Ruthea Chambray asked:


I only used to watch the Olympics for games that looked pretty or awesome, like gymnastics and diving. All those flippy maneuvers and air somersaults are enchanting, if only for the reason that not everyone can do them. I mean, I can run, jump over hurdles (based from experiences as Chinese garter champion), swim, dribble a ball, kick a ball, swim and whack a ball back and forth with a paddle. I cannot jump in the air and do ala-ninja flips; nor can I climb up a fifty foot diving board and jump gracefully so that i land in the pool without displacing a third of its contents.

I remember thinking that track and field is some of the most boring sports ever created, alongside swimming. The put shot for me back then was the most ridiculous sport ever invented and I was aghast at the very idea of finding people actually training for it– women losing their curves, their breasts, and gaining muscles in ways that look anything but attractive. I mean, jeez, who thought of this stuff? It seemed to me like its a modernized version of some game Neanderthals did in their own rock-based version of sports in general.

Neanderthal one: Dude, i found this heavy rock. Dibs on that hot ***** with the clubs for who throws the farthest.

Neanderthal two: You’re on.

Neanderthal three: Do we get points for killing something unintentionally?

Theoretical pre-historic sports aside, I couldn’t imagine training four hours a day to put a shot. So you can throw heavy balls for a lot of meters. So what? I saw no practical use for this. But then again, when I actually sat back to consider this, I realized that there are sports that look better but have even less practical use. Like basketball. I love the NBA, but I realize that basketball is basically 10 people tossing around a single ball. At least I can use shot put skills to pit a ball dipped in pepper spray solution to that window of that guy who ran over my cat this morning. Kidding aside, sports are not meant to be practical, I realize, and mostly, its for love of the game that keeps people playing. I know better now.

The point is back then, the Olympics for me was only worth watching if it had lots of complicated body maneuvers in it. If it doesn’t turn people into pretzels, it’s not interesting. But now that I’m older, I realize there’s a lot more to this gathering of champions than an excuse to win as much bragging rights as possible. Olympics is a symbolic culmination of unity and friendship among nations. It is an event to step back from the international disputes and cheer for the representatives of our countries. At least it used to be like that.

As time goes by however, the Olympics isn’t so much as a tool for unity but a brawling ring for political platforms. Can people forget Munich and the death of 11 Israeli athletes? Or for that matter, the massacre in Tlatelolco during the Mexico games? And of course, as the most relevant and recent, China and its suppression of Tibet?

Political agenda has never been more highlighted in the Olympics than today in China. Even the most politically-apathetic people cannot deny that China’s getting a lot of flak from other countries due to their issues with Tibet. Protesters all over the world have expressed their opinions, and even some world leaders have made their stand, whether it’s by boycotting the opening ceremonies or making public statements. The Olympic torch has not seen a peaceful voyage yet, what with so many protesters trying to put it out.

The impending Beijing Olympics have lost much of its name’s glory, and for the most part, had been associated with protests and human rights violations It’s sad that something as glorious and spectacular as the Olympics had been tainted with the marks of prevailing indignity and cruelty. It’s sad, that I only realized how much the Olympics represents right when the whole world is scarring its image.

The Olympics should not be a stage to sling mud at each other. I want the original Olympics back. I want to be able to appreciate the different kinds of effort exerted in every sport. I want to be able to point at that screen and say “See that girl over there? She can’t do flips and she has arms that would be unflattering in sleeveless tops but she can make a mince pie of your face from twenty meters away.” I want to experience watching people making their dreams and ambitions come true. I want to see the world’s finest athletes competing for the medal they could proudly bring back to their countrymen. Lastly, I want to see people who keep going for love of the sport and for love of their country, no matter how many times they fall.

alexda asked:


Michael Phelps hangover begins Monday at the Beijing Olympics.

 

The 23-year-old Phelps completed his amazing run of eight gold medals, breaking Mark Spitz’s previous mark of seven from the 1972 Munich Games, when the Americans won the 4×100-meter medley relay in a world record time.

Now it’s on to Week No. 2, where Monday’s lineup of 18 gold medals in athletics, diving and sailing, among others, should keep the Olympic faithful occupied for the final days of the 29th edition of the Summer Games.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



US swimmers Michael Phelps (L), Brendan Hansen (2nd L), Jason Lezak (2nd R) and Aaron Peirsol (R) stand on the podium for the men’s 4 x 100m medley relay swimming final medal ceremony at the National Aquatics Center during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in Beijing. [Agencies]

By the time the Olympics end next Sunday, 302 gold medals will have been presented over 18 days of competition in 38 sports at 37 competition venues – 31 in Beijing, five in other Chinese mainland cities, and equestrian events in Hong Kong.

The women’s triathlon kicks off Monday’s competition, with Vanessa Fernandes of Portugal and three-time world champion Emma Snowsill of Australia the big favorites over the 1.5-kilometer swim, 40-kilometer bike leg and 10-kilometer run.

Fernandes finished eighth at the 2004 Athens triathlon and won the 2007 Beijing World Cup over Monday’s identical course. But she’s had several poor recent showings, including a 10th-place finish in the world championships this year.

“This time I am more relaxed and more grown up,” the 22-year-old Fernandes said. “Four years have passed. I have won something. I have learned to control myself in every race.”

At the Bird’s Nest, the men’s 400 hurdles and women’s 800 will highlight athletics action along with the men’s 3,000 steeplechase and long jump, and women’s discus and pole vault.

Chinese springboard specialist He Change will dive for his first Olympic medal in the 3-meter springboard Monday at the National Aquatic Center, more commonly known as the Water Cube.

He usually tries one of the most difficult dives in the business, with a degree of difficulty of 3.8 out of 4. It’s officially known as the 5156B – a forward 2½ somersault with three twists in the pike position.

China has won this event at the previous three Olympics, and He and teammate In Keri, the world champion in the 3-meter springboard, will do their best to ensure it’s four in a row.

Alexander Despatie of Canada, who won silver in the event in Athens in 2004, fractured his right foot during a training session in April and will be hard-pressed to get on the podium.

“My foot reacted well to all the rehab plans that I had,” said Despatie, who is appearing in his third Olympics but has missed most World Cup events since February.

“Mentally I know that my preparation has been quite different compared with the rest of the guys,” Despatie said. “I want to prove to myself that I can overcome all those bumps and all those challenges and try to end this season on a good note.”

In Qingdao, 480 kilometers (300 miles) southeast of the Chinese capital, men’s and women’s sailing finals will be held in the 470 class.

The women’s points race in track cycling, in which Marianne Vos of the Netherlands is favored, will be held, along with the men’s team pursuit, in which Britain and Australia are expected to vie for gold.

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alexda asked:


China has several world-class sports training facilities around the nation, many of which have helped lay the foundation for China’s Olympic success.

The following eight facilities are some of the best-known training bases in China and have produced some of the country’s most talented and decorated athletes:

Duoba

Duoba, China’s best high-altitude training base and one of the best in the world, is known both as the “Cradle of World Champions” and a “Factory of Gold Medalists”.

Located in Huangzhong county on the Qingzang Plateau in China’s northwestern Qinghai province, it sits 2,365m above sea level where the annual average temperature is 6.5 C above zero. It has been the training ground for China’s national swimming team, shooting team and track and field team since the 1990s.

The Duoba training base has spawned a large arsenal of Chinese world champions and Olympic stars over the past two decades. The best known bunch is the legendary Chinese long-distance running group “Ma’s Team”, which won four gold medals, two silvers and two bronzes at the 1993 Stuttgart World Championships.



Lin Dan

 

Xing Huina, the 2004 Athens Games women’s 10,000m gold winner, also attributes her triumph four years ago to Duoba’s unique geological position.

Duoba used to be a military factory warehouse. In 1982, The Qinghai Sports Bureau acquired the base and transformed it into a state-of-the-art training complex. The Beijing and Qinghai governments have invested more than 2 billion yuan ($291 million) in reconstructing the facility over the past 20 years.

Other sports that train at Duoba include archery, soccer, basketball, badminton, volleyball, table tennis, judo, wrestling, and taekwondo.

Qiandao Lake

The name of Qiandao Lake, which translates to “Thousand-Islands Lake”, explains its unique charm.

The training base lies deep in the heart of the world-famous Qiandao Lake tourism resort. It is 129km from the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. The resort’s name comes from the 1,078 islands sprinkled across the area’s 573 sq km of water surface.

The water region is not a natural creation, however. It was formed by the construction of a hydropower station in 1959.

The surrounding forest keeps the region’s weather warm and humid all year long. The average temperature is a stable 17 C.

Rowing coach Zhang Guiting discovered the secluded water area. He was impressed by the tranquility of the area and its wide variation of water conditions, making it ideal for rowing and canoe training.

In 2000, the national rowing team was looking for an appropriate place to train athletes for the 2004 Athens Games. The team was informed of the training base, which the Zhejiang sports bureau had bought for 1.64 million yuan in 1999.

The General Administration of Sport invested another 50 million yuan to overhaul Qiandao Lake, adding world-class canoeing and rowing apparatuses for the team’s training.

As athletes sweat during practice, the training base’s natural beauty helps relieve some of the psychological pressure brought on by the repetitive and sometimes tedious training.

In 2004, Meng Guanliang and Yang Wenjun, both coached and trained in Qiandao Lake, won China’s first-ever Olympic canoeing gold.

Jinjiang

For many Chinese, the image of Jinjiang, a small town in southern China’s Fujian province, is more associated with the sports footwear industry than the badminton team’s training base. The national team has trained at Jinjiang for the past six years. It was built on donations from expatriate Chinese from the town.

Jinjiang Sports Traning Base was built in 2002, a historic low point for Chinese shuttlers. China’s head coach, Li Yongbo, was desperate to get the team back in top form and came upon Jinjiang by chance. He liked the base’s existing facilities, and brought the team there for a trial training. It was the beginning of a new age for Chinese badminton.

That year’s horrifying SARS epidemic entrenched the province and trapped the entire shuttle team in the base. The original training schedule was stretched from 40 days to 100 days. Some say it was those extra days that helped transform the team – China won titles in men’s singles, women’s singles and women’s doubles at the 2003 World Championships.

The training compound is guarded round the clock in order to ensure undisrupted training for the team.

The Jingjiang facility has a secret weapon – a huge pool full of quartz sand. Shuttlers practice in the pool, battling against the drag of the sand under foot, helping improve their movement and flexibility.

Hongta

Despite the disappointment of China men’s Olympics soccer team, its training base in Hongta, Yunnan province, is still considered China’s most comprehensive and well-equipped soccer training complex.

Hongta Group, which owns the Chinese cigarette brand of the same name, built and financed the training base. It was originally home to the province’s first soccer club, also named Hongta, in the 1990s, the first-ever in the history of the province in 1990s. When the club’s popularity fell, Hongta Group decided to turn it into a top-notch training base.

The base covers an area of 334,300 sq m. Hongta Croup spent a total of 690 million yuan on the construction, which was completed in 2001.

The training base borders the picturesque Dianchi Lake, one of the most famous tourism resorts in Yunnan. The base has 11 full-size outdoor soccer pitches, 11 tennis courts, and four indoor training centers for winter sports, badminton, bowling and swimming.

China’s men’s team has used the base to prepare for almost every important international tournament since 2001.



Women’s field hockey team. [Agencies]

 

Zhangzhou

With a price tag of 5 million yuan, the training base for China’s women’s volleyball team is the most expensive volleyball stadium built in China’s history.

Each citizen in Zhangzhou, Fujian province, donated one yuan to build the stadium, a move aimed at raising the team’s morale after its worst-ever Olympic result in Barcelona 1992.

It was the second time the people in Zhangzhou showed their steadfast support for the volleyball team – in 1972, Zhangzhou authorities mobilized local volunteers to build a “bamboo-framed stadium” for the national women’s team.

The foreign press once described the base as the “secret foundation” of the Chinese volleyball team. As time went on, the real secret of the team’s success was unveiled: the love, affection and heart-felt support of the the Zhangzhou people.

Lang Ping, the world-acclaimed Chinese spiker and head coach of the US team, once wrote: “We (the Chinese team as a whole) will forever remember the Zhangzhou people’s dedicated emotion, understanding and support!”

Apart from Zhangzhou, Beilun, in Zhejiang province, will become another home of China’s women’s volleyball team once the 127,000 sq m facility finishes construction.

Zhengding

The Zhengding National Table Tennis Training Base was built on the generous contributions of Wang Guangqing, the man who created the prototype of a sports training base 16 years ago.

The 70-year-old physical education teacher has seen his brainchild pump out top-level table tennis players ever since.

In August 1970, Wang was transferred to Zhengding county to work as a primary school physical education teacher. Driven by his fervent passion for table tennis, Wang organized a school-wide training team. He spent all his earnings on table tennis books, and led his players in an after-school work program, trying to raise money for training.

Wang’s perseverance paid off eight years later. His 12-member table tennis school received long-awaited support from the city’s sports authority and it became “China’s key table tennis sports school”. The success inspired Wang to turn the school into a nation-wide table tennis training base.

Phase by phase, the school evolved into a modern comprehensive table tennis training compound, providing cutting-edge equipment, facilities and training methods.

The training base is located 260km from Beijing in Hebei province. The proximity to the capital enabled the base to train the Chinese women’s team before the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. The team went on to clinch both women’s gold medals.

Since then, the 21,000 sq m training base has been designated as the official training venue for the national teams. Cai Zhenhua, former head coach of the national table tennis team, described Zhengding as “the best training base on the planet”.

Jiangmen

When Li Ting and Sun Tiantian won China’s first-ever Olympic tennis gold, it was a turning point in Chinese sports history. The China Tennis Association subsequently designated Jiangmen, a coastal city to the west of the Pearl River Delta, the home of the national tennis training base.

It was not entirely a surprise – Jiangmen city had long boasted a tradition of tennis. The city was home to more than 80 tennis courts and tennis was the most widely played local sport.

Huayuan Hotel, where the training center is located, sits on a beautiful island. There are eight standard tennis courts used for training. Another 12 courts and a central tennis center are scheduled to be built with an investment of 15 million yuan.

Jiangmen has become a magnet for tennis fans all over China. Tennis is also the core industry of the region.

Tennis chief Sun Jinfang said the reason the administration designated Jiangmen the permanent training base for the national teams is because “there is no parallel contender to Jiangmen, which has all the desirable conditions of weather, location, equipment and local support.”

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alexda asked:


With a resurgent Big Four tractor providing motivation, the Pioneer Day celebration crowned many champions last Saturday, including the other Big Four: softball, basketball, golf, and running.

In a last hurrah for long time player, manager, and sponsor, Randee Bayles of Bayles Exploration, loyal ball players rallied for a final Blue Mountain Invitational Fast Pitch Softball Tournament win. 

Bayles, whose teams have won 15 of the approximately 30 BMS tournaments, expressed before the tournament this would be his last effort.  And after finishing second the last four years, the boys of Bayles skipped to the 14-team tourney title undefeated, triumphing over Gore Construction in the championship game. 

In the drop-down tournament, two Monticello teams vied for the consolation honor with Daron coming out on top over LaBroc.

3-on-3 basketball

A Monticello High School alumini team consisting of Ian Burtenshaw, Scott Frost, and Tony Pehrson, bested all rivals in the 3-on-3 basketball tournament. Adam Black, Terek Esplin, Jake Duncan, and Rylan Goodwine were the best school-age group, while Team Freestone – Matt Freestone, Eli Johnson, and Andrew Torres – won the elementary division.

A golfing dozen

Over 150 attempts were made in the closest to the pin contest on the number three hole at the Hideout.  No one got closer than 12 year old Tanner Eardley, who used a seven iron from the white tees to get within 15 and a half feet.

Eating Loyd’s dust

Jeff Hunt reports a highly successful Blue Mountain 5K race.  He reports, “It looks like Macee Nielson gave a high school cross-country preview this year as she won the 5K with a time of 19:16. 

“The next closest time was the male winner, Daniel Washington of Athens, GA, with a time of 19:45.  There were 80 runners and walkers in the 5K, with 16 kids in the kid’s race. 

“We had runners from as far away as New York, Indiana, Georgia and Las Vegas.  Tyler Bird and Sara Musselman were the winners of the kid’s race.  Even the Cave Guy and his too-kind-and-loving wife got in on the action, both winning their age group.  I won’t tell you what group that was, we will just say it was in the higher numbers.”  

13 & Under: Brandon Ramsey & Kayla MacArthur.

Under 20: Daniel Washington & Macee Nielson.

 20-29: Micah Burleson & Annie Green.

 30-39: Scott Wilmont & Aleigh Redd.

Stone age: Gary Torres & Deidree Torres.

50 & Over: Joe Peterson & Becky Peterson.

I see heaps of people out running, jogging, or walking every morning in Monticello and Blanding trying to get or stay in some semblance of shape. 

Thinking about the Olympics are you?  What does an elite athlete, such as Lindsey Anderson, a member of the 2008 US Olympic team, do? 

In part 2 of the Lindsey Chronicles, discover what it takes to be an elite athlete.  Try comparing your training schedule with hers. 

Q.  So Lindsey, what is your training schedule?

During my regular training weeks, I’m running somewhere around 80-85 miles per week.  I do two or three hard workouts each week, usually on Tuesday, Thursday and sometimes Saturday. 

These hard workouts are when I do my interval training, tempo runs, power runs, intervals with hurdles, etc. 

On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I’ll do distance runs of 60 minutes and afterwards I’ll do speed drills, stairs, and strides.  Saturdays are my long run days when I’ll go for 90 minutes. Depending on the week, I may or may not do a tempo run in the middle of it (that’s where the third hard workout would come from). 

Besides my interval workouts and distance runs, I also do 30 minute morning runs five days a week.  So in sports terms I’m doing five two-a-days each week. 

I only run once on Saturday, when I have my long runs. I take Sunday’s completely off.  (My day of rest!  I definitely look forward to this day!) 

I also lift weights twice a week and do a different ab workout/routine every day. As for recovery, I get ice baths (water is around 42-50°) 4-5 times per week.  They are hard to get in at first, but really help in recovery. 

And I see a sport specific massage therapist usually once per week to help keep my body injury-free and it also helps a ton with recovery.  With all of this I usually average around 4 hours per day doing all this stuff! 

Q. Who are your sponsors. How does that work?

I’m sponsored by Nike.  I have a shoe contract with them, which means that they give me all my running equipment: shoes, clothes, watches, sunglasses, etc. I also have a travel budget and I’m on a salary from which I get paid quarterly.  Nothing like Tiger Woods or anything, but it definitely helps!

Q. In your initial orientation about China, what were some of the interesting things you learned about the culture and does and don’ts?

Basically I just remember that they are very respectful of the elderly and you don’t say their first name when they introduce themselves. Call them by their last name, not their first unless you are really good friends.  When you order at a restaurant it’s ok to point to someone else’s dish to let them know you want.  I guess a lot of Chinese people order this way. 

Q. Any sight-seeing adventures while in China?

I really want to see the Great Wall!  I don’t know how much I’ll be able to see before my race(s), but I’ll have a few days afterwards to see some things.  I also would love to go to some of the other sports events if possible!

Q. Any heads-up on the US opening ceremony outfits?

They haven’t shown us anything.  Our uniforms are mostly dark blue except the lettering. 

Q. Remember those berets from the SLC Olympics?

I’d actually forgotten about those!  I kinda hope we won’t have to wear them!

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