11.26.07
Liu Xiang’s legs
Hurdler insures ‘priceless’ legs for $13.3 million (MSNBC.com)
U.S. vs. Russia in Davis Cup - when will China be a part of the conversation?
Interesting blog post at the Guardian (UK) today about sporting rivalries. The Davis Cup final between Russia and the United States will be played this weekend - but how long will it be before China is considered a bona fide major sports nation, when measured by real athletic success? The piece below brings up some interesting points.
Taming of the Feuds (Guardian Unlimited, UK)
11.24.07
Pressure on Liu intensifies…but why?
It’s always wise to wait a few days when commenting on news reports coming out of China, especially when it involves scandal or strongly-worded exhortations…Still, the news that pressure is raining down on Liu Xiang to win gold next August comes during this American Thanksgiving season with a profound sense of too much, too soon - and, honestly, unnecessary. Reuters reports that Liu has been informed that his past results - and by “results,” we’re talking an Olympic gold medal and world-record-tying performance (2004), individual world record (2006), and world championship (2007) - will be “meaningless” if he doesn’t win Olympic gold next year.
On some other page of some other Chinese newspaper, there’s surely a note or two about how determined China is to make this a “drug-free” Olympics. And again, I ask - can’t senior sports officials in China (or any major Olympic country, for that matter) see the inherent contradiction in putting unreal pressure on a young person to win, then insisting that their athletes will be drug-free? Speculation by those who know Marion Jones well has led to an understanding that she may well have chosen to dope before Sydney because she’d set herself such a gargantuan goal of five Olympic gold medals and was terrified of coming up short. Nobody but her of course knows for sure, but it seems clear that negating all of the past results of an extraordinary athlete like Liu and putting this huge pressure on him to succeed makes the Olympics feel less like a celebration and more like a firing squad.
Liu is a good person and an excellent athlete who is a joy to watch. He shouldn’t be put through this kind of meaningless pressure. For him and for all of the athletes in China and around the world who are preparing to compete, the Olympics should be about the best of competition - not the worst of pressure for meaningless national bragging rights.
11.22.07
World Cup of Golf in Shenzhen
Weekley, Slocum give U.S. surprise lead at World Cup of Golf (ESPN.com)
11.15.07
Lang Ping returns to the Olympics
The USA women’s volleyball team qualified for an Olympic berth at the FIVB World Cup in Japan with a win over the host country, bringing the U.S. record for the tournament to 9-1. They’re assured of one of the three top spots in the tournament - and the top three can punch their tickets for China next year. It will be a homecoming for U.S. coach “Jenny” Lang Ping, perhaps China’s most recognizable volleyball superstar in history and the hero of the gold-medal-winning 1984 Olympic squad that beat the United States in the final. This will be one of the hottest tickets in Beijing - Lang Ping is still revered in China and she’s very much a part of the Chinese volleyball scene as well.
Team USA secures 2008 Olympic Games berth (USA Volleyball)
Yi impresses early
From ESPN.com - word that Yi Jianlian is the top rookie at this early stage of the NBA season.
Daily Dime: Yi over Durant (ESPN.com)
11.14.07
Olympic advertising
Another article from the New York Times - this one on the challenge of harnessing the immense interest that the Chinese have for the Olympics in the marketing campaigns that will emerge over the next nine months before next year’s Olympics.
For Olympics, China’s marketers are showing their pride (New York Times)
And this is also what sport is all about
Redemption. Learning. Becoming a better human being through competition - even after an athlete has strayed from the path of fair competition, realized his or her mistakes, and decided to re-enter sport as a clean athlete as an example to others.
It sounds pie-in-the-sky and perhaps horribly naive, considering the doping scandals of the last four years - BALCO, U.S. baseball, the Tour de France, Marion Jones, and all the rest. But when somebody stands up and says “I made a mistake - and now I want to be one of the good guys,” it’s high time to listen, and support that vision.
Today’s New York Times includes the story of British cyclist David Millar, who has walked this path. Caught doping with EPO during an illustrious cycling career that included stage wins at the Tour de France, he now rides for the Slipstream/Chipotle team, which has taken perhaps the strongest anti-doping stance any professional team has ever taken, monitoring its athletes 24/7 and getting them to buy into the idea that a clean athlete is the only kind of athlete who will be able to save cycling after the revelations of doping in the past few years, including at this year’s Tour, that have pushed the sport to the brink.
Disgraced rider and new U.S. team take the lead against doping (New York Times)
11.13.07
This is what sport is all about
During the Special Olympics World Games in Shanghai I was amazed by the amount of coverage the event was getting - in countries like New Zealand and Jamaica. The U.S. press didn’t seem to pay a great deal of attention to the event. This morning I happened upon one of the nicest commentaries about what sport can do for society written as part of Nicholas Kristof’s blog at the New York Times - a really lovely piece written by a law professor and China expert who is closely involved with the Special Olympics and saw how this event influenced China, especially regarding the country’s attitudes towards people with disabilities. If you didn’t see it earlier this month when it was originally published, it’s a treat to read. Enjoy.
Special Olympics in China (New York Times - Nicholas Kristof’s blog with guest commentary by Anne-Marie Slaughter, dean of the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, and William Alford at Harvard Law School)