah blah blah" and repeated the boy's history like a thousand times on end. I was beginning to get sick and tired of his incessant Rubio-ing until I actually said aloud, "Why can't you just comment on the USA team for once?!" Maybe he heard me, coz he began to comment abt the STARS of the USA team - LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul (a rather short player compared to his teammates but who played REALLY REALLY WELL. Who says you can't be good in basketball even tho you're short?) Oh, for the record, Chris Paul is 1.83m tall but his teammates already tower over him. (Suddenly Yao Ming doesn't seem that tall anymore huh?) The controversy of Liu Xiang's sudden pull-out. I'm not gonna post any pics abt him becoz I know most online would show his grimacing face before the race, his crying coach and also becoz it's too painful for me to do it. I ain't exactly a real Liu Xiang fan but I sorta hope that he could continue defending his Gold medal title in the hurdles event. It was said that 91000 ppl went to see him, and 91000 hearts were broken. I was extremely outraged by the fact that many netizens just lashed out at the poor athlete, saying alot of uncalled-for things like "Why can't you just quit before entering the competition? Spare us the false facade of your injury." Hello, which part of the whole thing looks fake to you?! I dun think I can ever forget that excruciating look on his face during the warm-up. I've never seen anyone fake that. Never. Becoz it's totally impossible to fake it. Liu Xiang's facial expression revealed that the pain was probably too much for him to conceal. Those netizens think it's so easy to fake it just becoz "he thinks he can't get gold again"? For a defending champion to quit even before the first hurdle, there must be something really bad going on. I absolutely hate it when ppl dumped out all their accusations on a person they barely know - much less understand - and they dun bother getting their facts right. They do not put themselves in Liu Xiang's shoes to try to think what would have happened if they were the ones on that same track with the same injury? Must these ppl have a taste of their own medicine before they think twice abt lashing out on others in the future? Some Chinese remarked that, "(Liu Xiang) should have attempted to reach the finishing line, even if it means to crawl there." I can get why they said such things. The importance of finishing every race - even if you're the last - is everything in the spirit of sports. But I guess Liu Xiang really couldn't tahan anymore. I mean, he was already limping, mann. I'm sure that if his pain weren't so bad, he would have at least tried to reach the finishing line. Hmm, I wonder if he was pushing himself wayy over his own limit just to ensure that he could win gold again that he injured himself? The fact that the athletes had "home-ground advantage" also means that they might be pressured to do even better.
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qiaonathon wong 黄(:
Another STAR of the Olympics was Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter whose showmanship is probably equal to his running achievements. Haha jkjk! I can't believe he was criticised for being "unable to conduct himself in a proper manner" by the Prez of the IOC. Of course it would be alot better if he were a lil more modest. But he has a very good reason to be showy - the very fact that he is crazy-fast. The Prez didn't say much abt the 2 Chinese gymnasts who were found to be underaged. I rmb critics commenting that he was careful to remain politically friendly with China. I guess this is inevitable. In every high position, you'll be sure to encounter political issues.
Saving the BEST for the last,