tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76372579836232108952024-03-05T19:15:20.651-05:00Beijing Olympics 2008Two Olympic enthusiasts blogging about their experience at the 2008 Summer Games in BeijingEugenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04632915900652554599noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7637257983623210895.post-5177387340380084352008-12-31T23:15:00.001-05:002008-12-31T23:15:40.006-05:00Happy New Year!Happy New Year to all our friends and family back home!<p>-- <br>Sent from my mobile deviceEugenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04632915900652554599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7637257983623210895.post-82836324122896816752008-08-25T06:03:00.003-04:002008-08-25T06:28:03.155-04:00Closing ceremony thoughts<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We watched the closing ceremony last night on TV. This is an anticlimactic moment in any Olympics, but was even more so after all the glamour and hype of Beijing. Having watched the Opening Ceremony in the US with English commentary, we had a harder time following the themes and cultural aspects of the Closing Ceremony. We liked the 8-minute piece by London's Olympic Committee, and thought it was an accurate representation of the city.<br /></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">That's about it! We are going to use the next couple of days to relax and go around the city a bit. And then it's back to the good old US. We will post more detailed photo albums most likely after we return.</span></span></div>Eugenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04632915900652554599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7637257983623210895.post-91128398120186857782008-08-24T10:58:00.001-04:002008-08-25T06:02:31.815-04:00Volleyball Finals Recap<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Our last Olympic event took place last night at the Capital Indoor stadium northwest of city center. OW and I saw the women's indoor volleyball final game between Brazil and USA. There was an equal number of Brazilian fans and US fans, but the Brazilian fans were by far more vocal and outrageously costumed. The Chinese had no qualms cheering for both teams. However, I did find it amusing that the Chinese would cheer most loudly for Lang Ping, the USA coach, who was one of China's best volleyball players in the 80's.<br /><br />The first set was clearly dominated by Brazil whose attackers delivered incredible spikes, leaving the US team on the defensive. Brazil also blocked much more intuitively than US, succesfully reading the setter. Brazil took the first set 25-15.<br /><br /></span></span><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/olympics88blog/SLEXzK01ZQI/AAAAAAAAAPY/WTWOcSeJyp8/IMG_6276.JPG?imgmax=720" border="0" alt="" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In the second set, USA executed much better and also started putting up blocks of their own. They won easily, 25-18.<br /><br />Set 3 went to Brazil. I noticed that the US team made many service errors - this is one of their weaknesses and is especially important given rally scoring. Brazil won 25-13.<br /><br />Set 4 was the closest, with each team taking turns with the lead. However, towards the end, Brazil suddenly won 4 points in a row, winning the match in a matter of minutes (25-21). In my opinion, the US team relied too heavily on one person --Logan Tom. They set her for the last 3 points, and the Brazilians anticipated it each time, putting up a 3 person block, and winning the point off the block. If you look at the stats, the leading scorers in women's volleyball during the Olympics were Logan Tom (USA), Wang Yimei (China), and a Cuban player, you can see that each of these semifinal teams had one superstar attacker. Brazil, on the other hand, is much better at setting all of their players --which also makes them harder to block. I think the US team had it in them to take it to 5, but those last points closed the opportunity.<br /><br />I found the coaching styles of the two teams to be completely opposite. Lang Ping sits back in her chair, says nothing, and frowns occasionally. The Brazilian coach paces the sidelines, gesturing wildly, and actively coaches his team. He looks like he may have a seizure at any moment. When his team won, he was intensely emotional and worked the crowd to a frenzy during their victory lap.<br /><br />It was an exciting game and we were able to see the medal ceremony with China, US, and Brazil.<br /><br />Then, today, we saw the men's indoor volleyball final match --also USA v Brazil. We saw the first game, where Brazil was leading by a large margin. They were putting up ridiculous blocks and looked to be in their element. We left for lunch, and caught the last two points of the match on the bus. Looks like USA came back and won sets 2, 3, and 4, vindicating the women's team.</span></span>Quack!http://www.blogger.com/profile/08033543128484981079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7637257983623210895.post-34134352911599604892008-08-24T04:05:00.003-04:002008-08-24T04:16:46.215-04:00New pictures are up!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/olympics88blog/SLEXfxwZEZI/AAAAAAAAAO8/-xaypot5-ck/IMG_6127.JPG?imgmax=720"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/olympics88blog/SLEXfxwZEZI/AAAAAAAAAO8/-xaypot5-ck/IMG_6127.JPG?imgmax=720" border="0" alt="" /></a>Click the link on the right for new pictures! We are at Starbucks again, this time at an enormous mall on Wangfujing St., a few blocks away from Tiananmen square. We did find the Baleno store, but it is definitely not what we remember from two years ago. It got all high fashion on us! The supply of cheap clothes in Beijing is definitely dwindling!Quack!http://www.blogger.com/profile/08033543128484981079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7637257983623210895.post-56974943328377132722008-08-24T01:54:00.005-04:002008-08-24T10:32:50.104-04:00Athletics finals<img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/olympics88blog/SLEWR5SSbpI/AAAAAAAAAN0/kkSUX49UUW0/IMG_6031.JPG?imgmax=720" border="0" alt="" />We visited the Bird's Nest stadium for the last time on Friday to see the athletics finals. The evening's program did not disappoint, and we saw one world record and one olympic record broken. By far the most exciting event was the men's 4x100 relay. We knew Jamaica would be strong, but after Usain Bolt received the baton from his teammate, it immediately became clear that the race for the gold was over and the race for the world record was beginning. By the time Bolt passed the baton over they were nearly a second ahead of the next team. Three golds and three world records for this amazing athlete.<br /><div><br /></div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/olympics88blog/SLEXHgSB8DI/AAAAAAAAAOg/XTy7P3VAVX0/IMG_6085.JPG?imgmax=144" border="0" alt="" /><div>We also saw the finals of the men's pole vault, which we realized is the slowest track and field event ever! It was going on the entire time the other events were on and then some. In the end the contest was between Steve Hooker of Australia and some Russian guy. The Australian was definitely the dark horse because he barely made it out of the qualifying rounds. But he clenched the gold medal by completing his jump of 5.90 after the Russian had failed to clear this height. The Australian boxers in our section went nuts and everyone was cheering loudly, but the show was not over. Hooker decided to try to break the Olympic record by clearing 5.96,<br />one cm over the record. He missed the first attempt and took a scratch on the second to give himself and extra 5 minutes to prepare. The atmosphere was electric and everyone was filled with anticipation. The third jump came and he cleared it! New Olympic record and we were there to witness it!</p><p>We also saw the final two rounds of the men's decathlon. American Bryan Clay came in leading by a good margin and maintained it to take the gold! In fact, he was so far ahead going into the 1500m run that he finished last and still took the gold. Congratulations Bryan!</p><p>The USA women long jumpers did not deliver any medals, and Brazil took the gold by 1cm over Russia with 7.04.</p></div>Eugenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04632915900652554599noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7637257983623210895.post-66939215621633354572008-08-22T10:16:00.001-04:002008-08-22T10:16:06.558-04:00Jamaica gold medal men 4x100!-- <br>Sent from Gmail for mobile | <a href="http://mobile.google.com">mobile.google.com</a>Eugenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04632915900652554599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7637257983623210895.post-26068814493130707502008-08-22T02:23:00.006-04:002008-08-22T03:00:48.912-04:00At Starbucks<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/olympics88blog/SK5dSHHxRDI/AAAAAAAAALo/qfim6Qnk4bM/IMG_5256.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/olympics88blog/SK5dSHHxRDI/AAAAAAAAALo/qfim6Qnk4bM/IMG_5256.JPG?imgmax=512" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We slept in today (well, I slept in, OW went for a run in nearby Yuyuantan Park), and then went to a jiaozi (dumpling) place near Chang'An Jie. We are now at the Starbucks across the street, using the free wireless and drinking coffee and machiatto. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Tonight we will be at the Bird's Nest for the last time this trip to see athletics. There should be a few exciting finals in there, including the men's and women's 4x100 relay, which should feature Usain Bolt of Jamaica. The US teams did not make the final in either of these events after BOTH teams dropped the baton in the semis.</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We will also see the women's long jump final, for which we saw the heats on Tuesday. The olympic record in this event is still held by Jackie Joyner-Kersee from the 1988 Seoul olympics, so we are excited to see if this might be broken. We are looking forward to a great performance by Reese of the US, but it will be tough to beat Tatyana Lebedeva of Russia, who is the reigning Olympic and world champion. Finally, we will see the pole vault final, where the world champion Brad Walker of the US again got eliminated in the early rounds. What is it with the US team these days?</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I can't believe we are nearing the end of the Olympics here. We have had a great time, and were lucky to have seen so many events. We will stay in Beijing for a few more days after the closing ceremony and are hoping that some of the Olympics paraphernalia will go on sale ;) </span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We might go to Wangfujing St. again today to check out the elusive Baleno store and to potentially purchase a China team warmup.</span></span></p>Quack!http://www.blogger.com/profile/08033543128484981079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7637257983623210895.post-63025331270785997452008-08-21T11:13:00.002-04:002008-08-22T02:44:55.467-04:00Today's volleyball recap<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/olympics88blog/SK5Y7nh4vVI/AAAAAAAAAKw/tpdHFwOvAM0/IMG_5669.JPG?imgmax=800"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/olympics88blog/SK5Y7nh4vVI/AAAAAAAAAKw/tpdHFwOvAM0/IMG_5669.JPG?imgmax=800" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />The dreary weather and intermittent downpours didn't stop us from going to watch the final women's beach volleyball match of USA v China this morning. We weren't sure if they would postpone due to the weather, but good thing we arrived on time, as games go on in all weather except lightning. They handed us ponchos at the gate, which were helpful, but of such poor quality that they had holes everywhere by the time we left. In any case, we saw China's #2 team defeat Brazil 2-0 for the bronze medal. The enthusiasm of the crowd was tempered by the lousy weather, but the game was still exciting to watch. The game finished in 45 mins and there was an hour wait before the gold medal match. By the time that game started, it was a full house despite the rain. Great turnout by Americans too. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh were spot-on. They are a great team and came into the match with a 107-game winning streak. They extended that<img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/olympics88blog/SK5Y3Z3JCoI/AAAAAAAAALY/4b30T5vkfKY/IMG_5658.JPG?imgmax=512" border="0" alt="" /> to 108 today with their win over China's #1 team. The games were very close, but USA played extremely well and displayed their dominance in the sport. I was especially impressed with their sportsmanship upon winning, making sure to hug and thank their opponents, officials, etc. Walsh seemed especially emotional. This will probably be the last Olympics for both and they went out with a bang. I would also like to commend the Chinese beach volleyball program for developing Olympic champions in the span of 4 years. It was a great game to watch. OW and I cheered for our respective favorites and had a good time even though we came out pretty drenched.<div><p>On the bus ride back from Beach Volleyball, we saw the beginning of the women's USA v Cuba volleyball semifinal match. It looked like they had the upper hand, and indeed, once we got home, the final score (3-0 USA) confirmed.</p><p>Then, just a couple of hours ago, we watched on TV with bated breath, the China v Brazil semifinal women's indoor volleyball match. The first set was close, with the teams trading 1-point leads. Brazil's offense was highly effective, but China's defense rallied time after time. However, Brazil won the first set 27-25. In the second set, Brazil seemed like a stronger team,<br />with many more successful blocks and fierce attacks. Although China rallied towards the end of the set, they lost the third set point at 24-22 on a service error, which I think was irreversibly devastating to the team's morale. The third game was unfortunatley not close at all, with China<br />making many mistakes and not capitalizing on dig opportunities. Brazil opened a wide lead and maintained it to take the third and final set 25-12. I'm hugely disappointed to not see China in the finals but am looking forward to attending the gold medal match between USA and Brazil on Friday. It will also be interesting to see the outcome of the bronze medal China v Cuba rematch.</p><p>A lot of really good volleyball today, still more to come.</p></div>Quack!http://www.blogger.com/profile/08033543128484981079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7637257983623210895.post-29357474034061972342008-08-20T05:23:00.001-04:002008-08-20T05:23:27.882-04:00At handballThis is our first and only handball event of the Olympics. We are watching<br>the quarterfinals. Currently, France is playing Russia in a close and very<br>physical game. Handball is very popular in the European countries, and<br>France is supposedly a top seed. The French fans go absolutely wild<br>whenever there is a goal and are generally boisterous, with many chants and<br>cheers. They boo the officials frequently on calls against France, which<br>has been leading by a 3 point margin for most of the game.<p>We don't quite understand the sport but think it is a combination of<br>basketball, hockey, soccer, and lacrosse. There are two 30 minute periods<p>France just beat Russia 27-24. Next up, Poland v Iceland.Quack!http://www.blogger.com/profile/08033543128484981079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7637257983623210895.post-66476366260588006962008-08-20T01:11:00.001-04:002008-08-20T01:11:24.537-04:00And now for some volleyball newsIn Women's Beach volleyball, the final game will be played between USA's #1<br> team and China's #1 team. We have tickets to this game tomorrow morning and<br> are absolutely psyched to see the US/China rivalry play out. OW bought<br> another huge US flag before our baseball game the other day (the other one<br> was given to the US men's eight during the rowing medal ceremony - see his<br> earlier post for details) and I have my China shirt, flag, and visor. We<br> plan on yelling at each other and waving flags in each others faces like<br> good rivals should :) In the semis, the USA #1 team easily beat Brazil to<br> advance. The other semi pitted China's #1 team against China's #2 team in a<br>grueling 1 hour, 15 minute, 3 set match. The #1 team won. At some point,<br> China also beat the USA #2 team to get to the semis.<p>In women's indoor volleyball, the quarterfinals were played yesterday. Cuba<br> beat Serbia, Brazil beat Japan, China beat Russia, and USA beat Italy to<br>advance to the semis. Cuba, Brazil, and Russia won 3-0 in each of their<br> games. US went to 5 sets, trading sets with Italy through the game. We<br> watched the game on TV and US looked very scrappy, adapting to the Italians<br> to comeback for a decisive win in the 5th.<br> In the semis, China will play Brazil, who are so far undefeated in these<br> games. USA will play Cuba. Thus far, Brazil looks quite strong, though they<br>were not in the US/China pool, so it's hard to compare. US and China are<br> fairly evenly matched, although US took an unexpected win against China in<br> preliminary play. We have tickets to the gold medal match and are crossing<br> our fingers for a US/China matchup!<p>I have not been following Men's volleyball, but I hear that the indoor team<br> is undefeated so far.Quack!http://www.blogger.com/profile/08033543128484981079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7637257983623210895.post-58945761803488637642008-08-19T07:36:00.001-04:002008-08-19T07:37:42.478-04:00Finally... Pictures!Well we finally got to an internet-enabled Starbucks and have started to post some pictures <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/olympics88blog/Olympics?authkey=I77byvgdHRM">here</a>. We will be uploading more and labeling these in the coming days, so stay tuned!Eugenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04632915900652554599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7637257983623210895.post-90739964698521868332008-08-18T23:41:00.000-04:002008-08-18T23:42:14.395-04:00Track and field qualifiersWe thought our athletics ticket today included some finals, but it<br>turned out it was only the qualifying rounds of several events. We saw<br>the women's 200m heats and long jump and javelin throw qualifiers.<p>This was our first time inside the new national stadium (bird's nest).<br>We dealt with the usual confusion at the entry gates and climbed all<br>the way up to section H305. Our view of the field was pretty decent<br>regardless of the height.<p>We had never been to any track and field events before, so we didn't<br>realize that it can be kind of disorienting. All the events happen at<br>the same time with the announcer switching back and forth. So it's<br>really hard to actually keep track.<p>The javelin throw was dominated by Europeans, with the exception of<br>China's Zhang Li whose throw of 61.77 put her in 9th place but in<br>qualifying position. The US and Jamaica were the top runners in the<br>200. The long jump had a good mix of people, with US and Greek<br>athletes taking the top qualifying spots.<p>-- <br>Sent from Gmail for mobile | <a href="http://mobile.google.com">mobile.google.com</a>Eugenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04632915900652554599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7637257983623210895.post-85638686457034760242008-08-18T12:09:00.002-04:002008-08-22T01:58:58.696-04:00Rowing!Okay I'm kind of late with this, but here is an update on the rowing races!<br />First things first, on Saturday we saw Michelle Guerette of the USA win<br />silver in an amazing come-from-behind performance. At the 500 meter mark,<br />she was in 5th place, 4th at the 1000, 3rd at the 1500, and finally<br />sprinted for the silver. What an outstanding performance from Michelle!<p>China also took silver in the women's pair, which was also an impressive<br />result considering they were way down at the 1000. In fact, it seems the<br />Chinese are amazing sprinters because they came back from 4th place the<br />next day to take GOLD in the women's quad. This was China's first ever<br />Olympic gold in rowing, so it was amazing to be there to see this piece of<br />rowing history. The pictures of the Chinese athletes tearing up at the<br />medals dock have been all over the TV coverage here, and we were there to<br />see it happen live!</p><p>As expected, the only US team boats that delivered medals were the eights.<br />The women were basically in command the entire race. They were challenged<br />by the Netherlands and Canada, but maintained their lead to take the GOLD!<br />Go USA!</p><p>The men faced a far tougher race. They were last at the 500 but pulled off<br />a huge move in the second 1000 and moved into third behind Canada and the<br />UK. They held onto this lead and clenched the bronze. Well, it's hard to<br />top what the Athens eight did four years ago, but a bronze Olympic medal is<br />still certainly something to write home about. Speaking of Athens gold, I<br />chatted for a bit with Pete Cipollone, legendary coxswain and Olympic gold<br />medalist. He signed my ticket with "go for the gold". I wish...</p><p>After the men's eight medals ceremony, the athletes started posing for<br />pictures. We were just standing around, celebrating and waving our huge US<br />flag around. Guess what happened next? All of the sudden a coach-looking<br />guy ran over to us and asked to take our flag for the boat! They then posed<br />for pictures with it for about 15 minutes. So, if anybody sees any pics of<br />the US eight posing on the dock with a flag, that's OUR FLAG! So awesome...</p>Eugenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04632915900652554599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7637257983623210895.post-83268126226475389262008-08-18T11:57:00.001-04:002008-08-18T11:57:26.400-04:00Done with baseballUSA won pretty handedly 9-1. There was a brief period of excitement in<br>the top of the 9th when China hit a homerun, but it was short-lived as<br>that would be their only run of the game. Half the crowd had already<br>left by then.<p>Sadly, this will be the last time Baseball and Softball are played in<br>the Olympics. They will be replaced in 2012 in London by two new<br>sports. I think the rationale was that Olympics Baseball is not<br>representative of the world's best athletes because all the MLB pros<br>are still playing out their seasons in the All-Star playoffs or<br>whatnot.<p>And since there is no professional league in China, the Chinese<br>national baseball team will be disbanded after these Olympic Games.<br>Sad :(<p>Tomorrow morning, we will step inside the Bird's Nest for the first<br>time for Athletics (Track and field). We'll see a few finals events<br>and post about those tomorrow.<p>For those of you following the gold medal aspirations of China's 110m<br>hurdle star, Liu Xiang, you will disappointed to know that he withdrew<br>with an Achilles tendon and hamstring injury seconds before the final<br>race. Apparently the hamstring injury from May was supposed to be<br>healed, but the Achilles has been a chronically recurring problem.<br>When Liu Xiang took his place on the blocks, he was grimacing in pain.<br>There was a false start and he limped back to the blocks. He withdrew<br>minutes later - to the disappointment of probably every Chinese fan in<br>the stadium. This event was THE hottest ticket as the expectations of<br>an entire nation were on him to repeat his Athens gold. At the press<br>conference later in the day, his coach cried as he explained how<br>difficult a situation it was. :(<p>-- <br>Sent from Gmail for mobile | <a href="http://mobile.google.com">mobile.google.com</a>Quack!http://www.blogger.com/profile/08033543128484981079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7637257983623210895.post-48924784891297772032008-08-18T09:50:00.001-04:002008-08-18T09:50:17.276-04:00At baseball CHN v USAWe're at the baseball fields watching USA v China As soon as we got<br>out of the subway, we were accosted by scalpers looking to buy and<br>sell tickets, not sure what the going price is.<p>We're currently in the bottom of the 7th, they just threw out the<br>Chinese pitcher for beaning the US batter in the head. The score is<br>already 5-0 US. There's been some drama, with many arguable calls all<br>against China. A US player bowled over the CHN catcher in a play at<br>home plate. That got a lot of boos from the home crowd because you are<br>actually not allowed to do that in the Olympics (though it's fine in<br>MLB). When the Chinese manager went to argue with the umpire, he got<br>ejected. More boos. Also a questionable tagout in the 5th was called<br>in USA's favor. The beginning of the game, when it was close, was more<br>exciting. Many people have left already.<p>The venue itself is nicely set up but the lines for food and toilets are long.<p>US just scored another 2 runs - now 7-0.<p>China's pitcher just dropped the ball, score is now 8-0.<p>-- <br>Sent from Gmail for mobile | <a href="http://mobile.google.com">mobile.google.com</a>Quack!http://www.blogger.com/profile/08033543128484981079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7637257983623210895.post-22875145754495203762008-08-17T05:37:00.001-04:002008-08-17T05:37:31.810-04:00Women 8 gold, men 8 bronze-- <br>Sent from Gmail for mobile | <a href="http://mobile.google.com">mobile.google.com</a>Eugenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04632915900652554599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7637257983623210895.post-17446543463250044852008-08-17T02:43:00.001-04:002008-08-17T02:43:44.693-04:00A recap of the past 36 hoursWe saw the CHN v JPN quarterfinal women's football match in Qinhuangdao. It<br>was a huge hassle trying to arrange a train back to Beijing - a sign that<br>despite the modern trains, the booking system is still a bit archaic. You<br>can't buy round trip tickets - you can only buy tickets in the originating<br>city. So we could only buy our return tickets upon arriving at Qinhuangdao.<br>The tickets we wanted were sold out by the time we arrived, except for<br>standing room only tix for a 4 hour ride back at 1AM. So we ended up having<br>to find a hotel after booking the next train available with seats, an 11:15<br>train.<p>We missed the first goal of the game because we were booking the hotel and<br>train. Japan scored a goal 15 mins in. There's a long time rivalry between<br>JPN and CHN and the stadium was packed. Security presence was very visible<br>and had to breakup some altercations between JPN and CHN spectators. The<br>Japanese team had possession of the ball more often and seemed to be on the<br>offensive a lot more than China. They had better ball control and seemed<br>less fatigued, with more speed throughout the game. There were some close<br>shots on goal by China, and the crowd was crazy. However, Japan scored<br>another goal late in the second half which ended China's quest for a medal.<p>Our hotel was actually very nice, and we had a good night's rest. The hotel<br>breakfast was pretty lavish in comparison to what we normally eat. The<br>train ride back was uneventful and we got back to Beijing at 1:15. From<br>there, it was on to the first day of rowing finals in Shunyi.<p>Getting to Shunyi was also a hassle and expensive. We took the subway from<br>the train station, and the the airport express subway out to the airport.<br>From there we took a taxi to the rowing park. It took us almost 2 hours to<br>get there, but we made it on time to watch the first medal race. OW will<br>give more commentary on the actual races later.<p>At this moment, we are in a taxi on our way to the rowing park again for<br>Day 2 of the Rowing finals. We negotiated a fixed price with a taxi driver<br>directly from Beijing, so it's a much faster and direct ride.<p>A bit of drizzle today, but hopefully no rain delay.Quack!http://www.blogger.com/profile/08033543128484981079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7637257983623210895.post-19919100002056033822008-08-15T12:01:00.002-04:002008-08-15T12:18:38.574-04:00China lost :(We are in Qinhuangdao, where the Chinese football team just played a disappointing game against Japan and lost 2-0. The atmosphere in the stadium when we came in was electric, Chinese fans chanting and waving flags in a near-frenzy. We arrived a little late (more about that later) and Japan already was a goal up on China. It was immediately clear that the Japanese team was playing much better, with the Chinese team mostly on the defensive. However, we were still hoping for an equalizer. But, while China had a few opportunities, Japan continued to dominate. Finally, in the 80th minute, Japan scored a second goal, and the game was pretty much over. The Chinese fans express their dissatisfaction with the home team's performance by poping their noisemaker balloons to make a thunderous noise that reverberated around the entire stadium.<br /><br />All in all, coming out to Qinhuangdao has been a big hassle. You can't really buy round-trip tickets in China, so we had to look for a ticket back to Beijing upon our arrival here. The only option after the game was a train that leaves at 1am and gets in at 5:30am, and the tickets would be standing room! We passed that one up and grabbed tickets to an express train in the morning along with a hotel room in town. This is a resort town on the ocean, so rooms were not cheap - we got one for around $100 US. All in all, this has definitely been an experience, but not one we would rather repeat.<br /><br />The hotel we are staying in is actually extremely nice, however. We even have a desktop computer in our room with an Internet connection. But.......... I did not bring the hard drive with our pictures on it or a cable to connect up the camera. So, no pics yet. Sorry! Will definitely try to post them soon!Eugenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04632915900652554599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7637257983623210895.post-44394487542450581692008-08-15T06:43:00.001-04:002008-08-15T06:43:49.542-04:00On the train to QinhuangdaoWe are currently zipping along on a train headed for Qinhuangdao. We have a<br>women's football (soccer) match tonight there - CHN v JPN, that should be<br>very exciting. China's women's team has historically been strong, but I<br>don't think they've won any olympic medals.<p>This morning, we went to a weightlifting event, the Men's 85kg. It was a<br>final round, however the finals are split into round A and B. We saw B, and<br>the A round will take place tonight to determine the winner.<p>Weightlifting is actually tough to understand. There are two types: Snatch<br>and Clean & Jerk. In the Snatch, the barbell is lifted from the floor and<br>above the head in one motion. In the Clean and Jerk, the barbell is lifted<br>first from the floor to the lifter's chest, resting right below the<br>collarbone. Then, the barbell is raised from the chest to overhead. The<br>Clean and Jerk will allow for more weight to be lifted as there is a rest<br>in between.<p>Each lifter gets 3 attemps at each type of lift. I'm not quite sure how it<br>works, but it seems like the sum of their highest weights from each<br>category is what determines their final rank. Once the barbell has bee<br>lifted overhead, his/her feet must be in line and 3 judges need to signal<br>their approval before he/she is credited for the lift.<p>This morning, we saw USA's Kendrick Farris dominate the competition. OW<br>unfurled his USA flag and joined his compatriots in chanting "U.S.A!<br>U.S.A!" Farris was ranked 1 in group B - hopefully he'll retain that rank<br>after Round A competes tonight.<p>One other thing to note is that we took public transport back from<br>Weightlifting to our apartment and from the apartment to the train station.<br>We've mostly been taking taxis due to a jam-packed schedule. Our<br>experience today is that the subway<br>system is modern, but still inconvenient. We had to transfer 3 times to get<br>home and each transfer involves 10 mins of walking. It took us over an hour<br>to get home.<p>Okay, I have blackberry thumb now. Will get some dinner and try to nap some<br>before we get to Qinhuangdao.Quack!http://www.blogger.com/profile/08033543128484981079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7637257983623210895.post-48247241571368296192008-08-14T03:53:00.002-04:002008-08-14T04:07:26.180-04:00At internet cafe<span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">OW and I went for a meal after volleyball (Germany won 3-0) and then found an internet cafe. He's typing away next to me as I speak, so we may overlap in content a bit. Unfortunately for us, this internet cafe doesn't allow us to use their USB port to upload photos. Sucks. The "cafe" is in the basement of a nondescript building. I'm pretty sure they don't serve coffee here, but there's an interesting mix of clientele. The room is dimly lit and set up like a game room, with about 15 rows of tables, with 15 computers per row. Most of the Chinese people are young gamers. There is a small handful of foreigners checking email, and one really obnoxious foreigner saying "You can go anytime" every 5 minutes to his online gaming opponent. There is also a Chinese woman with a very loud baby/child. The woman at the front desk was the most unfriendly person we've met so far, refusing to answer any of our questions, even though we asked in Chinese.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br />Tonight, we plan on going to Li Qun for some peking duck with OW's friend. We found this place in the Lonely Planet when we went to Beijing a couple years ago. It's situated in the hutong, and pretty authentic. It's gotten a lot of traction from foreigners since being highlighted in the Lonely Planet, so hopefully it's still relatively inexpensive.</span>Quack!http://www.blogger.com/profile/08033543128484981079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7637257983623210895.post-24292346957037606002008-08-14T03:46:00.002-04:002008-08-14T04:04:36.518-04:00No pictures :(<p>Well folks, we found an Internet cafe, but they don't allow people to plug in USB peripherals, so no pictures yet :(. We have been running a lot around so it's nice to have a free afternoon to relax and eat Peking Duck :).</p><p>We are really excited about tomorrow. The first event of the day is weightlifting (not handball as I have said in a previous post), which has been in the news here a lot, because China has been dominating. In the evening we are off to Qinhuangdao, where we will see China vs Japan in the women's football 1/4 finals. That should be an awesome game. Quack picked up a Chinese flag today so we will be all set for our "Zhongguo dui... jia you!"</p><p>Fortunately, we have been able to bring in our camera without any problems, but it turns out that my American flag is on the large side, and a guard stared at it for a couple of minutes today before allowing me to bring it in. I'm not sure why I keep bringing it around when the US isn't even playing :).</p><p>It rained today for the first time during our visit, which I think is pretty lucky given that the clouds have been hazy ever since we have arrived (well, part of that can be attributed to smog, of course). But we managed to duck into a Japanese noodle shop and mostly avoid the rain.</p><p>Well, hopefully we will get some pics up soon!</p>Eugenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04632915900652554599noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7637257983623210895.post-11538540105401568142008-08-14T00:13:00.001-04:002008-08-14T00:13:24.183-04:00Pics with the Italians!Hi, Quack here! I was able to get pictures with some of the Italian<br>players. They also autographed my ticket. So cool! We will try to find<br>an internet cafe after the GER v EGY game. Apparently, the whole<br>wireless thing didn't happen.<p>-- <br>Sent from Gmail for mobile | <a href="http://mobile.google.com">mobile.google.com</a>Eugenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04632915900652554599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7637257983623210895.post-64457502810592990832008-08-14T00:03:00.001-04:002008-08-14T00:03:37.071-04:00More volleyballWe are at the next men's volleyball event. Italy vs Venezuela was an<br>interesting game but Italy won fairly easily. This is also the same<br>group as China and the US, who will play each other later today - too<br>bad we don't have tickets to that! The US seems to be dominating this<br>group and probably has a good shot at medals. Up next is Germany v<br>Egypt.<p>It's interesting how the fans have picked up local expressions, like<br>Yidali... jia you (literally "Italy add oil"), meaning "go Italy!" And<br>the Chinese fans basically cheer for everybody if China isn't playing,<br>so the atmosphere is very festive! Well, that's about it folks,<br>tomorrow is handball and tonight is Peking duck :).<p>-- <br>Sent from Gmail for mobile | <a href="http://mobile.google.com">mobile.google.com</a>Eugenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04632915900652554599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7637257983623210895.post-35499618891096313282008-08-13T04:23:00.001-04:002008-08-13T04:23:33.904-04:00Upset at archery#60 Romania upset #5 Malaysia by 1 point. Extremely exciting.<p>In other news, Korea beat Taiwan by 1 point to advance.<p>-- <br>Sent from Gmail for mobile | <a href="http://mobile.google.com">mobile.google.com</a>Eugenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04632915900652554599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7637257983623210895.post-59844403632924678982008-08-13T04:05:00.001-04:002008-08-13T04:05:13.748-04:00At archeryAt the Men's individual 1/32 and 1/16 archery elimination matches. We<br>knew nothing aside from the fact that there is a bulls-eye when we got<br>here. The seating was general admission and we didn't even know where<br>was the best place to sit. So we're on the sides. There is a huge<br>Korean fan contingent here. Apparently the Koreans are huge in<br>archery, already capturing both the women's and men's team gold.<p>We just saw Korea (4th seed) and Taiwan (29th seed) win their head to<br>heads against Brazil and Phillipines respectively. They now go head to<br>head in a 1/16 elimination.<p>For those (like us!) who don't know the game, each person shoots 12<br>arrows. Bullseye is worth 10, with each ring around the bullseye worth<br>9, 8, 7, etc. So max points is 120. The archers take turns and it's<br>always a head to head match. Very interesting, and a relatively quick<br>game, about 20 mins a match. Right now, Korea is ahead 82 to 81 after<br>9 shots. Very close game.<p>-- <br>Sent from Gmail for mobile | <a href="http://mobile.google.com">mobile.google.com</a>Eugenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04632915900652554599noreply@blogger.com0