Stories about Sport from August, 2008
China: gold medals=a great power in sports?
51 gold medals, a comment of "truly exceptional" from IOC, and spectacular images left to the world, China held a real party of sports in 16-day Olympics. But does this achievement necessarily mean China has been a super power in sports, and even common people could fully enjoy the glory and health brought by sports?
Egypt: Olympics Investigation
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has ordered an enquiry into why Egypt performed poorly in the Olympics, reports Tom Gara.
South Africa: The final insult
JC writes about the final insult on the South African national rugby team: “The Springboks are expecting gracious favour from Lady Luck, God and the Highveld hoodoo but none of these intangibles will be enough to prevent another historic Australian win.”
Mongolia: Athletes return from a successful Olympics
Bilguun says that with 2 golds and 2 silvers, the 2008 Olympics is Mongolia's most successful participation so far.
China: The Cost of a Gold Medal
Zhaomu re-posted a forum article which calculated the cost of a gold medal exemplified by the Olympic shooting team. It is estimated that a gold medal costs between RMB30 – 80 millions (around US4.5 – 10 million).
Moroccans at the Paralympics
The View from Fez informs us that Morocco will send 18 athletes to the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. The delegation is comprised of 14 runners, 4 weightlifters, and 12 officials.
Pakistan: Women and Sports
Degrowchyowl has an insightful post on sports and women in the context of Islam.
Barbados, Antigua: Digicel vs. Stanford
The Bajan Reporter is all over the story of telecommunications giant Digicel taking Allen Stanford to court “in order to protect its sole and exclusive rights as primary sponsor of West Indies cricket”. The West Indies Cricket Board insists “that the team that will play England on 1 November represents...
Kenya: Kenya in the Olympics
Kenyan Pundit congratulates Kenyan athletes for their performance in Beijing….but, “…why the hell there were more officials than athletes in the Kenyan contigent that went to Beijing?”
China: Translating New York Times Olympic Report
Black and White Cat shows how the Xinhua has translated the New York Times Olympic Report into Chinese.
China: Olympic Medals Shape
A graphic representation of the distribution of medals shows that China has big tits. The picture was created by Form One high school boy at bbs.163.com.
Kuwait: Parading Purchases at the Olympics
Arabs really love shopping, they spend hours after hours in malls, and that's why they wanted to show their shopping skills at this year's Summer Olympics. Unfortunately shopping is not included in the games, but this couldn't stop some Arabs from parading their purchases.
Jamaica: Athletic Subversion
“Jamaica's garrison politics found its way onto the Olympics stage in two performances – once in a scintillating display of athletic grace and vigor, and once in a celebratory performance of the “gully creepa”: Abeng News Magazine explains.
Jamaica: Gustav etc.
As Jamaican Annie Paul waits for Hurricane Gustav “to huff and puff and blow our house down”, she blogs about everything from Usain Bolt-inspired dance moves to Michelle Obama: “(She) was impressive, wasn't she? Neither pale, nor male–i can identify with that…”
China: My Peasant Dad Watches The Olympics
ESWN translated an article by Li Punman at my1510 about an older generation peasant's view on the Beijing Olympics. Nationalism is still a pervasive frame.
China: Weather Intervention
During the Olympics, the Beijing government created artificial rain to secure good weather for the opening and closing ceremonies. Lui Li said that if the government had plan to intervene the weather, it should have forecasted it to the people.
China: Olympic Regrets
Chen XueLei reflected upon his Olympic experience since 7 years ago when Beijing applied for the hosting city. Now that the Beijing Olympics has obtained great success on stage, the blogger wonders if it is really a success for the majority of Chinese people.
Saudi Arabia: Where are the women sport heroes?
Saudi girls deserve sport heroes too, says Jillian, at a post on women in the Olympics at Kabobfest. “Little girls in Saudi Arabia (which I will use as an example from now on, given that Qatar's population equals that of Boston) deserve to have strong heroes too,” she notes.
MENA: Veiled Athletes in Beijing
Despite the Saudi Arabia's decision to ban Saudi women from taking part in the Olympics this year, Blogger Dilshad D. Ali writes about the emergence of hijab (veil) at the Beijing Olympics. Blogger Jana, also lists the 12 veiled Muslim athletes who competed this year in Beijing.
Syria and the Olympics
Syria Comment discusses Syria's performance at the Summer Olympics, which just ended in Beijing, China.
Jordan: Interesting Olympics Statistics
Jordanian blog And far away shares interesting statistics on the Summer Olympics, which just ended in Beijing, China.
