Harmonious 3-Wheel Motion: Forrest Bolt

Harmonious 3-Wheel Playground
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Wow. Olympics is finally over. All in all, while exhausting, it was great. And since my last post, my Olympic fervor only heightened, as I had the chance to see track & field, baseball, synchronized swimming, and boxing last week. What was just as impressive, I also had the chance to view the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube up close for the first time.

Bird's Nest on a sunny day? Truman Show!
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Stepping inside the stadium, you couldn't help but feel like you were in a special place. Like's it's China's Wembley Stadium or Rose Bowl. I could see the power of Architecture and how it can play into the collective self-esteem. I went with a Chinese friend, and he would later say he had goosebumps entering the stadium for the first time.

The Olympics really did intertwine with many of the Chinese people's collective self-esteem.

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This was my first time watching track & field competition live. There's like 3-4 events going on at the same time! People with very low body fat percentages high jumping, throwing javelins, triple jumping, and of course...ruuuunnnnnnniiinnng.

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Ussain Bolt's 200M medal ceremony.

I wonder who would win...

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The Olympic...well you know what it is.

At the outer edge of the Bird's Nest lattice.
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People were taking pictures of this:

The Water Cube, site of Michael Phelps' Olympic triumps. USandA! USandA! By the way, Phelps in Chinese is pronounced, "Fe-le-pe-se." But you have to say it really fast.
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Was also my first time to see synchronized swimming. It was actually pretty dope. The swimmers reminded me of dolphins. (Dolphins I would take to a dinner and a movie...)

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My cousin, Sherlynn (big ups!), hooked us up with the tickets, and we were seated right next to the Spanish cheering section.

The drama!

[Not sure if anyone caught the event on any of the cable channels, but when the Spanish team entered for their routine, the TV camera zoomed in on the Spanish fans...and because of our proximity, my friend and I got some CCTV love.]

Speaking of drama, one of the Japanese swimmers fainted in the pool after their routine. It was a bit surreal. All the swimmers had started to head towards the steps, but then there was this blob underwater. Luckily one of her teammates noticed the girl underwater and pulled her up.

I looked around for a lifeguard, and saw one of Olympic staff on his walkie-talkie. But no lifeguard or medical help.

So then I'm looking at this poor Japanese girl, body limp, in the arms of her teammate, and nobody else seems to be responding to this situation. Some of the ladies (presumably mothers?) in the Japanese cheering section in front of me are screaming hysterically.

Still no lifeguard or medical team.

Finally these two portly Chinese dudes in speedos emerge and dive into the pool to "save" the Japanese swimmer. My Chinese friend was like, "Who are those guys and why are they so fat? It's embarrassing." (We theorized they must have been nephews of some Chinese Olympics official(s).)

The girl appears to regain consciousness and looks around in a daze. The hysterical shrieking subsides. The portly "lifeguards" bring the girl to the side, but then at the edge of the pool the girl's body falls limp again.

At this point, I'm wondering where the fock is the medic?!! Bird down bird down! After yet another few minutes, a medical team emerges with a stretcher and carts the girl to the back...out of sight.

Now I am no doctor, but I am thinking that this might not be so good. Can't oxygen deprivation cause irreparable brain damage?

There is no mention, at least in English, about this incident over the PA. I am wondering if it's because of impression management? Would the Japanese girl, and by extension her team, and by extension the whole nation of Japan lose face if there was all this TV coverage of her getting brain damage in the pool?

Anyway I later Googled and found an AP article quoting a Japanese official explaining that the swimmer is basically a Nervous Nelly but is fine. (More Truman Show?)

[For those of you who read that article, I know I know. After seeing an event firsthand and then reading a media report about the same event, I was struck by all the information omitted. Was/is the swimmer actually OK? And how could the writer not have mentioned how fat the lifeguards were?!]
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In an earlier post, I had commented that I felt a festive atmosphere in my neighborhood was lacking for watching the Olympics events. Here at the main Olympic site, however, the energy was palpable. It was great. I wished more Chinese people, the common folk, could experience this.

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Another day, I had the chance to see one of the baseball semifinals. South Korea vs. Japan. The weather that day was beautiful. Look at that sky!!!

Just outside the baseball stadium lies the basketball arena where the Redeem Team brought home the gold!
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South Korea won that game on its way to the gold medal.
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A couple of Korean Juelz Santanas...

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Many media reports commented on the friendliness of the ubiquitous Olympic volunteers/greeters. They were on point.

Team Earnest!
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Lego bathrooms in the Bird's Nest.

There was a Kurtis Blow bush around the corner.

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Something about the Olympics, like Disneyland, seems to signal to people that it's cool to wear matching hats.

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The last event I attended was the boxing finals, which was also the first time I had seen boxing live. No US boxers competed in any of the 4 bouts I saw.

Mongolia did though.