Beijing Olympics 2008

2008-08-24T19:53:00.001-07:00

The games have come to a close. This provides a detailed summary of the highlights of the closing ceremony. Spectacular sights, however once the official part of the closing ceremony was over, the quality of the music, songs and singers to try to entertain the crowd left a lot to be desired and was basically chaotic and disappointing, in my opinion.

Becks was there promoting the London games in 2012. Jackie chan only got a few seconds of airtime....

The London metamorphisizing bus was great.

Au revoir Beijing, till London for the next instalment of the Olympic games.

For those who feel Olympic withdrawal syndrome, you can relieve the symptoms by listening to the uplifting medal ceremony theme.

2008-08-24T07:50:00.000-07:00

Caught replay of the 9th inning where Republic of Korea beat Cuba 3-2 off a pitch from relief pitcher, which saw two cuban outs on first and second bases. Cuba had ROK on the ropes, with bases loaded, and the umpire clearly making dodgy calls on balls v strikes. ROK catcher was ejected for arguing with the umpire on this issue. Luckily justice was done.

France wins final gold medal 302th of the Beijing Olympic games

2008-08-24T04:47:00.001-07:00

France has beaten Iceland 28-23 in the men's handball gold medal match to win the last gold medal to be awarded at the Beijing Olympics.

2008-08-24T03:54:00.001-07:00

They are showing all the team finals on TV right now, ahead of the Olympics closing ceremony tonight. Will do a round up of the team sports later.

2008-08-24T03:46:00.000-07:00

Saw the replay last night when 'Aussie diving hero Matthew Mitcham upset the form books to dive a 112 point last gasp dive to beat the fancied Chinese diver in the 10m platform event. This torpedoed the Chinese clean sweep of gold in all 8 diving events. Wel done to a new hero for Oz, he became the first male individual diving gold medalist in diving since 1924 for Australia.

2008-08-23T07:07:00.001-07:00

The Opals (Australian women's basketball team) are playing arch enemies the US in the gold medal match now. Hopefully the world champs can winl.

Update: Opals have lost 92-65, outclassed and out witted by the US tactics. This is the fourth time in a row the US wins gold and the Aussies the silver in the last 4 Olympic games.
Meanwhile, the men's redeem team beat Spain in a close one 108-107 for the gold medal.

2008-08-23T07:03:00.001-07:00

On the last night of the athletics:
Gold for Norway in men's javelin, as Thorkildsen defends his Athens gold medal with a breat throw of 90.57m, a new Olympic record. The mythical Thor wouldn't throw his hammer any further...
Sweep in mens and women's 4X400m relay races for the USA.
30 year old Tia Hellebaut, a Belgian jumped 5cm above her best for the year 2008 to beat fancied top ranked Croatian jumper for the women's high jump gold medal.
Kenya takes 2 golds in 800m(Bangei) 1500m women's race(Nancy Jebet Langat).
Ethiophia's Kenenisa won gold in the 5000m final.

2008-08-23T07:01:00.001-07:00

Saw the mens singles medals concluded in table tennis, very high quality play indeed. 42 year old Persson of Sweden, who is competing in his 6th Olympic games failed to get the bronze medal. China has done the 1-2-3, matching their women's singles 1-2-3. Mah Lin has won the bronze, upsetting compatriot Wang Nan (no 1 seed) in a great match.

2008-08-23T06:57:00.001-07:00

Last night Steve Hooker of Australia, won the pole vault men's final. And that is a field gold medal in athletics that I can remember Aussies winning at the Olympics. Well done Steve, and I see from the highlights, he has set a new Olympic record of 5.96m.

2008-08-21T20:39:00.000-07:00

Another inspirational story, Maarten van de Weijden of the Netherlands won the 10km marathon swim. Remarkable as this man won his battle against leukemia 7 years ago.

2008-08-21T07:15:00.002-07:00

Nelson Evora, the 2007 World Champion has just won the men's triple jump at the athletics.

2008-08-21T07:03:00.001-07:00

1-2-3 for the US again in the 400m men's race. Jeremy Wariner came second.

2008-08-21T06:45:00.001-07:00

Chen of China Ruolin had a great battle with Canadian diver Emilie Haymens for the gold medal in the women's 10m platform event. Chen had to pull off a 100+ point dive in the last one of the night to clinch the gold medal. She is only 15 years old and a star in the making. Wang Xin of China took home the bronze medal.

2008-08-21T06:44:00.001-07:00

Sensation in the athletics, as both the US men's and women's 4X100m relays dropped their batons at the fourth changeover, resulting in them missing out on qualification for th efinal. In addition, Great Britain were disqualified in the men's, along with Nigeria. Notable, as the US, Nigeria and G Britain are the medal winning teams from Athens, Britain being the defending champions.

2008-08-21T06:41:00.001-07:00

A late post, but the Boomers (Australian men's basketball team) were beaten in the quarter finals by the Redeem Team, the team of all stars from the NBA. 116-85. The Boomers had no answer to the pace and power of the likes of Coby Bryant and Lebron James.

2008-08-21T02:03:00.000-07:00

The invincible team of Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor from the US has beaten chinese pair Wang Jie and Tian Jia for the gold medal. No firsts in beach volleyball gold for China.

2008-08-20T20:28:00.000-07:00

Women's beach volleyball final is on right now. USA pair leading Chinese pair 1 set to nil. Can the American's long unbeated streak be broken today?

2008-08-20T08:04:00.000-07:00

Usain Bolt just set a new world record of 19.30 sec in winning the Olympic 200m final, obliterating the field and making history by winning both 100m and 200m in world record time. His time tonight eclipsed Michael Johnson's world mark by 0.02 second.

2008-08-19T23:20:00.001-07:00

A first ever gold medal in the horizontal bar, as Zou Kai takes the event gold medal yesterday. From the highlights replay, it looked a fine routine.

2008-08-19T20:59:00.001-07:00

Larisa Ilchenko of Russia wins th women's 10km marathon swim. This is a historic first time this event is in the Olympics. It is also a race in which amputee Natalie du Toit has competed. Another inspiration story from the Olympics. She finished 16th.

2008-08-19T16:24:00.000-07:00

This Olympics is not just about Michael Phelps. Great Britain's Chris Hoy won the individual sprint mens yesterday, bringing his gold medal haul to 3.

2008-08-19T08:03:00.001-07:00

Another first, gold for Bahrain, as Rashid Ramzi kicks from 200m out to outlast the Kenyan runner to win the blue ribbon 1500m for men.

2008-08-19T08:02:00.001-07:00

Estonia's Gerd Kenter won gold in the men's discus throw event.

2008-08-19T08:01:00.001-07:00

Drama in the women's 100m hurdles final, as favourite Jones stepped on the 2nd last hurdle, stumbled and gave away the gold to Dawn Harper of the USA. Australia's 21 year old Sally McClellan got the silver. Canada's Lopes Schliep the bronze.

2008-08-19T07:46:00.001-07:00

Women's 400m final won by Great Britain's Christine Ohuruoga. Finally they have won in an event where they have not been sitting.(cycling, rowing, sailing) their previous 12 gold medals.

2008-08-19T07:44:00.000-07:00

Likewise, an exciting 3m springboard diving, where China won bronze (Qin kai, the current world champion) and gold (He chong). The reigning world champion relegated to bronze, with the sixth placed He Chng at the world championships in Melbourne, upsetting the books for the gold.

2008-08-19T07:43:00.001-07:00

China took out the one three, gold (Lu Chunlong) and bronze (Dong Dong) in the men's trampolinn finals tonight.

China has double gold in both men's and women's trampolining, on day 8, He Wenna won the women's trampoline.

2008-08-18T18:41:00.000-07:00

A third world record at the athletics. Was a priveledge to see Elena Isinbayeva of Russis jump 5.05m in the last action of the day. Toher records were the 3000m steeplechase for men and the Thunder Bolt run in the 100m mens.

There was also a first gold medal for Panama in the men's long jump.

2008-08-18T04:49:00.001-07:00

Two firsts for Slovenia's Primoz Kosmuz who won the gold medal in the men's hammer throw, and Cameroon Mbango Etone who defended her gold won in Athensin the women's triple jump. Both are the first golds ever won by their countries in Olympic athletics.

2008-08-18T04:10:00.000-07:00

Australia's day today as Emma Snowsill wins the Women's triathlon, and in sailing the mens (Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page) and women's ( Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson) 470 medal races sees Aussies take both golds.

2008-08-17T22:51:00.001-07:00

Sensation again today at the Bird's Nest Olympic stadium as Liu Xiang, one of China's favourite sons stumbled in the first qualifying round of the men's 100m hurdles event and withdrew ocmpletely form the event. He is the defending gold medalist from the Athens games in the 110m hurdles. In his blog on Sunday, Liu had already gave hints he was suffering from a sore achilles heel injury.

2008-08-17T19:25:00.001-07:00

areading the review of day 9 of the Olympics, can report the following notable notes of various achievements.

Michael Phelps gains immortality as the greatest Olympian ever with his eighth gold medal of the Olympics.

Breta Steffan of Germany is the 'sprint queen' of the pool, after winning her second gold medal in te 50m freestyle, adding to the remarkable win in the 100m free.

Refael Nadal adds to his Wimbledon and French Open crowns, the gold medal at the Olympics 2008. Not only that, this week he becomes the new world ranked no.1.

Guo Jingjing of China picked up the gold in the women's 3m springboard event, here second of these Games. Total four gold one silver and one bronze in 3 olympics, the greatest women's diver in the Olympics. Saw the last dive and medal ceremony, beautiful diving from a beautiful woman.

2008-08-17T07:29:00.001-07:00

Lin Dan of china thrashed Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei 21-12 21-8 in the gold medal match in men's singles badminton tonight. Disappointing the nation, Lee showed no answer to the barrage of thunderbolts off Super Dan's racquet. Should have put up more fight at least. A big disappointment for me.

2008-08-17T07:28:00.001-07:00

Elena Dementiava beat compatriot Dinara Safina (Russia) 3-6 7-5 6-3 to take the women's singles gold medal today. She was the steadier and more calm player and throughly deserved to be Olympic champion. An elegant player.(despite her shrieks) Vera Zvoraneva completed the clean sweep of the medals for Russia.

2008-08-16T08:03:00.000-07:00

Usiah Bolt from Jamaica has lived up to his favourite status, thrilling the crowd and setting a new world record of 9.69 seconds in the men's 100m race. It was unreal and out of this world, blowing the opponents away in his wake.

2008-08-16T06:31:00.000-07:00

A sensation, as current World Champion Tyson Gay failed to qualify for the mens 100m final in the athletics. He looked flat as he came in fifth in the semi final. Powell and Bolt are through safely and look the best bets for the big race.

2008-08-16T00:19:00.001-07:00

Caught some highlights of the swimming gold medals decided this morning, more historic moments. Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe won gold in the 200m backstroke, adding to her 3 silver medals already won in the pool. This is another gold to Zimbabwe, after the one they won in Athens 2004. Meanwhile, Janet Evans' 19 year old record is smashed by Rebecca Adlington of Great Britain, her second gold medal of the games, the first being the 400m freestyle. Here is the queen of middle distance swimming in these Beijing Olympics.

Oh and Brazilian Cesar Cielo Filho set a cracking pace down the pool with an Olympic record time of 21.30 to take gold in the 50 m men's freestyle race. Set the cat amongst the pigeons relegating two Frenchmen, including Barnard to 2nd and 3rd.

2008-08-15T23:04:00.001-07:00

Women's singles gold medal goes to Zhang Ning of China, the defending Olympic games champion from Athens, defeating Xie Xi Fang also of China, the current world ranked no. 1. This is another inspirational Olympic story, Zhang being 33 years old and in the twilight of her career. She has not won a tournament since 2007.

2008-08-15T20:19:00.001-07:00

Michael Phelps has won his 7th gold medal of the Olympics, in the 100m butterfly. But he just did it, almost pipped by the Serbian Milorad Cavic, winning only by 1/100th of a second. This is worth US1 million to Phelps, as Speedo, his sponsor will pay him this amount as incentive/bonus. The winning time was only an Olympic record, breaking the string of world records Phelps has busted this Olympics.

2008-08-15T17:59:00.001-07:00

Saw my first athletics event, the 10000m for women. Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia has won gold and set a new Olympic record. Dibaba's time of 29:54.66 was enough to break the old record of 30:17.49 set by fellow Ethiopian Derartu Tulu and hold off silver medalist Elvan Abeylegess of Turkey who ran a time of 29:56.34. Bronze went to Shalane Flanagan of the United States in a time of 30:22:22.

2008-08-15T17:56:00.001-07:00

Rafael Nadal gets into the Olympic men's gold medal playoff in the tennis, outlasting Novac Djokovic of Serbia in the semi final 6-4 1-6 6-4. Evenly matched in a swinging exciting encounter with plenty of big shot making, the one that cracked was Djokovic who had Nadal on the ropes on the baseline, defending smashes. He blew the second of two smashes over the baseline. Nadal collapsed in victory on the baseline. He will now play Fernando Gonzalez of Chile in the final on Sunday. From memory I think Gonzalez is the former Olympic champion.

2008-08-15T17:43:00.001-07:00

Women's heavyweight (+78kg) udo was won by Tong Wen of China over the defending Olympic champion Tsukada Maki of Japan. these were big women, weighing in at over 130kg. You realise this when you compare with the men's shot putt competitiors in the athletics event, some of whom weighed a little less than 130 kg. Anyway there was tremendous excitement after Tong who was trailing one shido to one yuko to the Japanese won by a great throw, scoring an ippon with barely 20 seconds to go in the bout. Well done!

2008-08-15T05:03:00.000-07:00

Hooray! Lee Chong Wei, the no 2 seed has just beaten Li Hyun Il of South Korea in the semi finals of the men's badminton mens singles competition. S3me tense moment for the whole of Malaysia as Chong Wei capitulated in the second set 21-13, but he prevailed 21-18 10-21 21-13 to ensure Malaysia a silver or the gold medal on Sunday. We needed this morale booster after all the political shit that has been going on in Malaysia for the past month or so. Read thestar.com.my report.

2008-08-14T23:14:00.000-07:00

Michael Phelps wins the 200m individual medley for his sixth gold medal of the Olympics. Yawn, anything else to report? He now accounts for 1/2 of the US team gold medal haul in these games to date.

Meanwhile the women's artistic gymnastics all round was won by nastria Liukin of the USA, with compatriot Shawn Johnson coming second. Yang of China picked up the bronze.

2008-08-14T21:02:00.001-07:00

Last night in the Olympic tennis women's singles, Li Na of the PRC beat higher ranked Venus Williams of the US 7-5 7-5, in front of a passionate home crowd of 10,000. Well donw Li!

Upsets galore, as Roger Federer has also lost in the quarters to James Blake of the USA.

2008-08-14T20:56:00.000-07:00

Rebecca Soni of the USA upset world record holder Lelsil Jones of Australia, grabbing the gold in the women's 200m breastroke. She smashed another world record mark dipping under the old WR by 0.23 s.

2008-08-14T01:59:00.001-07:00

PRC (China) artistic gymnast Yang Wei took out the gold medal in the men's all round competition today.

2008-08-14T00:29:00.000-07:00

The Tour de France rolls on in the Olympic games. Fabian Cancallara of Switzerland wins the gold medal in the men's individual time trial.(road) Follows on from his hcourageous performance in the road race where, alone without a team, he got the bronze medal.

2008-08-13T23:48:00.000-07:00

As Mike Phelps and the US men's team are rampant in the pool, the Aussie girls are the female equivalent. Here they are after winning 4X200m freestyle relay, with China in second place. Stephanie Rice is the new golden girl of Australian swimming with this her 3rd gold medal. ONYA Aussies!

Meanwhile in the Women's 200m fly, a 1 2 fiinish for China, Liu Zige bagging the gold and Jiao Liuyang the silver. China's first gold medal in the pool this Olympics.

2008-08-13T23:28:00.003-07:00

Kitajima of Japan defends his 200m breaststroke Olympic crown and adds the double to the 100m breaststroke he won earlier. Historic as the first person to do the double double at two olympic games for the 100m and 200m breaststroke.

2008-08-13T20:23:00.000-07:00

We all love the Olympics for the stories of courage and determination.Steeve Guénot became the new Olympic champion of the Men's Greco-Roman 66 kilogram Wrestling weight class after defeating Kanatbek Begaliev of Kyrgyzstan on August 13. He is also the first French Olympic Wrestling champion in 84 years. That is a long time between medals....

2008-08-13T19:43:00.001-07:00

In men's synchronised 3m springboard, Qin Kai and Wang Feng had another inspirational story, winning the gold medal after finishing last in Athens 2004. They bombed out in the last dive in Athens, but now they finally won the gold medal.

2008-08-13T07:31:00.000-07:00

Amazing, Phelp's 4X200m freestyle mens relay team won gold, beating the old world record by 4.28 seconds, a huge amount. Phelps 5 golds so far and 5 world records. Stephanie Rice of Australia beat Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe in the 200m individual medley womens by 7/100 th of a second, an exciting race. Other gold medal winners are Pelligrini in the 200m freestyle and Coughlin of the US in the 100m backstroke. Rice has come a long way, since as a 10 year old, she went with her mother to the swimming events at Sydney 2000.

Tonight the Olyroos lost to Cote De vre (ivory Coast). Disapointing, the more skillful team and pacier team won out. Olyroos lack pace and were pedestrian, unable to penetrate the ivorian defence.

Wong Mew choo, Malaysia's hope in the women's singles badminton, lost in straight sets, after having 9 set points to level in the 2nd set. Another disappointment.

On replay, the Chinese artistic gymnasts won the team gold, a first for China in it's Olympic history.

Kristin Armstrong of the US took out the individual time trial (road) for women. Can't wait to see Kedell Evans in tomorrow's men's race. Any chance? Probably not, but who knows?

2008-08-12T20:29:00.000-07:00

The Beijing Olympics is not just the Mike Phelps story. In the K1 kayak, Martikan of Slovenia wins gold 12 years after capturing it in Atlanta 1996, coming in second in Sydney and Athens.

2008-08-12T20:21:00.000-07:00

This morning saw another gold (the fourth) to Michael Phelps in the 200m butterfly in the swimming. Halfway to the quest for 8 golds in a single olympics. With this gold, he is the highest gold medal winner of all time. Will have to watch it on the TV replay tonight.

2008-08-12T08:11:00.000-07:00

1104 PM. Bang bang bang, and the USA picks up 3 gold medals in the pool, 3rd for Phelps, Coughlin defends her backstroke title and a courageous swim from an out of form Aaron Piersol in the breaststroke. In case you are wondering, there were two swimmers tied for the bronze in the 100m breaststroke men. (explains the four medalists)

Zhang Man of the Peoples Republic of China won the men's sabre in the fencing. Man, what a man! Beating the Europeans at their game. Oh ya and the night before in the women's foil, Desalli of Italy made history by becoming 3 time winner of the gold medal in that event.

Tomorrow will be the Olyroos (Australia's Olympic football team) moment of truth as they need vistory against the Ivory Coast to progress to the quarter finals. Hope springs eternal.(although they start as underdogs.

2008-08-11T23:21:00.000-07:00

0221 pm. Read from the official Olympic Games website (photo also from there) that China has secured the team gold in the gymnastics competition for men. Will have to watch the replay tonight on television.

2008-08-11T21:16:00.000-07:00

1216pm. Yesterday, the Chinese continued their dominance in the diving arena, Lin Yue and Huo Liang took out the men's 10m platform synchronised diving.

2008-08-11T05:44:00.000-07:00

0835 pm. Wong Chung Han of Malaysia has just defeated Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia 21-19 21-1, Hidayat being the defending Olympic champion. Well done Wong.

2008-08-11T04:01:00.001-07:00

0655pm. Got some highlights from today's action.

Swimming. Adlington Rebecca of Great Britain beat favourite Katie Hoff of the US for the 400m freestyle for women. Katajima of Japan breaks the world record to win the 100m butterfly mens. Libby Trickett the favourite of Australia, comfortably won the 100m butterfly for women in the second fastest time ever. And to top it off in the 4X100m mens freestyle relay, USA stormed home as Lizack of the US overcame a deficit to the 100m world record holder Bernard of France to win, Phelps gets his second gold medal.

2008-08-11T01:43:00.001-07:00

0445pm. The malaysian team has been knocked out at the quarter finals stage. No medal this time.

Archery

2008-08-11T00:58:00.000-07:00

0358 pm. I just read that the Malaysian Men's team in the Archery team competition are well placed to win their first ever medal in archery, having placed 3rd in the Ranking Round. This means they will be in the quarter finals. If they make it through to the final, however gold will be a tough ask as the Republic of Korea are the hot favourites.

2008-08-10T21:20:00.000-07:00

1221 pm. In the office now, no access to TV so watching will be tonight. Last night caught 3 quarters of the USA v China match, or rather NBA (us stars) versus NBA and NCA (Chinese stars like Yau Ming, Li etc) China were restricted to mainly shooting from outside the key, while the US Redeem Team overpowered them with the trnasition game. USA will win the medal, if they knuckle down and not be too flamboyant in their approach.

I also managed to catch some highlights, including the chinese pairs in synchronised diving 3 m springboard, who took home the gold.

2008-08-10T06:38:00.000-07:00

0930 pm Ivory coast 4 v Serbia 2. An exciting match with end to end action. The result sets up a winner take all match up with Australia on Wednesday night.

2008-08-10T04:11:00.001-07:00

0702 pm. Olyroos 0 Argentina 1. It was one way traffic all the way, with 14 shots to 4 the telling statistic. Olyroos need a result on Wednesday night against the Ivory Coast. The win is a must.

2008-08-10T02:59:00.000-07:00

0545 pm. Back home now. half time in the match Olyroos v Argentina. Nil Nil, a surprise result, Argentina should be ahead, however Archie Thompson had a great opportunity to score against the Argies. Federici was the hero, although he gave away a dangerous indirect free kick for holding onto the ball too long. Hopefully Olyroos can hold out for the draw. Oh and there was a penalty appeal from a clear handball in the Arg penalty box.

Meanwhile, records continue to tumble in the pool this morning, S Rice itephanief Australia bagged gold smashing the world record. Park became the first Korean to win gold or any medal of any colour in the pool for Korea. This afternoon also saw the Thai girl win gold in weightlifting, puts Malaysia to shame.

2008-08-09T19:30:00.001-07:00

1025 am. Day 2 and the first morning session for finals at the Water Cube. Starts off with a bang as Michael Phelps of the USA wins the 400m individual medley in world record time. A priveledge to watch. And a surprise in the 400m freestyle mens where Korea's Park Taehwan won the gold, beating more fancied opponents like Grant Hackett of Australia.

The first gold medal awarded in Beijing

2008-08-09T03:47:00.000-07:00

Won by Caterina Emmons of the Czech Republic in the women's 10m air rifle. Did not follow this event (boring really) jusst caught a few minutes of highlights reel on the highlights channel.

Meanwhile the swimming has started at the Swimming Cube.... Preliminaries, so will have to be patient for the excitement to hot up in the finals in the next few days.

2008-08-09T03:41:00.000-07:00

0634 pm. The men's cycling road race was won by Samuel Sanchez of Spain for the gold medal. The usual suspects from the cycling world all had a shout, but the spaniard prevailed in a 6 man sprint for the line, which included Andy Shlek of Luxembourg. Watch out for Andy, he is touted to be a potential star to win the Tour de France.

2008-08-08T22:11:00.000-07:00

0104 pm. The men's cycling road race is on now, with the riders reaching the mountain section, where they will do 7 laps. The favourites are all in the main paletton, Evans, Sestre (Tour de France winner), Valverdi, Bettini, Shlek brothers to name a few. Currently two unknowns from Chile and Bolivia have a 14 min breakawar.

First gold medal for China

2008-08-08T21:07:00.001-07:00

1155 am. The under 48kg women's weightlifting saw Chen Xiexia win the gold medal for China, with a lift of 95kg in the snatch and 117kb (world record) in the clean and jerk. Okan form Turkey took out the silver, while Chen from Chinese Taipei has bronze.

2008-08-08T09:27:00.001-07:00

It is now 12:15 am local time here in Kuala Lumpur, and the breathtaking opening ceremony has just concluded. Many highlights like the spectacular lighting of the Olympic flame by the final torch relayer, Li Ning. A famous gymnast who took some gold medals in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. This was one that I also caught some action on TV back then.(missed this out in the last post) That Olympics also bode good memories such as Carl Lewis' four gold medal haul in sprinting and long jump. There were lowlights too, with boycott by Soviet bloc countries. Amongst other notables were Australia's James Tomkins as flag bearer and Malaysia's Azizul Aziz as flag bearer.(now you know where my heart lies) Oh and the fireworks display was magnificent.

2008-08-08T04:09:00.001-07:00

Got to add that this will be my fourth Olympics with more intensive TV watching, the first being Seoul in 1988 (when it was in the same time zone as Australia), Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 (mostly on delayed pay TV, which offered many channels round the clock), and Beijing 2008.(on Astro in Malaysia)

Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996 were in the middle of the night, so I missed most of those two instances.

My Beijing Olympics

2008-08-08T03:44:00.000-07:00

Today Aug 8 2008, here we are, on the eve of the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics. How apt the Chinese chose 8/8/2008 8pm for the opening ceremony, 8 being the lucky number for the chinese people around the world.

My Olympic viewing began last night at around 6pm, when I tuned in to the Olyroos (Australia u23 team) v Serbia (the u21 champions of Europe couple of years ago) in the Football tournament. The Olyroos scored first throughformer Sydney FC and now Derby County midfielder Reuben zabkovic. Caught the second half from the 57th min onwards. Serbia deservedly equalised with a headed goal from the second of two consecutive corners. Serbia were the far better team (14 shots to 6, 14 corners to 1) but the score was a draw 1-1. Hopefully the Olyroos can improve and get through the Group of Death.

Later on I caught glimpses of Argentina v Ivory Coast, China V New Zealand matches.

Now eagerly awaiting the opening ceremony.