Best place for Beijing Olympic tickets in town?
August 19, 2008
After last night going to my last Olympic event that I had pre-purchased tickets for I was hungry for more. Luckily a friend of mine gave me a tip about where to go for more tickets at reasonable prices.
This morning I jumped on a bike and headed to the source. I arrived at 8.20 and found a queue of about 30 people. I waited a while and saw a few people come out with tickets. Some had wrestling, others athletics.
My main interest for the day was to go to the Australian women’s basketball match. I was in luck as a large amount of tickets were delivered just after nine. I was able to buy a ticket for a good price in the A reserve area.
China plays Belarus in the first match and then Australia follows up against the Czech Republic in match two. Tickets for the night session involving team USA were due to be delivered a bit later in the day.
I did not hear if any of the gymnastics finals tickets were available however many other top rate tickets were up for grabs.
If you are in Beijing and want to know where I went put a comment down below. You are asked for your email when making the comment. This is not published however I will see it and can send you the details.
What do you think about the lip-synch in the Beijing Olympic opening?
August 14, 2008
It has been reported recently that a girl considered to have a good image for television rather than a girl with a good voice was used to lip-synch to the voice of another performer during the opening ceremony.
Olympic games opening ceremony producers decided just 15 minutes before the show to replace 7-year-old Yang Peiyi with 9-year-old Lin Miaoke, who wore a red dress and appeared to sing “I Sing For My Country.” Instead we have now been told that Miaoke did the lip-synch to Yang’s recording
Chen, the music director, told CCTV the switch was made because Lin looked better on television while Yang had a better voice.
Does it worry you that a lip-synching performer was seen during the Olympic opening ceremony or do you think the artist with a voice considered worthy to be listened to should have also had her face beamed around the world, even if she was not as cute?
Leave your comments below.
China wins first ever women’s team gymnastics gold after USA self destructs
August 14, 2008
One advantage of being in Beijing during the Olympics is that they are going to show Chinese athletes on television in all the major events. Today I got to watch the women’s team final for artistic gymnastics in full without interuption.
It what was an exciting final turned out to be a showdown between USA the current world champions and China the 2006 world champions. The home crowd were hoping to see the women, or should I say girls, claim the first Olympic gold medal in the teams event.
The USA took the early lead following the vault rotation. The US scored 46.875 to China’s 46.350. Shawn Johnson for the US and China’s Cheng Fei both topped the scoring with 16 point vaults.
On the uneven bars the Chinese made their move. Two brilliant performances by He Kexin and Yang Yilin where they scored 16.85 and 16.80 respectively gave China the lead. USA edged closer on the beam. China’s Cheng Fei helped them out after falling from the beam during her routine. Alicia Sacramone gave back the advantage when she fell from the beam as she mounted the apparatus.
The floor was to be the deciding rotation as the US or China could still win. In the end the USA self destructed. First the unfortunate Sacramone fell at the end of a tumbling run and then to make matters worse she stepped out of the competition area. The end result was a shattering score of 14.125. Her teammates also had costly errors and this left China to claim the medal.
China put in solid routines to lay claim to the nation’s first gold in the women’s team event. The crowd were of course delighted as the gymnasts had sealed the double following yesterday’s team win by the men.
China won the gold medal with a total of 188.900 points from the United States with a total of 186.525 points and Romania won the bronze with a total score of 181.525 points.
Next up is the Men’s Individual All-Around Final to be held from 11am Beijing time on Thursday.
China sucks at football again
August 11, 2008
The men’s Chinese Olympic football team has failed to impress once again. Tonight they took on Belgium.
The match opened promisingly for China with one of their players unmarked about eight metres from goal. Most players would have found the back of the net. Instead this player sent the ball wide.
Belgium were to make China pay for their missed chance as they scored an opening goal before the ten minute mark. One of their players took the ball to the left of goal and eluded three or so defenders before slotting the ball home.
China had what appeared to be a handball inside the penalty waved away. The score at halftime was 1-0.
In the second half China were once again unable to score. Belgium on the other hand added to their first half goal to make the match look safe. China had other good chances go begging to end the match down 2-0.
As in the world cup qualifying China has failed to deliver on the world stage. It would appear that they are now out of the running to advance to the next stage.
The goal scorers for Belgium were Moussa Dembele who scored in the eigth minute and Kevin Mirallas who scored on the 80 minute mark.
In the other match in this group Brazil piled on five goals to defeat New Zealand.
Beijing Olympics weather update - August 10
August 10, 2008
Sitting here as I watch China take on Belgium in the football I can officially tell you that it is bucketing down in Beijing. This will result in delays for any outdoor sports. There has been heaps of thunder and lightning as well.
Today in Beijing it was a bit cooler than recent days with a maximum of around 28. There were scattered showers throughout the day.
Tomorrow heavy showers are forecast so I would expect tennis and beach volleyball to be delayed. The maximum is expected to be 26 degrees C.
When I went out just after lunch today the air was so thick I had trouble breathing at times. I was coughing as soon as I got out of the apartment building I am staying in. I don’t know how this would have made the athletes feel here in Beijing.
Tragic day for volleyball and Olympic community following deadly Drum Tower knife attack
August 10, 2008
August 9, 2008 will go down as a dark day in Olympic history as tragedy struck in Beijing. The father of former USA Olympic volleyball player Elisabeth Bachman was murdered in a knife attack by a Chinese man later identified as 47 year old Tang Yongming.
Todd Bachman’s daughter Elisabeth is married to Hugh McCutcheon who is the current head coach of the men’s volleyball team. McCutcheon hails from New Zealand and represented his country both indoors and on the beach.
The attack comes despite a strong security presence on the streets of Beijing. The other night when I was out you could see Police about every 100m along the streets.
The Drum Tower is about 7km’s from the main Olympic stadium. It is nestled amongst a large number of Hutong dwellings and does not receive a large number of tourists. I would assume that a Policeman was not posted at the top of the tower
My wife grew up in the shadow of the Drum Tower. As a result I have been there on many occasions. I have never seen it as a dangerous place to visit or feel that the streets in that area are dangerous.
The top of the Drum Tower is in a way a remote tourist destination. I have never seen that many people there as getting to the top involves an arduous climb up 100 or so steep stairs. I was there myself Saturday 2nd August. At the time I saw about 5 foreign tourists and a few Chinese tourists.
The attack makes me feel slightly apprehensive when now going out on the streets of Beijing. I have to admit I have never felt threatened during all my visits to Beijing. The only thing here is that a westerner obviously stands out in a crowd and can become an easy target. More often than not a westerner is a target for a keen hawker looking to sell their goods.
As a past volleyball player I feel for the volleyball community, especially that of southern California where the victims daughter resides.
Todd Bachman was the Chairman and CEO of Minneapolis based flower empire Bachman’s Inc., he was 62 years old.
A photo of Todd Bachman and his wife can be viewed at the Bitten and Bound blog.
Phelps on his way to record Olympic gold medal haul
August 10, 2008
Here is a summary of the first medal session at the Beijing Olympic swim meet.
Michael Phelps has smashed the 400m IM world record as he took his first step towards a record eight Olympic swimming gold medals at a single Olympics.
Phelps beat his previous world record time of 4:05.25 and set a new world mark with a time of 4.03.84.
His teammate Ryan Lochte was around half a body length from Phelps in the breaststroke however Phelps powered away in the freestyle to record a comfortable victory where he was around one and a half body lengths in front of Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh who won the silver in a time of 4:06.16, with Lochte taking the bronze.
Libby Trickett moved into the women’s 100m butterfly final with a win in her semifinal with a time of 57.05, just 0.03 ahead of USA’s Christine Magnuson. The second semifinal was won by Australia’s Jessica Schipper in a time of 57.43 ahead of China’s Zhou Yafei.
In the men’s 400m freestyle final Australia’s Grant Hackett took the early lead, at the 150m mark South Korea’s Taehwan Park moved to the front and was just 0.03 ahead of Hackett. 0.62 was the advantage at the 250m mark with Park ahead of Hackett. The Australian swimmer then faded as others came through.
Park pulled away to win the gold medal ahead of Zhang Lin from China and USA’s Larsen Jenson. Park’s winning time was 3:41.86 which is still more than a second off Ian Thorpe’s world record of 3:40.08
Stephanie Rice claimed Australia’s first gold medal at the Beijing Olympic games with a win in the women’s 400m individual medley. It was Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry who tested Rice. Coventry was 3.83 ahead of world record split at the 200m mark Rice not far behind. Katie Hoff as the current world record holder was never looking likely to win. Rice won the gold in a new world record time of 4.29.45.
The last gold of the day went to the Netherlands in the 4 x 100m freestyle relay.
Germany lead early in the race before the Netherlands made their move in the third leg. They took a half body lead into the final leg ahead of USA and Australia. The lead was 1.96 at the 350m mark and they held on for a gold medal in a new Olympic record time.
The first medal session of the swimming saw the gold’s shared across four nations.
Rice’s golden moment in Beijing Olympic swimming
August 10, 2008
Australian Olympic swim team member in Beijing, Stephanie Rice has won Australia’s first gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Her win came in the women’s 400m individual medley. She topped this off by winning in a new world record time of 4.29.45. The previous world record was 4:31.12 held by Katie Hoff.
Her likely opponent for the gold medal Katie Hoff of the USA was never close to Rice and it was Kirsty Coventry from Zimbabwe who pushed the Australian.
Coventry in the lead after 200m was 3.83 ahead of the world record split with Rice close behind. As the race moved into the breaststroke phase Rice took the lead and was 2.66 ahead of world record pace at 250m. As Rice went into the freestyle she was 1.40 ahead of world record pace, 0.74 with 50m to go and then she broke the world record to win the 400m individual medley ahead of Coventry and Hoff third.
It was a great win for the Australian glamour girl of swimming. Congratulations to Stephanie. Coventry’s time was 4:29.89 also inside of the old world record with Hoff swimming 4:31.71 which was slower than her world record.
Student replaces master to take gold in Beijing Olympics
August 9, 2008
China’s Wang Yifu, won the gold medal in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol at Athens 2004. In Beijing for the 2008 Olympics he was this time on the sidelines as coach for Pang Wei.
Pang is only 22 years old which is considered young for the sport of shooting. In 2006 he won the world championships in the 10m Air Pistol event.
On August 9, 2008 it became a golden moment for Pang as he shot his way to victory in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol. He shot a final score of 688.2 to have a nice 3.7 point break on his competitor’s.
The silver medal went to Jin Jong-oh with a final score of 684.5. The bronze was claimed by Kim Jong-su of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea with a final score of 683.0.
At the time of Pang’s gold medal it placed China on top of the medal tally with two gold following the earlier gold in the weightlifting.
New Olympic weightlifting record and China’s first gold in Beijing Olympics
August 9, 2008
The nation of China was hoping to pickup the first gold medal in the shooting. This did not happen as Du Li failed to defend her Athens gold medal.
China had to wait until Chen Xiexia out lifted her opponents throughout Women’s 48 kilogram Weightlifting. She won her nations first gold medal with 95kg in Snatch and 117kg in Clean & Jerk for a total of 212kg, a new Olympic Record.
The total today for Chen is just short of her 214kg effort that she lifted on her way to the World Championship title in 2007.
China is keen to knock the USA of the top of the Olympic medal count by the end of the Beijing Olympics. The pride of the nation is on the line.
