Wushu during the Games

Finally, the most important event for Wushu gets started............Beijing Wushu Exhibition gets under way, and in the men's competition.....Zhao Qing Jian, from the Beijing Team with the gold in Dao and Gwun.......easily the elder statesman of Wushu, still dominates because he is Mr. Consistent..........his routines are not overly flashy, but rock solid, rarely does he make a mistakre or not stick a landing.

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The Beat goes on...and on

 Shawn Johnson  held everyone off to win the Gold in the Balance Beam Competition....she just nudged out Nastia who took the silver, and China's Chang Fei the bronze. Again Bob Costas was looking for a conspiracy........as Nasita lost the gold in the uneven bars by a tie breaker, and Chang Fei won a bronze medal even though she fell on her knees during her vault..............but you know that all has to do with the rules......the tiebreakers are all set ahead of time....no one controls them.....but of course you can judge poorly...Read more

Gold and Sour Grapes

Not that I am all that interested....but sometimes it's necessary to say something...........too much of American Chauvinism and sour grapes is showing thru in these Olympics..........yes there are questions but they need to be based on something.............the articles on Karolyi's comments are from an American source............which state clearly he has no basis for his conjectures........also interesting are the news articles wondering how a slow little nation like Jamaica could actually compete with a world track power like...Read more

Hunt for gold continues

After Phelps.......................there is still more to come.........Guo Jingjing........China's  Diving Queen won her last gold Medal in the 3m diving.........her partner in the synchronize diving Wu Minxia got the bronze........Guo has devoted 12 years of her life to diving and wants to retire........she is one of China's most recognized women athletes....and is an advertising machine for all kinds of products in China.......................also very kool Jamaica is now home of the fastest humans on earth as the Women swep...Read more

Hunt for Gold

Well, as predicted Michael Phelps has won his eighth gold medal as the US men win the 4x100 medley relay in world record time.  Congrats to Phelps and the US Team!  Scary thing is Phelps is still young enough to participate in the 2010 Games in Great Britain......so more records could be still to come.  But age may not be a limiting factor as Dara Torres the 41 year old member of team USA wins a silver medal in the 4x100 relay in record US Time....they were beaten by a very good Australian Team.....who set a new World Record.  If you keep yours...Read more

Gold by an Eyelash

Last night I was watching Michael Phelps actually look like he was loosing........he was half a body length behind the leader.  Even at the finish it looked as if he had lost , ......the leader touched in........but no, Phelps had pulled it out by taking one more stroke he was able to reach the pad before his opponent............... winning literally by a fingertip at most......01 seconds faster .....................sometimes some things were meant to be..............sort of like in baseball when a team suddenly comes out of nowhere and go...Read more

Gymnastic Gold

Well the Women's all around in Gymnastics is finally over........congrats to the Team USA........Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson finished one two.....and China's Yang Yilin finished third........this was a close competition with the last event ......floor excercise determining the winner.  Nastia's routines were graceful and Shawn was just a little powerhouse.  It still comes down to concentration and focus.....you can't think about your routine, or what some else has done.........the only thing you can do is your routine....it...Read more

An Olympic Break

On Tuesday took a short time out from watching the Games to have dinner with Pat after he returned from Hawaii......good to see Emilio....and Paul one of my Calwushu students from generation 3........haven't seen him in a long time....he's now working for Apple......and we got a quick introduction to all the things an Iphone can do........I have been hesistant to get one cause I have heard it doesn't do that well as a phone and it's hard to use...............but looks like it has a lot of kool apps that turn the Iphone into a...Read more

Olympic Gold

Yang Wei has proved himself to be one of the top gymnast in the world and the Chinese Gymnastics both men and women have shown they can dominate.  The Men's Team especially it was an important victory since during the Athen's Olympics they were expected to medal, but instead they imploded and did not win anything.  One thing though you can see is that the pressure to win is so great.......top athletes often in events they are world champions in, have made mistakes or just fallen off......remaining calm in such a competition is so essenti...Read more

Olympic Basketball

The redeem team....the US Basketball Team came back from a close first quarter to defeat Greece 92-69..............a team that defeated the US Team in Athens.........US concentrated on tight defense and aggressive ball handling......in Athens the Greek Team shot 62%....but not last night being held to 42%..............the US Team to have a shot at the gold must play like last night....they still have to face the Team from Spain....the World Champions........and a tough Argentina.......FIBA Basketball is a little different from the NBA Game...Read more