All About London Olympics and Paralympics 2012

[daisyt]

The commentor mentioned "There were soldiers marching at the 2008 China Olympics opening and now we have nurses dancing". You can see the difference comparing the 2 Olympics opening?

[daisyt]

Would like to share this


101 East - China's race for gold
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3JO_xiLwSQ

Very 可怜 and these FT sportsmen and sportswomen made the right choice to come Singapore.

[Imami]

auntieM:

I enjoyed the opening ceremony, except for some messy dancing in between.. Didn't disappoint at all..

I totally forgot about the opening ceremony. Is there any chance of catching it again on tv?

[fightingmom]

Jasmine Ser fails to make 10m air rifle final


http://www.straitstimes.com/London/2012/Story/STIStory_827081.html

[fightingmom]

Oh no, Tao Li also didn't make it to the 100m butterfly finals :sad:


http://www.straitstimes.com/London/2012/Story/STIStory_827080.html

She still has 100m backstroke heats. Hope she can make it to the finals! :please:

[concern2]

I enjoyed the opening ceremony too!


There were many surprising moments, like the appearance of 007 bringing the Queen to the Olympics and Mr. Bean at the performance of Chariots of Fire. The mood in this opening is lighter, not to mention the many compared to the Beijing Olympics. They are unique in their own ways.

No regrets for staying up to watch!

Oh, my 'the many' refers to the live band music performances. DH isn't into the pop culture and didn't really like those parts, but he too enjoyed their performance. It is a different culture that we see here in London. The kids also enjoyed watching the beginning part when they brought in some historical moments like the industrial revolution. Once the pop culture came in, they went back to bed. I thought they'd bring in some Harry Potter, esp at the fairy tale section - or did I miss it?

[fightingmom]

agreed with concern2.


Mr Bean's appearance did provide some hilarious and light hearted moments to the opening ceremony.

[looking4Tutor]

fightingmom:

Oh no, Tao Li also didn't make it to the 100m butterfly finals :sad:


http://www.straitstimes.com/London/2012/Story/STIStory_827080.html

She still has 100m backstroke heats. Hope she can make it to the finals! :please:

nothing to be sad about she dumped the best coach Barry Prime she ever had. Her attitude is her greatest downfall.

[concern2]

\"Sun Yang became the first Chinese man to win an Olympic swimming title by pulling away from Park Tae-hwan on the final two laps to secure the 400-meter freestyle in an Olympic record time. Then, 16-year-old Ye Shiwen smashed the world record in the women’s 400 individual medley by more than a second: all the more remarkable because she swam the last 50 meters in a faster time than the new men’s 400 I.M. champion Ryan Lochte swam his last 50 meters.


(source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/sports/olympics/yang-sun-of-china-wins-400-free.html)

:yikes:

[concern2]

\"LONDON, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese swimming sensation Sun Yang upset defending champion South Korean Park Tae Hwan in men's 400m freestyle to win a historic Olympic swimming gold for China on Saturday.


Sun was behind Park in the first 200m, and narrowed the gap in the third 100m. He put on a devastating burst over the last 100m to overtake Park at 3:40.14, setting a new Olympic record.

Park posted 3:42.06 to settle for a silver and Peter Vanderkaay from the United States finished 3:44.69 to take a bronze.

Sun was the first male Chinese swimmer to claim an Olympic gold.

\"I felt the pressure because my coach is not in good health, so maybe he has been under more pressure than I am. I want to dedicate this victory to him,\" said Sun, who starred at last year's Shanghai World Championships as he smashed Grant Hackett's decade-old 1,500m world record .

\"I have swum my personal best time and I want to use this swim to tell the South Koreans (who were angry after Park was disqualified this morning) something. I want to show that we are good swimmers and we do not need to do anything other than swim in order to win,\" said a confident Sun.

Park was initially disqualified by a judge on the pool deck for a false start in the morning heats, after which South Korean media accused so-called referee conspiracy by a Chinese judge. However, it turned out to be a rumor as no Chinese judge was involved in the event. Later, Park was reinstated in the final after the FINA Jury of Appeal examined the protest lodged by the Korean Swimming Federation and made the decision based on the recommendation of the FINA Technical Swimming Commission.

Sun's performance in evening's final underlined his supremacy in the event.

Park, who hardly missed the final, said he was disappointed with a silver because he had waited a long time for this race.

\"I tried my best in the race. I don't want to say that what happened with having been disqualified was bad for my performance, but it was,\" he said.

\"I lost the race, but I am glad that it was an Asian who won. It is something we can all be proud of,\" Park said.

The gold medal is one of the most eagerly awaited clashes between Park and Sun. In London, Sun finally succeeded in the revenge after losses to Park in the 400m freestyle at the 2011 Shanghai World Championships and the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.\"

(source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-07/29/c_131745377.htm)

Interesting drama there between the top male swimmers from both countries.

Hm...I wonder if our own sports council here will eventually change to adopt Asian consultants :siam: