Magic moments of sports

This is a bit late as it is already halfway through the Olympics 2012 in London. But hey, this is where all the excitement will start as many of the sports are already in their final matches. I have no access to newspaper this time around so I get most of the Olympics news from the internet news. To be honest, I don't know why but I did not really follow Olympics 2008 in Bejing, except for the fact that Michael Phelps created history with his 8 golds in 1 Olympic. Perhaps because it was in China and I hate everything related to it? Haha.. I don't know..

Anyway, I watched quite a bit of the opening ceremony this time around. The fireworks display was marvelous and made me wonder how much money was burnt for all that. Haha.. What caught my interest initially was not the fireworks, though. It was Mr Bean's role in the opening ceremony. Brilliant, hilarious, and not lame. I wonder, though, whether he really played the keyboard. The comedy was integrated nicely with the Chariots of Fire performance. It was also amusing to see that the Queen joined in the "comedy" together with James Bond. Of course, Mr Bean's was funnier but I understand if people were getting shock when they really thought the Queen was parachuting from the helicopter. They should at least show the Queen (instead of only the legs) boarding the helicopter. Haha.. nice surprise to see unexpected good things happening.

Mr Bean

The Queen and James Bond

Records are made to be broken and these are always the most exciting parts of Olympics. Top on the list was Michael Phelps. After recordbreaking 8 golds haul in Beijing Olympics, he stood the chance to break another record: the most Olympic medal throughout an athlete's career. After the initial flop, thank goodness that he managed to break the cycle. The swimming events are over and Phelps emerged as the "Greatest Olympian of All Times" with a total 22 Olympic medals (18 golds, 2 silvers, 2 bronzes) from 3 Olympics. Nobody knows when this record will be broken but I don't think it will be soon. After all, the previous record was held by a Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina with 18 medals (9 golds, 5 silvers, 4 bronzes) since 1964. Anyway, Phelps is still young at 27 years old. He will be 31 at the next Olympics. He could still compete and perhaps win some more medals but he has called it a day. Well, I guess it is still good to leave at a high point eh.

Congrats, Michael Phelps for becoming the "Greatest Olympic Athlete of All Time"

Moving on to Badminton which had its bad publicity in the middle of last week when 4 teams were disqualified from the Womens' Double. These 4 teams were deliberately losing to avoid meeting top Chinese duo in the next round. Bleah.. what a shame.. and it involved 1 Indonesian team too :( Anyway, the Men's final was just over with Lin Dan beating Lee Chong Wei. I could not be bothered with who win actually. I think both deserved the gold. They were finalists in Beijing too and this last meeting was sort of bittersweet as these would be their last Olympics as well. Anyway, I am jealous seeing facebook newsfeed of my Malaysian friends who support Lee Chong Wei. Yes, I understand the excitement of watching Badminton tournament to support your country. I had a great opportunity in the 90s when Indonesians were Kings and Queens of the Badminton. That was 1992 and 1996 Olympics I think.. as well as the Thomas and Uber Cups from that era.. Aaargh.. We are in deep shit now.. Thanks to all the corruption bla bla bla.. 0 medal from badminton this olympics. What a shame :( I even saw some countries which are traditionally not considered stronghold of badminton (eg. Europe, India, Japan, South Korea) winning medals. I wonder when will I ever feel that kind of ecstasy to support (not futile support) my country. Where is Taufik Hidayat? I thought he was the man dubbed as the archrival of Lin Dan a few years back?

Lee Chong Wei could not stop crying. I know it is very sad to lose by mere 2 points. But according to people, he put up great fight this time around.

Another thing worth mentioning is South Korean's fencer Shin A-lam whose crying picture made to the top of the news earlier this week. She was sitting down and crying at the piste for 1 hour while waiting the results for her appeal. And nope, she is not a cry baby. Apparently it is a rule of the fencing that she cannot leave the piste while waiting for her appeal results. The crux of the controversy was the timing malfunction with the clock "resetted" to 0:01 from 0:01. Otherwise, she would be through the final :( Anyway, she was offered a "consolation" medal for her sport(wo)manship which she rejected. Now, that's an attitude!! She would have been in the final with at least a Silver. Of course that is irreplacable with some ??? medal. While sadly she lost the bronze medal (the match was like a few hours after her unfair loss so perhaps that still affected her), at least she won a Silver in the team event.

One top near-miss story is about Tom Daley. A brilliant diver since his younger age, it would have been great if he could win a medal in this Olympics. And he is only 18 mind you. Instead, what propelled him to the news was some racist tweets in response to his failure. He (with his synchro partner) came in 4th. The big disappointment was they were leading halfway. But due to a mistake in their fourth dive, the dream was gone. Sad. but sports (and even life) can be unforgiving at times. No idea whether he is competing in the individual event or the event has ended though.

That's all for now. Awaiting for some results from athletics as well as tennis which are usually also exciting. And of course, looking forward to Spice Girls for the closing ceremony ^^ Hee hee