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.