The Olympic Movement

The past few weeks of Olympic triumphs and defeats have been nothing short of awe inspiring and tear jerking. We see athletes overcome their fear and insecurities, push through mental barriers and overcome physical hurdles. They have rewritten history by smashing old world records and proving that the impossible is nothing. They are the closest we will ever come to having a Superhero and we must be proud of them. Nations spend millions of dollars training top sports people and importing foreign talent when their soils runs dry. Everybody goes to the Olympics in hopes that they can bring back a medal, for themselves, for the country, for the nation.

They go through intense training and suffer. They push themselves to the limit and take their bodies (and elbows) to places they have never gone before.

Micheal Phelps is now nothing short of the world's Greatest Olympian with 8 swimming golds under his belt. He has taken the world by storm isn't ready to stop.

And then there's Singpaore's Tao Li. The first ever Singaporean swimmer to enter the olympic finals despite being the shortest swimmer among all competitors. We are proud of her, she must be proud of her achievements too.

He's now touted as the fastest man on earth, Usain Bolt sent shockwaves as he smashed his old world record and wrote a new one for the man's 100m sprint. And all that while, could you believe that he slowed down to thump his chest which bore his nation's flag before crossing the finishing line.

Is this the true moment we won the silver?

And who can forget our wonderful Table Tennis team who ended the 48 year medal drought for Singapore and finally brought home a medal! The match was so crazy i nearly had a heart attack several times. The ball was flying back and forth and back and forth and wooaahhhh. killerrr..

Anyway the pics were from when Singapore torched Korea. Our team had to wear this sickly shade of, er vomit green to play against China that looked so last minute and ugly even CNA doesn't want to put up pictures of it. It looked like the corrective work order vest actually, just not luminous.

random, but here is Li Jia Wei looking very glam.

There are happy, glorious stories, but then, there is The flip side - of course there's always one.

The Olympics was "established by Pierre de Coubertin, the goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practised without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play." [link]

The Olympics started off as an event that was meaningful and united the world. Today countries would step on each other to host the event and bring in tourist revenue.

China has been accused of many things ever since the game started. They have been criticized about the Olympic opening, there have been riots over the Tibetians. The world is ready to scrutinize this country that has decided to open up.

China's Milli Vanilli might not have been such a wise decision, i mean, what are they trying to portray to the world, or rather, what are they trying to hide from the world? They believed that the image of the child should be flawless, but to cast poor little Yang Peiyi (picture right) aside was uncalled for. She's not ugly, she's not in anyway inferior and she deserves more..... if not free braces.

Although I have to say that Lin Miaoke (picture left) the lip-syncing darrliinngg of the opening is honestly too pretty and cute too boot.

Is she real??? Are you sure she's not a robot? I mean, just look at that smile.

one more for reference. my gosh, i hope if i have a daughter she'll look like her.

Martha Karolyi, the U.S. national team coordinator insinuated that China's gymnast team cheated after China took the gold in the Women's Team Gymnast finals and U.S had to settle for a silver. [link] By looking at their teeth she was suspicious that there might be foul play, but with no evidence she could not make an affirmation.

Clearly the U.S was upset as they had been reigning champions. To find themselves in second place must have been something hard to swallow. However it was obvious to the millions sitting at home and watching that the U.S gymnast team lost because they had made too many errors in their routines.

Alicia Sacramone of the U.S team tumbled off the balance beam, fell down during the floor and all of them stepped out of the mat.

At world standards, you can't make those mistakes and get away with it. Karolyi statements almost seem so sour they could curdle some of those Chinese milk teeth.

WHAT IS IT WITH PEOPLE AND TEETH ANYWAYY????

Spain's basketball team making slit-eyed face

This caused great controversy and they were accused of being racist. Tongue-in-cheek? (i mean eye-is-slits?) I guess this was not a good call either. This photo actually ran in advertisements in Spain and i question the motive behind this advertisement. They are Spanish after all, what, are they er, trying to be funny?

And then of course, singaporean's just cant stop complaining. Complain about foreign talent, complain about local talent, complain about winning a medal, complain complain complain. No really, is it such a big deal that our table tennis team is from China. Is is such a big deal that Tao Li is from China? Seems that they are the only one making headlines after all d-oh.

I think in sports, everything is black and white. you either have talent or you don't, you either win or you lose. if local sportsman cannot deliver there is no reason why we should not import foreign talent. Were you not proud when you saw the Singapore flag hanging right next to China's during the award ceremony? We you not the least bit proud, that no matter where these girls were born, they had won for the medals for Singapore?

It is not to say local sportsman are not up to scratch or cannot achieve what our China born winners have. Ultimately, look at our singaporean society, look at how much emphasis we place on education and certificates. There could have been hidden talent among us who would have shone as bright as a satellite given the proper training, but i would bet my knickers that that person would have chose to take the trodden path and join the rat race.

We've won a medal Singapore. Be grateful that they Li Jia Wei and team even want to come to Singapore and represent us. Somebody wrote into the forum asking, almost challenging Singapore to send in a true blue Singaporean team to the Olympics, my question is, would that matter?

Everybody came together on Sunday as the gold medal match was playing out. Every Singaporean was rooting for the Singapore team. Now isnt that all that matters?