1. To watch it: pure exhilaration. Where has this sport been hiding? The last time I was jumping up and down, shouting at a television, the Bulls were in a championship game.
2. I'm not the only one who's made a recent discovery of it. How else can we explain the Chinese? The first time a Chinese athlete ever won gold in a winter event of any kind was when a female short track skater took it in Salt Lake City. Only 8 years ago!
This year, Chinese women won gold in all four events. Bam! (Of course, they only got it in the relay because the officials biffed a call that disqualified the South Koreans.)
My question: This is a sport designed for little people. Chinese are little. And they've had the example of South Korea, which has been a powerhouse forever. What took you guys so long to go short?
2B. And why do Chinese men suck at short track?
3. As I say: it's a thrill to watch. So why were there so many empty seats in that stadium?
4. Let's talk uniforms. The US skate team wore, um, let's see here. . .light blue tunics with dark blue legs and arms.
Light blue? What the heck?
5. As for our boy, Apollo Anton Ohno. I'm glad to see a competitor like him do so well. He seems humble enough. Grateful enough. When he gets near a microphone, the overwhelming and solitary impression he makes is that he loves his sport.
His Dad is a cutie.
And watching Ohno skate is like it was to watch Jordan. You know he's going to pull off a winning move under pressure, and you know it's going to be beautiful.
6. But every time Ohno's face showed up on camera--and it was a lot--I would think, "He reminds me of someone. . ." and I'd suffer that nagging feeling of not knowing who. A former student? Someone I went to school with? Who?
The last night, aha!, I put my finger on it: Apollo Ohno bears a striking resemblance to my nephew, Joe. Seriously. If the former didn't have that soul patch going on his chin, the two could be cousins.
Which is odd, given that my nephew has no Asian blood in him. . .
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3 comments:
We were screaming at the tv too. :)
-AmyB
I loved it, too! Did you see the bit about Apolo's dad taking him to a secluded cabin when he was young and leaving him alone there for eight days so he could contemplate what it was he wanted to be. I guess it might have lasted longer but on day eight he called his dad with his answer. He would skate.
I like Apolo, too. And I like him a lot more now that he's grown up a bit.
I also find it funny that both he and JR Celski are from the Seattle suburb that Brad and I lived in for our first 2.5 years here. It's really rather a nothing sort of place....all suburb, no personality. Heck, it's named after the road that runs through the area: Federal Way. How strange to me that two big Olympians were bred there.
-Amanda
PS I'm with you on the light blue. I kept thinking the Koreans were us because they were the darker blue.
Never mind the actual outfits, what's with the coats and all those itty bitty stars?
We did not watch much of the olympics. They seem to have gotten way to subjective. It used to be a race against the clock, now there is all the fancy stuff that requires as judge to say wether it was a 9 or a 10. The boys did watch some of the downhill in the fog, and some of the bobsledding which was fun.
I heard on the radio that a Bronze winner was happier than a Silver winner because they won. Where as the Silver winner kept up with the "What ifs" and the "I should haves", so they were not as satisfied.
So Amy, are you going to catch up and find some new show that you would like to watch on TV? What about the kiddies wanting to watch programs they have seen elsewhere?
Mary Jean
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