Stories about Olympics from August, 2008
Southeast Asia’s Olympic performance
Southeast Asian countries garnered 12 medals in the recently concluded 2008 Beijing Olympics. Indonesia leads the pack with 5 medals: 1 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze medals.
China: Amazing Olympics recap photos
“Wow,” says Twitter user @frankyu, retweeting @PatrickSearle: “Amazing set of Olympic pics: http://stuff.thdesign.be/forum/varia/OS.html.” Note, though, that nudity can be seen there.
China: Games over
Well we couldn't watch it on YouTube, but there was Twitter so we know the Beijing Olympics closing ceremony involved [note: links to profanity] some sort of [profanity] hot-pot tower of babel that spiderman climbed up…and we heard something about ants and a transformer bus. Anyway, we're very thankful we...
Dominican Republic: Gold Medal in Boxing
Duarte 101 [es] celebrates the gold medal of Félix Díaz for his win in the Olympics. It was the first time since 1984 that a boxer from the Dominican Republic brought home a gold medal.
Arabeyes: The Olympics, Pride, Equality and Hope
Millions around the world were glued to their television screens watching their favourite athletes at this year's Beijing Olympics, which just closed. What did Arab bloggers have to say about the world's premier sporting event and their country teams? Following are a few reactions.
Malaysian politics and Olympics
A Malaysian badminton silver medalist found himself at the center of power struggle among Malaysia's political parties when he arrived home. Blogger 4896 advises politicians to spare athletes from political intramurals.
Laos in the Olympics
The 2008 Beijing Olympics informed many people around the world that Laos is pronounced as Lao (silent ‘s’), as noted by I Eat Padek.
Cape Verde: Stolen gold olympic medal
Abraão Vicente [pt] on the son of Cape Verde who won a gold medal for Portugal: “Nelson Évora won the gold medal and he is Portuguese. That is it. Did you see any little Cape Verde flag, if he took some symbol to express his Creole tribute? No? I didn't....
China: Re-education through labor sentence for two elderly protesters
The closing ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics draws near, and while Chinese media are unable to report on scandals such as this that have dominated foreign media headlines, it is those foreign media reports which have given Chinese netizens plenty to chew over.
Bahrain: Eyes on Ruqaya Al Ghasra
She may have placed sixth in the qualifying heats and her dreams of becoming the first Gulf Arab woman to run in an Olympic final may be dashed, but Bahrain's Golden runner Ruqaya Al Ghasra has sure created a stir online. A rough start meant that Ghasra, who was Bahrain's flag bearer at the opening ceremony, was eliminated from the women's 200 metres race - but for tens of thousands of Arab and Muslim women - and men - out there, running her heart out fully covered has brought her more than just gold medals.
Jamaica: Campbell-Brown Wins Gold
“The U.S. team will return home without a gold medal in the individual sprint events for the first time since they boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics”: YardFlex.com congratulates Jamaican sprinter Veronica Campbell-Brown on her “impressive gold in the women’s 200 meters.”
China: Beijing can't find itself on Google News
They haven't been call the SchizOlympics for nothing (that piece is serious though, and worth a second read), and now Google News is behaving oddly; read all about it at Danwei: “The absence of China from news searches does not appear to be a Net Nanny phenomenon or at least...
China: iTunes is blocked and it's Apple's fault
Silicon Hutong blogger David Wolf notes that the iTunes Music Store is now blocked in China, assumes this was due to the release on iTunes of a Tibetan music album, assumes Apple chose to release it during the Olympics as an act of “passive-aggressive panda-punching,” and then advises Apple choose...
Indonesia: Olympic gold and Independence Day
Double celebration for Indonesia last week after its badminton players won a gold medal in the Beijing Olympics; and just in time for the commemoration of the country's Independence Day.
China: Protesters’ Trap
Two 80 years old protesters was sent to labour education camp as they insisted to demonstrate in the Olympic protest area. Zhongoutese was very angry and said that the Olympic protest area was a trap for dissents.
China: He Kexin and “babygate”
Imagethief picks up the debate on the age issue of He Kexin, the golden girl of Chinese gymnastics, and notices a cold-war double standard in some of the mainstream media report with a story plot of Ours=plucky, heroic achievers. Theirs=manufactured robots/slaves/dopers.
China: Athletes / Soldiers
Laowiseass noticed Chinese state-run media had applied a troops-athletes metaphor in their report about Olympic victory. The blogger also pointed out that many Chinese regard the soldier-like training of athletes as universal normal practice.
Morocco: China in the Olympics
Innocent Whispers remarks upon China's role in the Olympic Games.
Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica: Olympic Inspiration
The Caribbean Librarian is inspired by the Olympic performances of the Jamaican sprinters: “What have we learnt? When faced with innumerable problems (our economies, lack of infrastructure, lack of resources etc.), we CAN ACHIEVE!!”
Cuba, U.S.A.: Watching the Games
“Cuba is a sports-loving country, and interest extends beyond the island’s participation, to that of athletes from other latitudes”: Circles Robinson writes about the experience of watching the Olympics from Havana, adding that “there could be nothing more diametrically opposed than Olympics sports coverage in Cuba and the United States.”
Nigeria: Celebrating Nigeria's first gold
Jeremy celebrates Nigeria's first gold and asks, “Just think how well Nigeria would do if sport was taken seriously in the motherland.”
