Olympic Memories - Part 2

Although the Olympics is about much more than just sports, I think it would be insensitive not to mention them in my blog. A few days before the start of the Games, I was able to scrounge up a few more tickets from one of the websites that had bought a slew of leftovers and were now trying to unload them with haste. I was also lucky enough to get invited by friends and coworkers to a few of the events. Here is a list of Olympic events that I saw in no particular order:

Handball: This sport will forever remain one of my favorites of the Olympics. This unsung hero is packed with intense physical play, insane vertical jumps, and the stirring suspense associated with games where a single possession can make the difference between a win and a loss. The first match that I attended was between South Korea and Germany. Because of its relatively small court, the crowds at handball matches are more directly linked to the play than usual – often setting the tone for a run in goals or by assisting in energizing their teams. Both Germany and Korea had brought a presence to administer such fervor, however, Germany smuggled in a secret weapon sitting not more than a few seat behind me – Dirk Nowitski (Dallas Maverick’s monster center, winning the MPV Award in the 06-07 NBA Season). Dirk used to play handball in Germany before making his transfer to the NBA and is figuratively and physically their biggest fan. After cheering Germany to victory, Dirk and his teammates tried to flee the scene as dozens of Chinese NBA enthusiasts began to swarm their seats, and in the process ran by me to get to the closest exit – let’s just say that it was interesting to feel like a hobbit for a few fleeting seconds.

The second handball match I attended was between the Norwegian and Croatian (I think) women. Because this is something of a national sport to Norway, it wasn’t surprising to see the stadium mostly filled with red shirts and hats. They also had the most animated cheer of the Olympics, similar to the Florida State Seminole’s tomahawk chop, but instead this chop was more suiting for a raping a pillaging Viking. It was a close game to the very end, but very much to the liking of practically everyone in the stands including the king and queen of Norway, the Norwegian women pulled out with the win.

Weightlifting: Not exactly an action packed event, but it was…interesting. After stocking up on refreshments (they never had hotdogs, even though they are advertised, making popcorn the next best thing), my brother and I found our seats in this spanking new gymnasium on Beijing Aerospace and Aeronautics University’s campus. After learning how the scoring worked (taking up half of the time we were there), we spent the remaining time we had trying to guess which women lifters are better suited for the snatch and which are better suited for the clean and jerk. We concluded that shorter girls are better at the snatch (like this little Mongolian brut) and that all-around massiveness helps girls with the clean and jerk (like this Mexican giant). The American girls competing seemed the most jovial and always smiled and waved after a lift – this was a stark contrast to some of the surly-looking Soviet-block girls with coaches that seemed to be breathing down their necks.

Archery: This event was pretty cool. For one, I had no idea that the target was so far away. I found it incredible that they were even able to hit the target, much less the bulls-eye (I suppose these state-of-the-art bows and arrows perform a lot better than Robin Hood’s ever did). When my brother and I first arrived, the stands were full of South Koreans rooting for their star competitor. I found out later that the Koreans have excelled at this event for the past few Olympics and that their archers were expecting to nab a few golds. In fact, their best archer (last name Park of course) set a world record while we sat there, getting perfect 10s for ten of his twelve attempts. The crowd was wild. During the next round, an American kid easily beat his Chinese completion, but was later edged out by a Canadian lumber jack (he had a beastly beard). Even though the Koreans had chosen for some reason to side with the Canadian and thus, making a ruckus superior to ours, it was a blast to be able to cheer for the good old USA with my fellow compatriots. WOOW - USA!!!

Field Hockey: This was probably the least interesting of all the events that I attended during the Olympics. After finding our seats among a crowd of Chinese fans with some crazy face paint, we sat their for about 20 minutes looking at men running around with field hockey sticks before deciding to leave the game and walk around the park for a bit. In a team sport like field hockey, who would have thought China had a men’s team.

As a side note, at all of the Olympic events that I attended, the staggering number of empty seats was shocking – I thought everything was sold out. This stems from the fact that a large swath of China’s corporate sponsors and government officials chose not use most of their free tickets. This result was also exacerbated by speculators who bought the cheap tickets trying to make an extra buck from the over demand, but in the end failed to sell them. A few days into the events, the empty stands shown to TV viewers all over the world started to reflect poorly on the Games. The embarrassed Beijing Olympic committee hastily bused in annoying Olympic volunteers to fill in the empty seats. The unison cheer was always “JiaYou” (Turn on the Gas) and more often then note, they cheered during all the wrong times – these robotic cheerleaders may know how to smile, but you’d be lucky to find one that knew anything about the sport they were watching.

Boxing: There is nothing better than getting off work and heading straight to a boxing match with a bunch of guys where beers is less than a dollar and bets are exchanged after every round. This coliseum atmosphere was very much conducive to a rowdy crowd full of hecklers and popcorn throwers. Often I took blind bets with my friends (picking red or blue before knowing where the competitor was from) and because of this, I mostly lost, and was therefore relinquished to beer duty during most of the night. Strategically, I found that it was safe to pick a boxer from a –Stan country, and to never underestimate the pale white guys – they’re wiry. The night was full of “amazing” and “terrific” matches (those words flashed on the big screens almost every other round), but the icing on top was the last match when the American murdered the Russian – the group I was with began humming the Rocky soundtrack all at the same time. It was glorious.

Baseball: The first game I went to was between the Dutch and the Japanese. Baseball games in general are pretty slow but I suppose it’s better than watching them on TV. The enjoyment I derive comes from sitting amongst a rambunctious crowd taken in by the suspense behind every pitch. On my right I had Dutch families with everything orange (their national color) dancing to music. To my left there was a large Japanese cheering squad repeating chants one after another without pause. The Japanese cheer captains had whistles and overpowering voices, which to my surprise lasted for all nine innings (I felt exhausted just looking at them). Minus the fact that I was in Beijing and the teams weren’t American, the experience was no dissimilar that those I’ve had at baseball stadiums at home - the 7th inning stretch, the wave, fighting over foul balls, constant heckling. I just wish they had ballpark hotdogs – that was a little frustrating. The Japanese ended up winning the game, but I think everybody was in high spirits on that beautiful night.

Thanks to a coworker who had a few extra tickets, I was able to score a game between the Japanese and the United States. Having your team on the field definitely added an extra element of excitement. The funny thing is that the Chinese spectators sitting around us chanted USA more often then we did (If you know anything about WWII history and the historical prejudices the Chinese have yet to overcome, this actually makes perfect sense). The game in itself was very uneventful. At the top of the 11th inning, the score was nill to nill. In a new Olympic rule, if you the score is tied going into the 11th, the batting team can start the inning with two runners on first and second base. This seemed like a crazy rule to me, but luckily it worked in our favor. The Americans scored four runs which was enough to hold back the Japanese team, only able to bring home three runs. It was an exciting 11th inning – I just wish I hadn’t wasted my time for the two hours that had proceeded.

The gold medal game which I was able to see on a big screen at a Korean owned bar was between Korea (naturally) and Cuba (the powerhouse). This was an amazing game that had everybody on the edge of their seats up until the end. The Koreans were up by one going into the bottom of the 9th but the Korean pitcher suddenly choked and before you knew it, the bases were loaded with only one out. All the Cuban batter had to do was hit a fly ball and they could at least tie the game, and even possibly win… smack, grab, toss, out at 2nd, throw, catch…OUT at first. DOUBLE PLAY!!! Korea wins!!! I, everybody at the bar, and I am sure the whole nation of South Korea sprung out of our seats consumed with pure ecstasy. It was so beautiful. Funny enough, this event that wasn’t even televised in China (the stream was coming from a Korean internet site) will go down as one of my favorite moments of the Beijing Olympics.

And Others: Of course other great athletic achievements and moments helped to define this Olympics: Bolt (fastest man ever), Phellps (8 golds), Liu Xiang (couldn’t take the pressure), Chinese women gymnasts (more like 14 year old girls), and of course the ReDeem Team (so sick). Naturally, I was disappointed to see the Americans achieve fewer golds than the Chinese, but in the end, we won more medals. The overall winner – debatable – but all in all, the Beijing Olympics brought about some of the most amazing moments in the history of athletic prowess and I feel extraordinarily fortunate to have been apart of them.

Olympic Memories - Part 1

WOW.WOW...WOW

You know that piercing feeling you get when walking into the glaring sun after spending what seems like an eternity at a matinee where you had just experienced all the sensations of life in an orderly yet chaotic stream of consciousness. This is how I would currently describe my state of being as my body, mind and soul recovers from what has been the most unruly month in my post-college years characterized by an unrelenting flow of hearty house guests, all night merrymakings, and of course, Olympic madness. (Lack of articulation seems to be a side effect so bare with me today.)

Because I have not written anything in over a month, I believe it would be more appropriate to run through a few select highlights of the Olympic Season. But before I do that, I would like to thank all the visitors who shared these experiences with me in Beijing, namely by brother, Dan, Chris, Jessica, Scott, Clara, Ben, and Ray. And of course, I would like to thank Beijing, despite all the mafan (trouble) it throws at me, for giving me the opportunity to experience the only Olympics I will probably ever be part of. The following are some Olympic memories and afterthoughts:

The Opening Ceremony: On the eve of the Olympics the city was anything but relaxed. There had been warning signs that terrorists were ready to strike, dissidents were being thrown into dark vans, rainstorms were brewing, and one simple question seemed to be on everybody’s mind: will Beijing really be able to pull this off?

Although most Chinese stayed at home to watch the ceremony on their televisions, my friends and I had decided to celebrate this festive occasion and citywide holiday (no work that Friday) at one of the city’s 18 big-screen outdoor TVs. The plan to watch on the big-screen inside Chaoyang Park was thwarted when we learnt that there were technical difficulties in getting the image to appear – this only made me more skeptical of China’s ability to hold the world’s biggest party. Finally, we decided to relocate to the big-screen outside the Worker’s Stadium near Sanlitun. By the time the countdown began at 8 pm, the pavement outside was covered with curious locals and jubilant foreigners. “Curious” because their eyes were fixed on the screen. “Jubilant” because we were making toasts, dancing, singing, and inviting all around us to join us in drinking games. Flags of various nations began to appear throughout the crowd and at first I, along with my Chinese counterparts, were taken back by this unprecedented loud show of foreign nationalism on Chinese soil. Foreign flags do not set well with a society that was plagues by wars and foreign invaders for over a century. Naturally, this was non-issue once the Olympics started.

To be honest, I only saw bits and pieces of the opening ceremony. I spent most of my time running amuck. The climax of my night came when the American Olympians finally entered the stadium – the order of teams this year was determined by the number of strokes in the first character of each country’s Chinese name, rather then using the trusty old Roman alphabet. At the sight of the American delegation, a boisterous guy with a large American flag emerged in front of me, and in my semi-intoxicated state I ran up to him to hold up the other end. Overflowing with utter excitement and the sheer pleasure of fulfilling our patriotic duties, we ran around the square waving the grand old red, white and blue high above the crowd. When we returned, we found ourselves being surrounded by dozens of young Chinese with digital cameras and a few real photographers (I was hoping to see a pic in the newspaper the next day). At this point, my brother also posed in front of the flag as the three of us began to sing the National Anthem. It was a glorious moment for all Americans everywhere.

After that, the program seemed to lag on and on. Hungry as a bear, most of us skipped across the street to dine in a small but scrumptious hole-in-the-wall Xinjiang restaurant, and on their TV, we were able to watch the lighting of the torch. The Olympics had officially begun, the fanfare was breath-taking, the performances were beautiful, the government had prevented rainstorms, terrorists, and any major screw-up… and the whole country exhaled that night as billions all over the world watched in awe – this night will be remembered by generations as China’s (much anticipated) coming out party.

(to be continued...)