One of the differences between watching the Olympics here in China and back home is the sheer volume of coverage. We moved into our new apartment yesterday and after a full day of unpacking I have no mood today for trying to organize everything, so I’m sitting in the living room, laptop on lap, while also surfing five channels of live coverage on the multi-faced CCTV.
In the states, my brethren are limited to one network, NBC…and, most likely as usual, primarily the “big ticket” events. Here’s an idea of what I’ve been able to see during the last 10 days:
archery, badminton, basketball, beach volleyball, boxing, canoe/kayak slalom, cycling (road & pursuit), diving, equestrian (eventing, dressage & jumping), fencing, field hockey, handball, judo, rowing, sailing, shooting, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track & field, triathlon, table tennis, volleyball, wrestling (freestyle & Greco-Roman), weightlifting and water polo.
The only sports I haven’t caught, haven’t started yet. It’s a bit daunting trying to keep up with it all, but I persevere hour after hour for the sheer drama and action.
The games are more than halfway over now–China has a commanding lead in gold medals, while America holds a slim lead in the overall medal count. Thinking back over the past 10 days there are two events that stand out for me.
Gold Medal for Downright Action: the China/Cuba women’s volleyball match. Yes, the China/USA match was awesome, too. But if you happened to catch my pick for excitement, then I think you’d agree. China opened the match 2-0. The Cuban women fought back in the third set to make it 2-1. In the fourth set, it was a battle for every point, climaxed by (I believe, correct me if I’m wrong) eight match points for China. And I can’t remember her name, but I’m pretty sure one of the Cuban women was personally responsible for four or five of the match point saves. In the fourth set, Jenny was naturally rooting for China. I found myself rooting for Cuba just because I wanted to see more awesome play.
Gold Medal for Outright Drama: Michael Phelps–8 gold medals, 7 world records and that hundredth-second lunge! But what brought tears to my eyes as I watched was that his final gold…that record breaking, history-in-the-making gold medal…wasn’t earned in an individual event. The result didn’t rest solely in that 6 foot, 7 inch wingspan. It took a team to make it happen.
No Medal for No Show: And, finally, although I keep reading and seeing pictures online about the cheerleaders at many of the venues…one thing I have not seen on CCTV coverage, at all, are the cheerleaders. So this is my final medal award of the day…and a brief-bikini show…
Dutch fans "drink" it in. (Photo credit–Thomas Coex/Agence France-Presse –Getty Images)
