Olympics

Is China Ready to be the Next Super Power?

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 06:42:09 PST

China has over 1.3 billion population. This number excludes other Chinese nationals who permanently migrated in other parts of the globe. In fact, you can see various versions of “China-town” communities sprouting from one country to another. If all Chinese people around the world will jump simultaneously it will probably cause an earthquake. Kidding aside, China indeed invaded our global economy. You can see China-made products in every shelf of a supermarket and all aisle of a department store. In fact, China’s international trade activities (imports and exports) now accounts to 40% of their GDP. China’s foreign exchange revenues went as high as $ 1.4 trillion, the largest in the world.

Because of their huge population and cheap labor, international companies are flooding their country with imported raw materials which are being used by China-based manufacturers in the production of consumer products. No wonder consumption is also high in China. They are now the world’s top consumer of steel, copper and jewelry. In terms of oil consumption, they are now second next to the United States.

In terms of internet population, they already surpassed the United States; there are more than 240 million internet users in China. They are also the largest mobile phone users with 600 million subscriptions next to India.

Aside from its economic miracle, China also made history when they successfully hosted the 2008 Olympics. Mega-structures were built as early as 2004 in preparation of this historic event. As a result, Beijing now includes The Nest (Olympic Stadium), The Water Cube (National Swimming Center), The National Grand Theater and The Beijing International Airport as part of their list of man-made wonders next to the Great Wall of China.

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Despite these wonderful achievements, China also made some unforgettable booboos that changed global consumers’ perception on China-made products particularly milk and toy products. Their export products are continuously being criticized by neighboring countries and are being tagged as “cheap quality” products.

China is indeed bursting with explosive energy. But the big question is: Can they sustain their extra ordinary economic performance? Will China overtake the United States as the next super power? We will see in the coming years ahead…

Manu Ginobili's Impact on Argentina

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 15:00:29 PST

Manu Ginobili, the heart and soul of the Argentina basketball team, re injures a left ankle that was injured in the playoffs of 07. Manu Ginobili was doing phenomenal in the Olympics but crashed during one of the most important games of his career. The U.S.A, Argentina showdown.

During the first quarter of the game, Manu went down writhing in pain holding his left ankle. As Argentina watched and hoped he was o.k, he limped off, into the Argentina locker room.

But Argentina held on for most of the game but couldnt manage to pull out the victory. The 101-81 20 point loss for Argentina was the best they could do for Manu.

Manu Ginobili had decided to undergo surgery to repair a ligament in his left ankle. For the Spurs, they are unfortunate to not have him for the pre season.

Manu's return is expected sometime this November and this time his ankle should be completely healed, and Manu shall be healthy again.

Even though Argentina suffered a devastating loss to the U.S.A. , I believe, that Manu
Ginobili is still A hero!

2008 Olympics

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:22:30 PST

I must say the 08 Olympics were truly the best I have seen so far. And the scandals that were prevelant amoung these Olympics will not change my opinion of that. Right now we can only debate on whether the Chinese girls were of competing age, but that will only take away from the moments that were truly great.

Of course the most amazing moment, or one of the most amazing moments was Michael Phelps winning 8 Gold Medals. Breaking the single Olympic gold record held by fellow swimmer, Mark Spitz. He also became the greatest Olympic athlete in history. 14 Gold, 16 medals all together. It was truly amazing to watch, and I am glad that I watched every moment of it. There's no denying that he by far is the greatest athlete I have ever seen. So, Congratulations to Michael Phelps on this amazing feat!

Another amazing moment of the Olympics was when Russian sharpshooter Natalia Paderina and Georgian sharpshooter Nino Salukvadze embraced each other, after winning the silver and bronze medal in the 10-m air pistol. What makes this moment very special was the countries these athletes are from, Russia and Georgia, were in the midst of waging war against one another.

There were so many moments to chose from these olympics that it is hard to name them all. But here are a few others. The U.S. women's rowing 8s winning the gold medal, May and Walsh winning another gold medal, and the Men's volleyball team winning a gold medal after facing such tragedy. I must also say the U.S. Softball team was a great moment as well. I know they are the world's best and the Gold medal was supposed to be easy for them to win, but it proves that Softball should be kept in the Olympics and I hope to see it soon!

Tell me your favorite Olympic moment!

Indians Get the Gold for the First Time

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 05:34:32 PST

Actually it might be a small achievement when compared to other countries which are so far ahead in the medals tally but the Indians have did it, its their first GOLD medal in the Olympics and there is so much to cheer about it. The man who made this possible was Abinav Bindra from the northern part of India.

His dedicated attitude towards his sport and the practise he made earned him and his country a medal that all his fellow country men have been waiting for. The other two persons who had done the magic are Vijender Singh in boxing and Susheel Kumar in wrestling. This year has been considered as the year of luck for India as it has gained three medals of which one gold and the others bronze, making India's real head start in the Olympic race.

Hope the spirit with our sports person continues to be high and we wish them to gain more and more medals for India in the future.

All the best to them.

Unforgettable Moments of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 08:47:27 PST

Phelps Joins List of Olympic Greats

There were much speculation about the possibility of American swimmer Michael Phelps breaking Mark Spitz' record of seven gold medals won in a single Olympics. True enough, he did not disappoint. He qualified for eight events (400m individual medley, 200m individual medley, 100m and 200m butterfly, 200m freestyle, 4x100m medley relay, and the 4x100m and 4x200 freestyle relays) and won them all world record time, except for the 100m butterfly where he set a new Olympic record. Phelps, in the process of surpassing Mark Spitz' record set at the 1972 Games, matched and then outstripped the record nine career gold medals of Games icons Spitz, Paavo Nurmi, Carl Lewis, and Larissa Latynina to emerge the greatest Olympian of all time.

Lightning Bolt Strikes Thrice

With the two-time world champion Tyson Gay eliminated in the semifinals, Jamaican Usain Bolt seemingly had only fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell to beat in the 100m sprint final. He looked around with only thirty meters left and realized that it was all clear; he breezed through and was still able to shatter his own record with 9.69 seconds. Four days after, he repeated the feat in the 200m final, breaking the 200m world record to achieve the first Olympic golden sprint double in twenty four years; and the first 100-200m victories at world record pace. Two days later, Bolt went on to capture his third gold medal running the third leg of the Jamaican 4x100 meters relay team.

Russian and Georgian Medalists in Symbolic Embrace

While sharing the medal podium, good friends and former teammates of the former Soviet Union, Russia's Natalia Paderina and Georgia's Nino Salukvadze embraced and kissed each other on the cheeks, setting aside the conflict between their two countries and providing a boost to the Georgian team that had considered pulling out from the Games a day earlier. They finished silver and bronze respectively behind China's Guo Wenjun following the dramatic women's 10m air pistol event final. Salukvadze expressed optimism, hopeful that the Games' ideals of peace would be an example for those watching. "If the world were to draw any lessons from what I did, there would never be any wars," she exclaimed. "After all, we live in the twenty-first century. We shouldn't really stoop so low to wage wars against each other."

Injured Liu's Pullout Shocks China

China's 1.3 billion population has been banking on Liu Xiang to defend his 110m hurdles Olympic title won four years ago in Athens. Liu, one of the major faces of the Beijing Olympics, has been bothered by his right Achilles' heel injury for six to seven years and was obviously in pain when he lined up for the race. He would limp down the tunnel of the Birds Nest stadium to a confused silence from the largely nationalistic crowd.

US Gymnast Ends China Run

China emerged as Games new gymnastics superpower after striking gold in both the men's and women's team events. But China's stranglehold on the sport would be broken by Nastia Liukin of the United States who won the women's individual all-around event, with Shawn Johnson, Liukin's compatriot, taking the silver to make it a one-two finish for the United States. The best the host nation could salvage was a bronze medal by Yang Yiling. The triumph somehow atoned for the US women's loss to China in the team event due to costly mistakes on beam and floor.

South African Amputee Inspires the Rest

The 24-year-old Natalie du Toit, who had won six medals at the 2004 Athens Paralympics, desires to inspire others to reach for their dreams after fulfilling her ambition to compete at the Beijing Olympics despite having her lower leg amputated seven years ago in a motor accident. Thus, she became the first amputee to qualify for the Olympic Games since 1936, and would finish sixteenth in the women's 10km marathon swim. Her participation prompted the eventual gold medal winner Larissa Ilchenko of Russia, to insist that du Toit merited a medal just for competing.

Australian Diver Prevents China Sweep

Matthew Mitcham of Australia qualified in second position for the 10m platform event final. With one last dive to go, he was ranked second, 34 points behind China's Zhou Luxin, having experienced mixed success in his first five dives. After Zhou made the worst dive of the final scoring a measly 74.80 points, Mitcham still needed a near perfect score of 107.30 to clinch the gold. His near-perfect final dive drew four perfect tens from the judges and attained 112.10 points, the highest single-dive score in the history of the Olympics. His win prevented China from achieving a clean-sweep of all diving events at the Games.

The Redeem Team Avenges Athens Loss

Following disappointments of placing sixth at the 2002 World Championships and settling for third place at the 2004 Games and the 2006 World Championships, the United States sent a twelve-man basketball team, dubbed the "Redeem Team," in an effort to reclaim the global throne that once belonged to them. The team, consisting of prominent NBA players, included Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard among others. The United States totally conquered Group B in pool play, crushing China, Angola, Greece, world champion Spain, and Germany by an average margin of 32.2 points. Then, the United States soundly defeated Group A's fourth place-finishers, Australia 116-85 in the quarterfinal matchup headed by Kobe Bryant's 25 points, and Manu Ginobili-led Argentinian team (the 2004 Olympic gold medallist) 101-81 led by Carmelo Anthony's 21 points. In the final battle for the gold, the United States defeated Spain 118-107 in a remarkably close game, with the Americans' lead reaching as high as fourteen points, and as low as two points with less than four minutes left to play.

Cancer Survivor Beats the Odds in Swim Marathon

The 27-year-old Dutchman Maarten van der Weijden was diagnosed with leukemia in 2001, but returned stronger following his ordeal to compete at the 2003 open water championships before being crowned world champion over 25km in Seville earlier this year. He compared his gold medal triumph to his personal battle against cancer as he waited patiently for the leaders to set the early pace before a late burst saw him claim gold in a time of 1 hour 51 minutes 51.6 seconds.

More articles on the Olympics:

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Men and Women Dominate Olympic Hoops

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 01:21:25 PST

For the Women's Basketball team it was the 4th consecutive time that they have won the Gold medal. For Lisa Leslie it was extra special for it was also her 4th gold medal in basketball, where she has an unblemished record of 32-0 with the USA team over the 4 Olympic appearances. Team USA was able to make easy work of Australia in the Gold medal game as they would beat them 92-65. In the Bronze medal game Russia was able to withhold China to win 94-81.

For those unaware, the Women's basketball team was well represented by LSU alumni. Seimone Augustus and Sylvia Fowles were vital parts of the team that won this gold medal. Augustus played in all 8 games tallying a total of 141 minutes. She would finish the Olympics averaging 7.9 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game. Augustus scored in double figures twice as she scored 12 points against New Zealand and Mali. In the gold medal game Augustus had 4 points and 6 rebounds.

Fowles on the other hand was much more effective; she also played in all 8 games for a combined playing time of 143 minutes. Fowles led the team in both points and rebounds with 13.4 and 8.4 respectively. Here biggest game was against Korea, where she scored 26 points and had 14 rebounds. She was also second on the team with blocked shots which totaled up to 7, only behind the likes of Lisa Leslie who had 11 throughout the games. With the gold medal on the line Fowles tallied 13 points and pulled down 5 rebounds.
On the Men's side Argentina, without their star player Manu Ginobili, were able to hold off Lithuania to win the Bronze game by the score of 87-75. In the Gold game was a rematch from a prelim game between team USA and Spain. In the first meeting of these two teams team USA out hustled, out shot, and completely initiated their opponents on their way to a 37 point victory with the final being 119-82. Anyone who thought that this game would be more of the same had another thing coming.

Spain definitely came into the Gold game thinking upset. Spain would give team USA its biggest deficit it had seen the whole Olympics at 5 points, and would keep the game close being down only 8 points at the half. Spain would also get as close as 2 points from team USA, but were never able to get any closer, as team USA who had never trailed in the second half during the Olympics, would win the Gold medal by the score of 118-107.
Although the defense is what had gotten team USA to the Gold medal game, Coach Krzyzewski's team was able to power through with its offense shooting 60% total, and 13 of 28 from beyond the arc for 46%. It seemed whenever Team USA would start to pull away Spain would make a run of their own to put themselves right back in the game. Thankfully in the end it was Team USA who had all the answers with their triumphant win. Team USA went undefeated in the Olympics going 8-0.

Dwayne Wade led team USA to the win with his 27 points. Kobe Bryant also had a big hand in the game scoring 20 points and dishing out 6 assists. New Orleans Native Chris Paul held his own scoring 13 points and recording 5 assists. Rudy Fernandez led the way for Spain with 22 points and Pau Gasol was not far behind with 21 points of his own and 6 rebounds. It was however the outstanding play of Juan Carlos Navarro who scored 18 points and had 4 assists that kept Spain in the game, with his key shots.

The "Redeem Team" was able to do what it had hoped to, go to China and take back the gold with them. Although USA had stumbled the past few years they were more than eager to show that they are still the team to beat. With the talent level rising in the other countries team USA was still able to distance themselves from the others. Even though they breezed their way to the Gold medal game, Spain gave them the fight of their lives and what a game it was. So for now it is safe to say that "the dream has been redeemed", USA is back atop the basketball world.

The Olympics: A Mixture of Triumph, Controversies, and "Failures"

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 07:47:23 PST

This Olympics was one for the ages. There were spectacular triumphs, heartbreaking defeats, numerous broken world records, tragedy and a lingering controversy over a Chinese gymnast's age and eligibility.

First, swimming icon Michael Phelps won 8 gold medals, obliterating 8 world records along the way. Tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams won the women's tennis doubles title. Diving divas Guo Jingjing and Wu Minxia once again dominated the ladies' diving scene in what will probably Guo's swansong (she has competed in 3 Olympics). There was also Lin Dan's emotional gold medal win in men's badminton. Jamaica's Usain Bolt became “the world's fastest man” by winning the double (i.e. both the 100 meter and 200 meter sprints), setting a world record in the 100 meter run. China also won gold medals in table tennis (ping pong) and weightlifting.

However, the games of the 29th Olympiad certainly had its fair share of controversy and tragedy. There was the fatal stabbing of US men's volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon's father-in-law which in turn injured McCutcheon's wife, Elizabeth “Wiz” Bachman-McCutcheon. And of course, we cannot forget the huge age issue involving those Chinese gymnasts. We must also question: is anything other than a gold medal a failure? China missed out on gold in the women's volleyball, earning “only” a bronze and another Chinese, Lang Ping, only managed to lead her US team to a silver medal. For the first time in recent memory, only gold medals counted.

Beijing Games

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 05:37:36 PST

Beijing got what it wanted out of this globally televised spectacular. It reaped a huge prestige bonanza that it will surely use to promote its international influence and, we fear, further tighten its grip at home.

It pocketed these gains without offering any concessions in return. When it increased repression — rather than loosening up — a supine International Olympic Committee barely offered a protest. Most world leaders, including President Bush, were nearly as complicit.

In Beijing for the opening ceremony, Mr. Bush seemed eager to play the role of the apolitical sports fan, instead of publicly pressing China’s leaders on the ongoing Olympics crackdown. That nicely fit into the Chinese script of talking up sports while shutting down politics.

To win the right to host these Games, China promised to honor the Olympic ideals of nonviolence, openness to the world and individual expression. Those promises were systematically broken, starting with this spring’s brutal repression in Tibet and continuing on to the ugly farce of inviting its citizens to apply for legal protest permits and then arresting them if they actually tried to do so.

Along the way, government critics were pre-emptively rounded up and jailed, domestic news outlets tightly controlled, foreign journalists denied full access to the Internet and thousands of Beijing’s least telegenic residents were evicted from their homes and out of camera range. On Friday, the Chinese police confirmed that six Americans protesting China’s rule in Tibet had been sentenced to 10 days of detention.

Surely one of the signature events of these Games was the sentencing of two women in their late 70s to “re-education through labor.” Their crime? Applying for permission to protest the inadequate compensation they felt they had received when the government seized their homes years ago for urban redevelopment.

A year ago, the I.O.C. predicted that these Games would be “a force for good” and a spur to human-rights progress. Instead, as Human Rights Watch has reported, they became a catalyst for intensified human-rights abuse.

Mr. Bush has taken some note of China’s appalling human-rights record this summer — privately meeting with Chinese dissidents in Washington just before his visit to the Games and gently nudging his hosts on religious freedom while in Beijing. With these repression-scarred Olympics now drawing to a close, Mr. Bush and other world leaders must tell Beijing that its failure to live up to its Olympic commitments will neither be ignored nor forgotten.

The medal count and DVD sales cannot be the last word on the Beijing Games.

Chinese Gymnasts and Age

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 01:55:15 PST

He Kexin should be in the middle of a huge controversy after the Olympics, not because of her performance, but because of her age. That's right. Her age. There's strong evidence that the judging was rigged/biased. Otherwise, why did two gymnasts with the same score (16.725) be given different medals? Both He and Liukin started with a 7.7 and both had execution marks of 9.025 for a total of 16.025. Yet, two different color medals were awarded. Have a look at He's face. That face doesn't look like 15 or 16 years old. That face looks like 10 years old or 11 years old. Or perhaps even 9. That's way too young to be stretching your body like that. This is the fundamental difference between China and the west. In China, results count at least 99%and effort counts 1%, at most. That's why the Chinese will do anything to achieve success, even if this means misleading the international community or the athlete suffering negative long-term consequences from overstretching at such an early age.

Beijing Olympics

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:06:07 PST

In the 2008 Beijing Olympics rankings are determined by the amount of total medals a country has. Well I'm thinking this isn't fair. Lets say country A had 10 bronze and country B had 9 gold. Is it fair to call country A better than country B?

I thought of an idea that rankings should be determined by not only the number of medals, but with the amount of each type of medal and the ratio to the total.

If this is too complicated, why not just set up different rankings suck as overall as in total medals, or most gold, and even most improved country. This would shine spot light not only on the professional olympic countries but the smaller developing countries too.