The closing ceremony was a few days ago, but the news channel is still spending half the time showing re-runs, mostly of flag raising and anthem singing. 'Milking' is being taken to a new level. And there's also the Para-olympics to look forward to. As long as there are more chances to wax lyrical about the combining of China's history and the Olympic spirit, bla bla bla, I'm sure there's more to come. The closing ceremony itself, I was at a friend's dormitory, and just when the England bit was about to start, he decided it would be fun to watch a re-run of the 1999 military parade in Beijing for the 50th anniversary of the People's Republic. Fun it was.
In the fews days before and after, the TV coverage was focusing a huge amount on what foreign media were saying about the Games. There seems to be an obsession with what foreign media say about China, and not just the West. Comments like 'Taijiki President praises successful games, hopes Games will further improve Tajik-China relationships" were seen all the time rolling across the bottom of the screen. I'm not too sure why it is, but shots of foreigners saying great things about Beijing, Chinese people, etc, were played incessantly. In saying that, it does seem everything went pretty well.
I've had enough Olympics. Next time I'll write about new flatmate, who is quite possibly a direct descendant of a hippopotamus.
Thursday, 28 August 2008
Wednesday, 20 August 2008
Olympics Day I've Lost Count
Too much Olympics, plus the fact that I've discovered other things I have to do other than forming a dent in the sofa have meant I've taken my eye of the ball recently. I keep getting pop-ups on my screen everytime China gets a gold, and some people are lucky enough to get a text message as well. The authorities couldn't be happier, with 45 golds so far, including in things no-one here has heard of, like trampolining and windsurfing. I've got dizzy from watching the f;ags going up and down all the time, and the presenters on TV are starting to grate, their smooth exterior made smoothier by massive victory.
However, that couldn't stop golden boy Liu Xiang getting injured and pulling out of the hurdles. A sort of shock was on the face of the presenters, with them urging restraint and understanding like a hurricane had hit. The official and general attitude has indeed been one of restraint and understanding, which is better than Li Ning got, flying man from the opening ceremony and winner of severals golds in 1984. When he messed up in 1988, he got pilliored, was refused a coaching post and instead made a fortune in business. Although the 40 plus golds might not console his numerous sponsors, everyone else should be reasonably satisfied.
I've only glanced at the Olympics in the last couple of days, but I see that Britain of all countries is sitting pretty in 3rd place, pretty amazing, but not worth a mention on Chinese TV. China lost in the basketball to Latvia, but at least won the 5th/6th water polo playoffs against Italy. And the syncronized swimmers seem to be scopping up some more medals, as well. Unfortunately, I've got a beast of an exam in October, which involved a lot of writing, so I'm having to spend hours a day re-learning characters. That could actually be an Olympic event, who can fill an entire page with the character, with a gymnastic-like grading scale for beauty and difficulty. Although I think this event would be a shoe-in for the Chinese, thigh injury or not.
However, that couldn't stop golden boy Liu Xiang getting injured and pulling out of the hurdles. A sort of shock was on the face of the presenters, with them urging restraint and understanding like a hurricane had hit. The official and general attitude has indeed been one of restraint and understanding, which is better than Li Ning got, flying man from the opening ceremony and winner of severals golds in 1984. When he messed up in 1988, he got pilliored, was refused a coaching post and instead made a fortune in business. Although the 40 plus golds might not console his numerous sponsors, everyone else should be reasonably satisfied.
I've only glanced at the Olympics in the last couple of days, but I see that Britain of all countries is sitting pretty in 3rd place, pretty amazing, but not worth a mention on Chinese TV. China lost in the basketball to Latvia, but at least won the 5th/6th water polo playoffs against Italy. And the syncronized swimmers seem to be scopping up some more medals, as well. Unfortunately, I've got a beast of an exam in October, which involved a lot of writing, so I'm having to spend hours a day re-learning characters. That could actually be an Olympic event, who can fill an entire page with the character, with a gymnastic-like grading scale for beauty and difficulty. Although I think this event would be a shoe-in for the Chinese, thigh injury or not.
Sunday, 17 August 2008
Olympics Day 8 and 9
Too much Olympic-watching is making me dizzy, so i'll be compressing entries into 2 day sections.
Day 8 was a bad day for the hosts, only the one Gold medal, and lost a few big matches. The oik who makes up half the Men's badminton doubles team was on the losing team, which was a relief - no opportunity for him to take his clothes off again. The studio analysts, mostly regular TV presenters who clearly have no interest in sport, were pretty silent after that. Also pretty silent after failing to pick up golds in swimming, shooting, tennis plus a load of others I've already forgotten.
Saturday night was a bit frustrating. The four channels featuring Olympic coverage were focusing on table tennis, more table tennis, badminton and a repeat of something earlier in the day, meaning coverage of track and field was minimal. 2 minutes before the start of the Mens 100 metres, they finally switch the News Channel, which flicks between events, to the track, just in time to see that Jamaican guy compress an entire life's effort into 9.68 ridiculously quick seconds. It's unlikely to be like that at 11.10pm tonight, when Liu Xiang, gold medallist in the hurdles from last time, goes in the heats.
The medal table in the corner of the screen is currently showing GBR in 3rd place, which is pleasantly surprising after being a bit rubbish in earlier events. Coverage of cycling is minimal, just a few shots of winners crossing the line. But they showed sailing for a bit, and rowing got a lot of coverage, helped no doubt by a few Chinese teams being in contention. The commentary on the rowing mostly consisted of explaining what rowing is, and how England is a 'qiang guo' (strong country) in rowing, apparently one of the 4 'gentlesmen events' (the other three being tennis, snooker and cricket). Which made the commentators even more excited when the Women's 4s beat GBR to the Gold.
I'm currently watching 'The Palace of Honour', a nightly TV programme looking back at the days events. with an audience complete with those plastic things used for applause. Just know they had 8 female electric violinists, with 2 sets of guys behind them river dancing while holding up an Olympic flag and China flag. Cracking stuff. Then a word of congratulations to Asians, who managed to beat some European/Americans in rowing, showing the great ability of Asians. Now there's a piece on Phelps - winner of 8 Gold medals. Plenty of respect for Phelps, but still time for some words that hopefully an Asian will compete and maybe overtake this amazing 'OuMei' (European and American). Asians beating OuMei in things like swimming and athletics seems like a big deal. Maybe, but they'll have to go some, like everyone else, to beat Bolt and Phelps.
Too much Olympic-watching is making me dizzy, so i'll be compressing entries into 2 day sections.
Day 8 was a bad day for the hosts, only the one Gold medal, and lost a few big matches. The oik who makes up half the Men's badminton doubles team was on the losing team, which was a relief - no opportunity for him to take his clothes off again. The studio analysts, mostly regular TV presenters who clearly have no interest in sport, were pretty silent after that. Also pretty silent after failing to pick up golds in swimming, shooting, tennis plus a load of others I've already forgotten.
Saturday night was a bit frustrating. The four channels featuring Olympic coverage were focusing on table tennis, more table tennis, badminton and a repeat of something earlier in the day, meaning coverage of track and field was minimal. 2 minutes before the start of the Mens 100 metres, they finally switch the News Channel, which flicks between events, to the track, just in time to see that Jamaican guy compress an entire life's effort into 9.68 ridiculously quick seconds. It's unlikely to be like that at 11.10pm tonight, when Liu Xiang, gold medallist in the hurdles from last time, goes in the heats.
The medal table in the corner of the screen is currently showing GBR in 3rd place, which is pleasantly surprising after being a bit rubbish in earlier events. Coverage of cycling is minimal, just a few shots of winners crossing the line. But they showed sailing for a bit, and rowing got a lot of coverage, helped no doubt by a few Chinese teams being in contention. The commentary on the rowing mostly consisted of explaining what rowing is, and how England is a 'qiang guo' (strong country) in rowing, apparently one of the 4 'gentlesmen events' (the other three being tennis, snooker and cricket). Which made the commentators even more excited when the Women's 4s beat GBR to the Gold.
I'm currently watching 'The Palace of Honour', a nightly TV programme looking back at the days events. with an audience complete with those plastic things used for applause. Just know they had 8 female electric violinists, with 2 sets of guys behind them river dancing while holding up an Olympic flag and China flag. Cracking stuff. Then a word of congratulations to Asians, who managed to beat some European/Americans in rowing, showing the great ability of Asians. Now there's a piece on Phelps - winner of 8 Gold medals. Plenty of respect for Phelps, but still time for some words that hopefully an Asian will compete and maybe overtake this amazing 'OuMei' (European and American). Asians beating OuMei in things like swimming and athletics seems like a big deal. Maybe, but they'll have to go some, like everyone else, to beat Bolt and Phelps.
Saturday, 16 August 2008
Olympics - day 6 and 7
Yesterday evening was spent in the same way as the Chinese President Hu Jintao - watching China play America in volleyball. The team events against teams like Japan and America have proven main attractions. However, USA didn't read the script and won. Not to worry, though, because if you changed channels you'd see yet another Gold in the weightlifting. Speaking of which, in the heaviest women's weightlifting event earlier in the day, what can only be described as a large piece of muscle with a head won another Gold for China.
Fun and games in the badminton. China won the men's doubles - or at least, it looked like the Men's doubles. Turned out to be the Women's doubles. More than a few of the Chinese athletes, weightlifters excluded, look like small boys, it can be confusing. Anyway, the match certainly captured the imagination of the crowd, with plenty of booing for the opposing Koreans. (There's quite a lot of booing going on, especially when China plays Japan or America). And the Chinese No. 1 Mens player seems a bit of a character, striping of his shirt after his semi final and fist-punching all over the place.
Every evening, there is a talk show with the Olympians of the day. Last night was the turn of the women's group fencing team. Unfortunately, they only won silver, which is not going to make you stand out when your fellow countrymen are winning Golds for breakfast. The interview was slightly awkward, being only silver medallists, but the gentle background piano music continued, with a slight riff when someone said something approaching humorous. The audience were all wearing the same clothes, and had all been given two plastic things looking like fingers that are used as a replacement for clapping, clapping being such an onerous activity.
The evening news features the Olympics pretty much entirely, and the News Channel has been turned over to the Olympic coverage for 98% of the time. Yesterday there were a lot of features about the foreigners in Beijing, how much they're enjoying it, showing pictures of attractive blondes renting a bike from a helpful volunteer, etc. Every night on the 7 o'clock evening news, there's a montage of Chinese athletes on the Gold platform, with shots of the flag rising, played against a full rendition of the anthem. Another interesting thing is that they often talk about what foreign media say about the Olympics, with high praise all round. Not least from the President of Armenia, special guest on CCTV9. They also have lots of different features about a whole host of different things, including one of Phelps trying and failing to speak Chinese. His swimming has captued the imagination here, but his tones need some work.
Generally, I think the coverage is excellent, certainly near-blanket. Unsurprising, really. There's obviously cynical reasons for it - ramp up the patriotism, which every country likes, especially prominent in China. But also, the Olympics are in China, and they've waited a long time for this oportunity the outside what China is all about. In addition, they have a huge number of competitors in every sport, so it makes sense to have a lot of coverage. No coverage of Tibetan protests, rather obviously.
China-bashing continues at length in the Guardian.
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/08/16/cctv_quickly_wears_out_its_wel.html
The absurdity of someone who doesn't understand a single word of Chinese talking about what she sees on Chinese TV is apparently lost of this journalist. Yes, it's a mass patriotism fest, but its the same everywhere. The adverts obviously have a presence, but I've hardly noticed them, and at worst you can change channel to one of the many others also showing events. They often talk about the Chinese athletes themselves, running segments showing them training, interviewing them, etc. It's also not true to say they don't show Chinese athletes failing - the crying Du Li, who came 5th in a shooting event, has been featured as prominently as anything else, they interview atheletes who don't meet up to expectations, they've showed a Chinese cyclist crashing into a ditch, and when Japan beat China in women's football yesterday, the commentators were as magmanimous as can be expected. There's also a fair amount of coverage events where the Chinese aren't dominant, especially swimming.
The song for this Olympics is cringy and horrible, but thats more a matter of taste of than anything. Here it is -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1z40f57vzk
All these guys are really famous in the Chinese - speaking world - Singapore, Taiwan, HK and the Mainland, although probably only Jackie Chan is know to Europeans. According to another feature, it's also the most popular choice at karaoke for the the past week. Well, why not.
Fun and games in the badminton. China won the men's doubles - or at least, it looked like the Men's doubles. Turned out to be the Women's doubles. More than a few of the Chinese athletes, weightlifters excluded, look like small boys, it can be confusing. Anyway, the match certainly captured the imagination of the crowd, with plenty of booing for the opposing Koreans. (There's quite a lot of booing going on, especially when China plays Japan or America). And the Chinese No. 1 Mens player seems a bit of a character, striping of his shirt after his semi final and fist-punching all over the place.
Every evening, there is a talk show with the Olympians of the day. Last night was the turn of the women's group fencing team. Unfortunately, they only won silver, which is not going to make you stand out when your fellow countrymen are winning Golds for breakfast. The interview was slightly awkward, being only silver medallists, but the gentle background piano music continued, with a slight riff when someone said something approaching humorous. The audience were all wearing the same clothes, and had all been given two plastic things looking like fingers that are used as a replacement for clapping, clapping being such an onerous activity.
The evening news features the Olympics pretty much entirely, and the News Channel has been turned over to the Olympic coverage for 98% of the time. Yesterday there were a lot of features about the foreigners in Beijing, how much they're enjoying it, showing pictures of attractive blondes renting a bike from a helpful volunteer, etc. Every night on the 7 o'clock evening news, there's a montage of Chinese athletes on the Gold platform, with shots of the flag rising, played against a full rendition of the anthem. Another interesting thing is that they often talk about what foreign media say about the Olympics, with high praise all round. Not least from the President of Armenia, special guest on CCTV9. They also have lots of different features about a whole host of different things, including one of Phelps trying and failing to speak Chinese. His swimming has captued the imagination here, but his tones need some work.
Generally, I think the coverage is excellent, certainly near-blanket. Unsurprising, really. There's obviously cynical reasons for it - ramp up the patriotism, which every country likes, especially prominent in China. But also, the Olympics are in China, and they've waited a long time for this oportunity the outside what China is all about. In addition, they have a huge number of competitors in every sport, so it makes sense to have a lot of coverage. No coverage of Tibetan protests, rather obviously.
China-bashing continues at length in the Guardian.
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/08/16/cctv_quickly_wears_out_its_wel.html
The absurdity of someone who doesn't understand a single word of Chinese talking about what she sees on Chinese TV is apparently lost of this journalist. Yes, it's a mass patriotism fest, but its the same everywhere. The adverts obviously have a presence, but I've hardly noticed them, and at worst you can change channel to one of the many others also showing events. They often talk about the Chinese athletes themselves, running segments showing them training, interviewing them, etc. It's also not true to say they don't show Chinese athletes failing - the crying Du Li, who came 5th in a shooting event, has been featured as prominently as anything else, they interview atheletes who don't meet up to expectations, they've showed a Chinese cyclist crashing into a ditch, and when Japan beat China in women's football yesterday, the commentators were as magmanimous as can be expected. There's also a fair amount of coverage events where the Chinese aren't dominant, especially swimming.
The song for this Olympics is cringy and horrible, but thats more a matter of taste of than anything. Here it is -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1z40f57vzk
All these guys are really famous in the Chinese - speaking world - Singapore, Taiwan, HK and the Mainland, although probably only Jackie Chan is know to Europeans. According to another feature, it's also the most popular choice at karaoke for the the past week. Well, why not.
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Olympics - day 5
More medals for China today in weightlifting, diving, shooting, and gymnastics, traditionally strong events. The diving competition seems a bit of waste of time, just give the Gold to China and play for second. The womens (or rather girls) team followed on from the men to win the prestigious team event in the gymnastics. Yesterday evening had another entertaining weighlifting event, this time the Mens 77kg, with a Korean coming from nowhere to beat the Chinese into second place. The Chinese and Koreans have won more medals than the Armenians, Azerbaijins and Kazakhs in the weightlifting, so a lot of face gained there.
However, these events aren't the most popular. Football features prominently, despite everyone being disappointed with the Mens team constant rubbishness. True to form, they went out at the group stage. The women's team are fairing better, however. Similar story in the basketball, with the men just about to beat Angola to squeak past the group stages,with the women already qualified. Badminton and table tennis are bankers for a few more Golds.
Yesterday saw some strong performances in the swimming pool from China, an event targeted for improvement since 2000. In Syndey, 21 of China's 28 Golds came in just 5 events - table tennis, badminton, diving, weightlifting and gymnastics. The efforts to improve in other events, like swimming, fencing, rowing, hockey, and cycling, to name a few, appear to be paying off. More on that, and about the mega-mega superstar-cum-hurdler Liu Xiang, here -
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/sports/playmagazine/803HURDLER-t.html?_r=2&ref=playmagazine&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
The Gold Medallists are treated like heroes. On the CCTV website (Chinese BBC), people have written love letters proposing marriage to their favourite champions. However, of more interest, and easier to understand that Chinese, is this selection of photos of George Bush pulling more faces. One of the captions reads 'On leaving the Opening Ceremony, Bush doesn't forget to pull a face'.
http://news.cctv.com/society/20080813/106976_10.shtml
Last week, I made an Olypmic-related gaffe. Someone was asked me about Tian Liang, which I pretended to half- know. I said what's that again, turned out to be the name of an athlete. A woman? No, a man. Gymnast, yeh? No, diver. Famous? Very, won a lot of gold medals, now retired. Oh, that Tian Liang, yeh all comes flooding back now...
To help avoid appearing like the stupid laowai (foreigner) at dinner, here's the three most popular Chinese athletes.
1) Yao Ming(姚明）; basketball; 7ft6; flat head possibly caused by cot being too small and head pressed up against the end。
http://image.baidu.com/i?ct=503316480&z=0&tn=baiduimagedetail&word=LIU+XIANG&in=28079&cl=2&cm=1&sc=0&lm=-1&pn=16&rn=1&di=1777786728&ln=100
2) Liu Xiang （刘祥）; hurdler; Athens Gold medal; first Gold ever for China in running events, proving Asians can compete with the rest (his words).
(see above)
3) Guo Jingjing （郭晶晶）; diver; loads of medals; as prettiest member of female Chinese Gold medallists has right to appear in copious number of Coke adverts.
http://image.baidu.com/i?ct=503316480&z=0&tn=baiduimagedetail&word=%B9%F9%BE%A7%BE%A7&in=19981&cl=2&cm=1&sc=0&lm=-1&pn=21&rn=1&di=2262713140&ln=2000
However, these events aren't the most popular. Football features prominently, despite everyone being disappointed with the Mens team constant rubbishness. True to form, they went out at the group stage. The women's team are fairing better, however. Similar story in the basketball, with the men just about to beat Angola to squeak past the group stages,with the women already qualified. Badminton and table tennis are bankers for a few more Golds.
Yesterday saw some strong performances in the swimming pool from China, an event targeted for improvement since 2000. In Syndey, 21 of China's 28 Golds came in just 5 events - table tennis, badminton, diving, weightlifting and gymnastics. The efforts to improve in other events, like swimming, fencing, rowing, hockey, and cycling, to name a few, appear to be paying off. More on that, and about the mega-mega superstar-cum-hurdler Liu Xiang, here -
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/sports/playmagazine/803HURDLER-t.html?_r=2&ref=playmagazine&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
The Gold Medallists are treated like heroes. On the CCTV website (Chinese BBC), people have written love letters proposing marriage to their favourite champions. However, of more interest, and easier to understand that Chinese, is this selection of photos of George Bush pulling more faces. One of the captions reads 'On leaving the Opening Ceremony, Bush doesn't forget to pull a face'.
http://news.cctv.com/society/20080813/106976_10.shtml
Last week, I made an Olypmic-related gaffe. Someone was asked me about Tian Liang, which I pretended to half- know. I said what's that again, turned out to be the name of an athlete. A woman? No, a man. Gymnast, yeh? No, diver. Famous? Very, won a lot of gold medals, now retired. Oh, that Tian Liang, yeh all comes flooding back now...
To help avoid appearing like the stupid laowai (foreigner) at dinner, here's the three most popular Chinese athletes.
1) Yao Ming(姚明）; basketball; 7ft6; flat head possibly caused by cot being too small and head pressed up against the end。
http://image.baidu.com/i?ct=503316480&z=0&tn=baiduimagedetail&word=LIU+XIANG&in=28079&cl=2&cm=1&sc=0&lm=-1&pn=16&rn=1&di=1777786728&ln=100
2) Liu Xiang （刘祥）; hurdler; Athens Gold medal; first Gold ever for China in running events, proving Asians can compete with the rest (his words).
(see above)
3) Guo Jingjing （郭晶晶）; diver; loads of medals; as prettiest member of female Chinese Gold medallists has right to appear in copious number of Coke adverts.
http://image.baidu.com/i?ct=503316480&z=0&tn=baiduimagedetail&word=%B9%F9%BE%A7%BE%A7&in=19981&cl=2&cm=1&sc=0&lm=-1&pn=21&rn=1&di=2262713140&ln=2000
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
Olympic blog - day 4
The main event at the games today from a Chinese point of view was the Men's Team Gymnastics. No prizes for guessing who won that. In so many of the events where China has won gold, they've won it by miles - weightlifting and diving, particularly. The Men's Gymnastics was another. From the first event until last, the commentators were having an absolute ball, as well as the studio presenters.
What made this victory particularly sweet was two things. One was China came above America and Japan - China's main opponent in the medal table is America, and Japan is the 'auld enemy'. The Chinese National Anthem, in fact, which I can now sing having heard it so many times, is about resisting the Japanese in the 1930s. The other was that, in Athens, this same team was expected to win gold but messed up and got nothing, so this time they have redeemed themselves. A montage of the team slipping off the beam and falling over at the dismount 4 years ago was contrasted with the perfection of today, and was the main item on the evening news.
Yesterday evening also had a gripping Men's 69kg Weightlifting, gripping in the way that uninteresting sports suddenly become unmissable during the Olympics. The South Korean was leading after the first round, but in his first lift of the clean and jerk, twisted his ankle and that was that. And it was a close one for the audience too, as the 190kg weight rolled off the podium and was stopped only just in time. One of the coaches of the Azerbaijinis was arguing with the marshals. Just when you thought everyone had finished, out comes one of the Chinese pair and lifts 197kg, thus helping himself in one fell swoop to the Gold Medal. Again.
What made this victory particularly sweet was two things. One was China came above America and Japan - China's main opponent in the medal table is America, and Japan is the 'auld enemy'. The Chinese National Anthem, in fact, which I can now sing having heard it so many times, is about resisting the Japanese in the 1930s. The other was that, in Athens, this same team was expected to win gold but messed up and got nothing, so this time they have redeemed themselves. A montage of the team slipping off the beam and falling over at the dismount 4 years ago was contrasted with the perfection of today, and was the main item on the evening news.
Yesterday evening also had a gripping Men's 69kg Weightlifting, gripping in the way that uninteresting sports suddenly become unmissable during the Olympics. The South Korean was leading after the first round, but in his first lift of the clean and jerk, twisted his ankle and that was that. And it was a close one for the audience too, as the 190kg weight rolled off the podium and was stopped only just in time. One of the coaches of the Azerbaijinis was arguing with the marshals. Just when you thought everyone had finished, out comes one of the Chinese pair and lifts 197kg, thus helping himself in one fell swoop to the Gold Medal. Again.
Olympic blog - day 3
Day 3 was actually spent at the swimming pool - that is to say, me personally, not watching the Olympic swimming on TV. My running bombs, although unappreciated by the lifeguards, put the Chinese Olympians to shame - no way could a wafer-thin 13 year old Chinese girl outdo me in this event, I don't care how many gold medals she's got. And move over Michael Phelps (known in Chinese as 'fei pu er si'), my doggy paddle is being perfected in time for London. My 'splashing other people', somehow still not an Olympic event, despite the inherent skill required, not to mention comedy value, was also a high points scorer (although again, not with the lifeguards).
I did have time to catch some other events, mostly involving China winning and Britain losing. Britain lost in the men's and women's team archery to China, as well as the women's singles, again to China. We also lost in the badminton, again to China. And in the diving, it was another case of China being stupidly better than everyone else. The Western competitors seem too broad-shouldered for diving, unlike the Chinese people who slip into the water almost unnoticed.
The main event of the day was the basketball, China vs USA. Although China lost, as expected, it was what everyone was watching, a chance to see how good China is against the world's best. They certainly took defeat well, but then with so many medals, who wouldn't.
I did have time to catch some other events, mostly involving China winning and Britain losing. Britain lost in the men's and women's team archery to China, as well as the women's singles, again to China. We also lost in the badminton, again to China. And in the diving, it was another case of China being stupidly better than everyone else. The Western competitors seem too broad-shouldered for diving, unlike the Chinese people who slip into the water almost unnoticed.
The main event of the day was the basketball, China vs USA. Although China lost, as expected, it was what everyone was watching, a chance to see how good China is against the world's best. They certainly took defeat well, but then with so many medals, who wouldn't.
Sunday, 10 August 2008
Olympics -Day 2
More golds for China, firstly in the faux-shooting 'air pistol' events, and then in the Women's 10m pairs diving. One of the Chinese pair, Guo JingJing, is a huge celebrity in China, and I thought that after all the adverts she's been in recently she might be tired, but not at all. A British pair were also in this event, and finished 8th - out of 8. Good work, girls. Watching the events with Chinese people means I think I'm going to come in for a lot of stick over the next two weeks.
The afternoon was spent watching the Women's Team Archery, which received full coverage. The bow looked like some sort of futuristic orthopaedic leg rather than something Robin Hood would have used. Bendy piece of wood and string would return the sport to something approaching its origins. In the first semi-final, UK played China, and lost. And to make it even worse, UK lost by 2 points in the bronze medal play-off to France. The Koreans, did, however, beat China and are second in the medal table. The medal table is a permanent feature of the news channel, occupying the corner the screen, and its looking good for China. Everytime someone wins a gold, they're sure to thank the country and government for the support.
Not all was lost, however, as coverage showed a Brit winning the women's outdoor cycling. I think the rain probably made her feel at home. The cameras even showed a rider sliding off the road and careering into a concrete ditch, and we she had fished her bike out, it turned out to she was Chinese. A short piece also showed the gymnasts messing up, most of them in fact Chinese, although looking at the size of them, it appeared that it was past their bedtime, so perhaps understandably tired. Football, diving, and weightlifting are the other events that have featured prominently - not so much the swimming.
The big event of today is at 10.15pm local time - China versus America in basketball. This is huge, and everyone's going to be watching it. Basketball is massive in China, and the 7ft6in Yao Ming, who was purposefully bred by making his two super-tall parents get married, so I've heard, is the star of the team. No medals on offer in this match, but you can already sense the satisfaction that would be produced by a China victory.
The afternoon was spent watching the Women's Team Archery, which received full coverage. The bow looked like some sort of futuristic orthopaedic leg rather than something Robin Hood would have used. Bendy piece of wood and string would return the sport to something approaching its origins. In the first semi-final, UK played China, and lost. And to make it even worse, UK lost by 2 points in the bronze medal play-off to France. The Koreans, did, however, beat China and are second in the medal table. The medal table is a permanent feature of the news channel, occupying the corner the screen, and its looking good for China. Everytime someone wins a gold, they're sure to thank the country and government for the support.
Not all was lost, however, as coverage showed a Brit winning the women's outdoor cycling. I think the rain probably made her feel at home. The cameras even showed a rider sliding off the road and careering into a concrete ditch, and we she had fished her bike out, it turned out to she was Chinese. A short piece also showed the gymnasts messing up, most of them in fact Chinese, although looking at the size of them, it appeared that it was past their bedtime, so perhaps understandably tired. Football, diving, and weightlifting are the other events that have featured prominently - not so much the swimming.
The big event of today is at 10.15pm local time - China versus America in basketball. This is huge, and everyone's going to be watching it. Basketball is massive in China, and the 7ft6in Yao Ming, who was purposefully bred by making his two super-tall parents get married, so I've heard, is the star of the team. No medals on offer in this match, but you can already sense the satisfaction that would be produced by a China victory.
Saturday, 9 August 2008
Olympic Blog - Day 1
I'm going to attempt to blog for every day of the Olympics. I'm not in Beijing, I dont have a press pass and I don't have people fawning over me to make a good impression. I'm seeing it the same way as most people in China are - on t'tele.
Last night's opening ceremony was pretty extravagent. The main thing that struck me was how over-blown the Olympics is. I thought it was meant to be a meeting of amateur athletes to partake in a sporting event. But now it is a huge corporate event, regardless of where it is held. The ads on TV are constant. The Chinese hurdler who won gold in Athens, Liu Xiang, and who is now hugely famous because of it, has probably not had anytime to train with all the different products he's been endorsing. There's something quite odd about Olympic athletes encouraging people to drink Sprite and eat at KFC. But then the Games is hugely bloated, where governments and companies can acheive their differing aims. I must have seen the word 'Haier' (an electrical goods conglomerate) a million times today, as it bestrides the desks of every broadcast studio.
The ceremony itself was as expected, I imagine. What some guy has flying/running round the outisde of the stadium roof has to to do with Olympic spirit, I am yet to realise. There was the presentation of China's 5000 years of civilised history. The best sight was when the Chinese team entered the stadium.The American contingent was huge, but was dwarfed by the enormous Chinese team, which occupied fully half the track. China has competitors in every event for the first time. It seems the stage is set for a mass hoovering-up of medals by China.
This feeling was reinforced this morning. The first gold went to Croatia, but it wasn't long before China nabbed a couple of golds to go head of the medal table, I position I think'll they keep throughout. I've moved my desk into the living room, so I can study and watch at the same time, a perfect recipe for effective study. And I also have an Olympic guide to tell me when the next un-missable bout of fencing will take place.
My morning was spent watching the Woman's 48kg weighlifting, live from the Beijing Aviation University Sports Centre. There always seems to be someone out of their depth in events like these - like that swimmer from Equatorial Guinea in Sydney. This time it was someone from the weightlifting power house of Nicaragua. She came and went so fast I'm not sure it was the airfare.
This was in stark contrast to the Chinese competitor, Chen XiaXie. While the others where busy failing to pick it up, dropping it, and wobbling around, the Chinese competitor succeeded in all her attempts and won by a canter. An ominous sign for the rest, I think.
The second gold was earned by PangWei in the Men's 10m Air Pistol. For an event classed under 'Shooting', it was extremely dull and safe. If they used one of those toy guns that fires ping-pong balls, it would be more entertaining. A North Korean guy got bronze ahead of two Americans, so don't know whether he gets in trouble back in DPRK or not.
Coverage on TV is blanket. There's CCTV1, CCTV2, , CCTV7, and CCTV Olympic channel, as well as related programmes on local satelitte stations. You can watch everything for free on the Internet, although you'll also be watching a lot of adverts for a select few products. Some shops have set-up TVs outside so you can sit on the pavement and wonder how beach-volleyball is an Olympic event (along with softball and Equastrian). Sports no-one ever watches suddenly become fascinating - taekwondo, cycling, air pistol. The gymnastics remains one the better events to watch, although there's something slightly voyeuristic about watching people centimetres from paralysis.
In the woman's 'Shooting', the Chinese competitor came fifth and cried in her interview, a rare admission of failure. But with so many competitors in so many events, a few 5th places aren't going to dent the confidence. I'm currently watching the first round of the Woman's Volleyball, where the tallest women in China are pummelling the tallest women of Venezuela. Although the Olympic flag is white, you get the feeling that the colour of this Olympics is red, red, and more red.
Last night's opening ceremony was pretty extravagent. The main thing that struck me was how over-blown the Olympics is. I thought it was meant to be a meeting of amateur athletes to partake in a sporting event. But now it is a huge corporate event, regardless of where it is held. The ads on TV are constant. The Chinese hurdler who won gold in Athens, Liu Xiang, and who is now hugely famous because of it, has probably not had anytime to train with all the different products he's been endorsing. There's something quite odd about Olympic athletes encouraging people to drink Sprite and eat at KFC. But then the Games is hugely bloated, where governments and companies can acheive their differing aims. I must have seen the word 'Haier' (an electrical goods conglomerate) a million times today, as it bestrides the desks of every broadcast studio.
The ceremony itself was as expected, I imagine. What some guy has flying/running round the outisde of the stadium roof has to to do with Olympic spirit, I am yet to realise. There was the presentation of China's 5000 years of civilised history. The best sight was when the Chinese team entered the stadium.The American contingent was huge, but was dwarfed by the enormous Chinese team, which occupied fully half the track. China has competitors in every event for the first time. It seems the stage is set for a mass hoovering-up of medals by China.
This feeling was reinforced this morning. The first gold went to Croatia, but it wasn't long before China nabbed a couple of golds to go head of the medal table, I position I think'll they keep throughout. I've moved my desk into the living room, so I can study and watch at the same time, a perfect recipe for effective study. And I also have an Olympic guide to tell me when the next un-missable bout of fencing will take place.
My morning was spent watching the Woman's 48kg weighlifting, live from the Beijing Aviation University Sports Centre. There always seems to be someone out of their depth in events like these - like that swimmer from Equatorial Guinea in Sydney. This time it was someone from the weightlifting power house of Nicaragua. She came and went so fast I'm not sure it was the airfare.
This was in stark contrast to the Chinese competitor, Chen XiaXie. While the others where busy failing to pick it up, dropping it, and wobbling around, the Chinese competitor succeeded in all her attempts and won by a canter. An ominous sign for the rest, I think.
The second gold was earned by PangWei in the Men's 10m Air Pistol. For an event classed under 'Shooting', it was extremely dull and safe. If they used one of those toy guns that fires ping-pong balls, it would be more entertaining. A North Korean guy got bronze ahead of two Americans, so don't know whether he gets in trouble back in DPRK or not.
Coverage on TV is blanket. There's CCTV1, CCTV2, , CCTV7, and CCTV Olympic channel, as well as related programmes on local satelitte stations. You can watch everything for free on the Internet, although you'll also be watching a lot of adverts for a select few products. Some shops have set-up TVs outside so you can sit on the pavement and wonder how beach-volleyball is an Olympic event (along with softball and Equastrian). Sports no-one ever watches suddenly become fascinating - taekwondo, cycling, air pistol. The gymnastics remains one the better events to watch, although there's something slightly voyeuristic about watching people centimetres from paralysis.
In the woman's 'Shooting', the Chinese competitor came fifth and cried in her interview, a rare admission of failure. But with so many competitors in so many events, a few 5th places aren't going to dent the confidence. I'm currently watching the first round of the Woman's Volleyball, where the tallest women in China are pummelling the tallest women of Venezuela. Although the Olympic flag is white, you get the feeling that the colour of this Olympics is red, red, and more red.
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