Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Gold

Last Sunday I almost tripped the hot soup I was transferring onto a bowl while watching the Argentina-Australia football (soccer) match. I think I must have shouted too. You can feel the anguish and anxiety in the Argentines’ kicks and butts and after 77 minutes of nil Argentina scored their single goal.

I remembered watching the World Cup with Italy-France battling in 2006 in a European owned bar in the city where my former German friend and colleague Peter treated me to endless booze. The crowd was roaring and the intensity of the game was just hot. Even though the Arg-Aus game was not even finals yet the intensity was just there. Hey, it’s the Olympics for Chrissakes.

After watching a grueling performance the other night, where I gaped in awe at the immense weight these women have to endure, I have now a strong sense of respect for the women weightlifters. Chen Yanqing of China is unbelievable. Unlike the Korean who looks almost like a man and who seems like she’s going to deliver a baby any minute, the Chinese’s composure was truly admirable. Even when she’s shouting and doing the final lift, it’s as if she’s walking the runway.

Michael Phelps is an unstoppable swimming god. To date, he is now the person in Olympic history who’s got most gold medals, and I surmise in any sporting event. Uh, he’s only 23, right?

The U.S. Dream Team is doing their basketball rampage. But after crushing Yao and China, they were given a run for their money with the match with Angola. I would like to see Argentina crush these bastards once again like they did in Athens. But the team looks formidable with the LeBron-Kobe tour-de-force.

Georgia, who’s being bombed by Russia now, is in 10th place, and a relatively unknown country called Azerbaijan is in the 14th overall rank. So are other –tan countries like Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan who also have their medals to boot. China has the most number of gold medals, with 17 but US has the most number of medals.

The Filipino athletes who competed already failed to clinch a medal. Hidilyn Diaz, the 17 year old Filipina weightlifter is promising though.

Meanwhile, in the Philippines, the entire nation will behold the oral arguments on the MOA on Ancestral Domain tomorrow.

Photo credit: Beijing 2008 website

1 comment:

lucas said...

i am watching the games too...Hope China wins the medal tally though..ahehe! I too is rooting for argentina...our representative, the girl in weightlifting was features in beijing's official broadsheet, the Olympian...cool eh?

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