women's football (soccer) match tonight there - CHN v JPN, that should be
very exciting. China's women's team has historically been strong, but I
don't think they've won any olympic medals.
This morning, we went to a weightlifting event, the Men's 85kg. It was a
final round, however the finals are split into round A and B. We saw B, and
the A round will take place tonight to determine the winner.
Weightlifting is actually tough to understand. There are two types: Snatch
and Clean & Jerk. In the Snatch, the barbell is lifted from the floor and
above the head in one motion. In the Clean and Jerk, the barbell is lifted
first from the floor to the lifter's chest, resting right below the
collarbone. Then, the barbell is raised from the chest to overhead. The
Clean and Jerk will allow for more weight to be lifted as there is a rest
in between.
Each lifter gets 3 attemps at each type of lift. I'm not quite sure how it
works, but it seems like the sum of their highest weights from each
category is what determines their final rank. Once the barbell has bee
lifted overhead, his/her feet must be in line and 3 judges need to signal
their approval before he/she is credited for the lift.
This morning, we saw USA's Kendrick Farris dominate the competition. OW
unfurled his USA flag and joined his compatriots in chanting "U.S.A!
U.S.A!" Farris was ranked 1 in group B - hopefully he'll retain that rank
after Round A competes tonight.
One other thing to note is that we took public transport back from
Weightlifting to our apartment and from the apartment to the train station.
We've mostly been taking taxis due to a jam-packed schedule. Our
experience today is that the subway
system is modern, but still inconvenient. We had to transfer 3 times to get
home and each transfer involves 10 mins of walking. It took us over an hour
to get home.
Okay, I have blackberry thumb now. Will get some dinner and try to nap some
before we get to Qinhuangdao.
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