Stories about Sport from August, 2008
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: Victims of Sport
Xueyong traced the fate of two sportswomen, Guo ping and Zhou Chun-Lai, both were medal carriers and suffered from hardship after their retirement in early age. According to statistic, 40% of the retired sportsman couldn't find a second job.
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.
India and Olympics
“Could India host an impressive Olympics?” asks mbjesq in Desicritics blog.
Morocco: China in the Olympics
Innocent Whispers remarks upon China's role in the Olympic Games.
Morocco: Olympic News Flash
The View From Fez is providing continuous updates on Morocco's Olympic success. The latest news: Bitissam Lakhouad and Siham Hilali have qualified for the first round of the women's 1500m.
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.”
Japan and China: Angry ‘Olympic Ojisan’ leaves Beijing
James from Japan Probe highlights the mainstream media reports about the early departure of Olympic super fan, 82-years old “Olympic Ojisan”.
China: Only Gold Medal Matters?
Luqiu Luwei from my1510 criticizes the Chinese mainstream media for giving too much attention to the gold medal winners as if other medal winners or participants haven't been performing good enough to be proud of.
China: Free Wu Dianyuan And Wang Xiuying!
On the arrest and sentence to one year of re-education labor for housing activists Wu Dianyuan and Wang Xiuying, aged 79 and 77 respectively, David Seth at Daily Kos writes: We need to call on China to free Wu Dianyuan And Wang Xiuying, and everyone else they are holding to...
China: Sportswear Sponsor
Xueyong noticed that Liu Xiang's withdrawal from Olympics has resulted in the loss of 3 billion yuan for his sportswear sponsors. The blogger pointed out that the focus on one or two sport stars reflected that the development of sport in China is driven from the top, not from public...
China: Gay Olympics
Shanghai Fag Hag from Shanghaiist wrote about Gay sport competition in Shanghai hosted by an organization called Rainbow League.
Jamaica: “Lightning” Strikes Twice at Beijing Olympics
Jamaica's Usain Bolt continued his phenomenal run at the Beijing Olympics with a record-breaking win in the men's 200m Wednesday and Caribbean bloggers are celebrating just as much as he is!
Cote d'Ivoire: Didier Drogba's autobiography
Théophile Kouamouo [Fr] reviews C'était pas gagné , an autobiography of Ivoirian football star, Didier Drogba.
Jordan: Olympic Art
Jordanian blogger Roba shares with us some Olympics art in this post dedicated to ‘colour lovers.’
Bangladesh: Where is the gold medalist?
In the 2002 Commonwealth Games in shooting category, this years Beijing Olympic gold medal winner Abhinav Bindra of India won the silver medal and Asif Hossain Khan from Bangladesh won the gold. “Where was Asif in Beijing?” asks Mezba and finds out the sad truth.
Cameroon: The story of Francoise Mbango Etone
Angler's Rest favorite story from the Olympics is Francoise Mbango Etone, the Cameroonian winner of the gold medal in the women’s triple jump.
