Beijing Olympics closing ceremony

All good things have to come to an end. So after 16 days of action, the party had to finish. But with the Olympics opening ceremony revelations of lip-synching & computer-simulated fireworks, I was a little skeptical as to what can be expected from the closing ceremony. I was pleasantly surprised by what unfolded.

Not easy trying to remember everything that happened.....but anyway.....
There were more firework, of course (hopefully this time, real!), including bright orange ones. Wonderful. And as usual, there are various performers. I was especially impressed by the performers on the tall memory tower. Brilliant work, & I marvel at how hard the performers trained for the event. Well, good to see all that hard work & dedication pay off. Then there was also the medal presentation for the final men's marathon (all medalists were African).

Speeches....zzzzz. Appearances by all Olympic athletes, all obviously relaxed after all their Olympics exertions. The athletes have earned the right to let their hair down & party, given all their exertions during the past 16 days. Handover of the Olympic flag from the Mayor of Beijing to the Mayor of London. London's gonna have a big job to do, given the overall success of Beijing as hosts. And there is a British contingent present to give a 8-minute presentation of the 2012 London Olympics - which featured the red double-decker bus. Olympic flame extinguished. Musical acts by various artists from Hong Kong & China, & UK's Leona Lewis was there too. Then there's a certain Mr Beckham. More fireworks, pyrotechnics & dancing.

Overall, the closing ceremony seemed more relaxed & "less formal" compared to the opening ceremony. It's a big big party. Well done, Beijing, for putting on a great show these past couple of weeks. I can't believe how quickly time passed. But the games have been enjoyable. Another 4 year wait, but hey, time flies, it'll arrive sooner than we realise. Roll on London 2012!

Argentina wins football gold; retains Olympic football title

Argentina has retained its Olympic football crown, winning a second successive gold medal by beating Nigeria 1-0 in the men's football final earlier today.

Going into this match, the talk in the media had been about both sides seeking revenge from past clashes between the nations. Some of the players on both teams had played in the 2005 World Youth Cup final, when Argentina beat Nigeria 2-1 courtesy of 2 goals from Lionel Messi. So the talk was of Nigeria desiring to avenge that result. Argentina, on the other hand, had unhappy memories of the 3-2 loss to Nigeria in the men's Olympic football final at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Some say that loss was controversial, as Nigeria's third & winning goal in the last minute was considered by many to be offside. As it turned out, it was Argentina who got their revenge in the Beijing Olympics football final.

The match, played at the Beijing National Stadium, did not turn out to be the classic that many had expected or hoped. No doubt that this was significantly due to the searing heat. Nevertheless, Argentina tried to take the game to the Africans, & they did get into some promising positions via their trademark fluent passing game. Nigeria, meanwhile, were more cautious than usual, undoubtedly in recognition of the threat that Argentina posed with such fine talents as Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Angel Di Maria & Fernando Gago. No doubt they would have taken notice of the 3-0 devastation Argentina inflicted on their arch-rivals Brazil in the semi-finals. Yet the Nigerians have their own attacking talents, too, in Obinna, Odemwingie & Okoronkwo. And what speed these players possess! The Nigerians were very dangerous, with their pace causing much concern for the South Americans, though some of the chances that Nigeria did get was due to some defensive slackness of the Argentinians. No such thing from the Nigerians, who were defensively very well organised. This ensured the halftime score was goalless.

The second half continued in much the same vein, with Argentina trying to pass their way into the lead, while Nigeria continue to threaten with their pace. Then suddenly, in the 57th minute, Argentina struck. Messi broke in midfield, & unleashed a superb through pass to the left-sided midfielder Di Maria, who had been advancing from deep. Di Maria latched on to the ball, took it towards the Nigerian penalty area before chipping the oncoming Nigerian goalkeeper. A superbly taken goal out of nothing, fantastic improvisation from the Argentines. A goal worthy of winning any match, & it indeed proved to be the winning goal. Not that the Nigerians were short of chances themselves. They fought admirably & gallantly, & came close to equalising, though again, the hesitancy & jittery Argentine defence contributed to some heart-stopping moments. Argentina also had a couple of chances to increase the lead, but Di Maria's strike proved to be enough to clinch the gold.

One should pay Nigeria huge credit & praise for their contribution to the Olympic football final. Beaten, but certainly not disgraced, the Africans can hold their heads high, & many of the Nigerian players will surely go on to good things at club level & at senior national team level. Perhaps Nigeria could have been victorious had they been playing anyone besides Argentina. Perhaps. But it's fair to say that overall, Argentina have been the best team at the Olympics & on that basis deserved to have won the gold.

Argentina simply produces the best young footballers in the world. They are the reigning champions at youth level, having won the last 2 World Youth Cups in 2005 & 2007. They have now won 2 successive Olympic football tournaments. Now all they need to do is to win at senior level - go for the 2010 World Cup - to confirm their football supremacy. There's no reason that Argentinian football should stop there. They should also try to make it a youth hat-trick by winning the 2009 World Youth Cup. They should also consider trying for an Olympic gold hat-trick by winning the football at the 2012 London Olympics - & perhaps they should try that without any overage players. Now that would certainly be nice!

Team Argentina

Team Nigeria

Angel Di Maria chips the Nigerian goalkeeper to score for Argentina

Argentina celebrates victory

The Argentina squad on the podium

Argentina - gold; Nigeria - silver; Brazil - bronze

Source of pics: various

Olympics - the relay bungles

Something amazing seemed to be happening on the athletics track at the Beijing Olympics, during the heats for the relays. Various teams got themselves disqualified during the heats thereby missing out on the finals. Both the US men & women's teams dropped their batons during the 4 x 100m relay heats. The French women's team did the same thing at the same relay. The Jamaican women's team likewise botched their own handover - the baton never changed hands. The British men didn't drop the baton, but got themselves disqualified for late/improper (or non-existent) baton handover between the third & final sprinter. There might have been other teams which got disqualified or "did not finish". Carnage on the track - teams just dropped like flies. It's quite strange that the relay debacles should happen at this Olympics - I don't remember so many botches at previous Olympics. Wonder what's the reason for that.....

All of that meant that those teams got disqualified, & miss out on the final races. Quite a number of those disqualified teams were considered medal contenders. That's a shame. In some ways, one might see it as devaluing the final events, as viewers miss out on seeing some of the best teams in action. And also, the absence of those disqualified teams made it easier for their rivals to win the final races. But then again, the other side of the argument is that every team competing in the heats had equal chances to qualify for the finals. So those that disqualified themselves out of finals contention (by dropping the baton or by committing some other fault) blew their chances & only had themselves to blame for that. I mean, what have they been doing during their training? You would have thought they would be able to do those things correctly. Get the basics right, do the baton handover correctly 3 times, & those teams should qualify if their times are fast enough.

I guess those disqualified teams & their athletics officials will need to do a comprehensive review of their preparation & training programs, including communication, co-ordination, tactics & baton handover techniques. Especially, it would seem, for the American teams - I mean, the fact that both the men & women relay teams suggests certain aspects of the American training program is a bit off (or was it mere coincidence?). Not surprising, then that the outcry at the baton flops is heard loudest from the US compared to the other countries. The Americans (or at least some of their officials & sections of the public), apparently expect nothing less than an avalanche of gold medals from all the track & field events. The US track & field president Doug Logan already promised that future American track & field teams will be better. Looks like we can expect a better & "meaner" bunch from the stars & stripes in years to come. Watch out, world.....

Michael Phelps gets 8 of the best

Just earlier today, I witnessed history being made at the Beijing Olympics. US swimmer Michael Phelps (no further introduction needed) won yet another gold medal, courtesy of the US men's swimming team's victory in the 4 x 100m medley relay. That was gold medal number 8 for Phelps at the Beijing Olympics, & it made him the record holder of the most gold medals at a single Olympics. In the process, he surpassed the 7 gold medals won by Mark Spitz (also an American swimmer) at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Congratulations, Mr Phelps.

What a phenomenal achievement, this. What a freak! Michael Phelps should really get a giant medal cabinet, if he doesn't already have one, because he also won a stack of medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics (6 gold, 2 bronze). Not to mention various other medals at World Championships & various other swimming competitions.

Phenomenal & remarkable it may be, he needed some luck along the way, plus some help from teammates. In the 4 x 100m free relay on Day 2, his teammate Lezak very narrowly touched the wall to secure victory, ahead of the French team by just 0.08 seconds. Then, Milorad Cavic, the Serbian swimmer born in the US, gave Phelps a huge run for his money in the 100m butterfly, before Phelps won by a whisker (0.01 seconds) to secure gold medal number 7 & equal Mark Spitz.

Of course, to pull off such an unprecedented feat, some good fortune is needed, but that should not take anything away from Phelps' achievement. And to think he's only 23 years old. What's he going to do now? Where does he go from here? By the London 2012 Olympics, Phelps will be 27, which is still young. Is he going to to get 8 gold medals again?? Or will he go for 9 gold medals? How about 10? Will he even still be in swimming by then? Goodness knows what Phelps will decide to do. Oh well, whatever he does in future, we should salute his present achievements. Once again, congrats, Michael Phelps!

Beijing Olympics opening ceremony

Wow! Brilliant! Or to put it in Mandarin, hen hao! The opening ceremony at the Beijing Olympics was magnificent! Plenty of performers, plenty of drums, plenty of entertainment. The central theme was the display of ancient Chinese history, art & culture. There was the giant Chinese scroll, the drummer & opera performers. There was also children donning various Chinese costumes, too. There's also a little Chinese girl who sang Ode to the Motherland. All the performances were presented in a very creative & imaginative manner. I dunno how they pulled it off, but they did it so brilliantly. Millions of Chinese worldwide would have been proud of the display.

The Olympic song was performed by China's Liu Huan (apparently, a popular male pop singer in his country) & UK's Sarah Brightman (nice to see a Caucasian sing in Mandarin!).

After all that performances, came the traditional entry parade of athletes (each nation with a flagbearer). In keeping with Olympic tradition, Greece entered first & host nation (China) entered last. Apart from that, the order of entry is different this time round, because the teams didn't enter in order of the Roman alphabet. Instead, teams entered in order of number of strokes in the first Chinese character of the country's name, starting from lowest number of strokes. That meant Australia was one of the last nations to enter. As always, the parade took ages!

After the parade of nations finally finished, came the speeches by the Presidents & the torch relay & the lighting of the flame cauldron. And then, the spectacular fireworks came! Very spectacular. I've never seen fireworks like that. It was magnificent. I think overall, this is the best opening ceremony I've ever seen of any sports event (including past Olympics, World Cups & other major international football tournaments like the Euros).

So, with the grand, majestic opening ceremony of the Olympics, China has announced to the world that it has really arrived to prominence on the world stage. Let the games begin!

Beijing Olympics about to begin

In a few moments time, the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics will start, to kick off the 2008 Summer Olympics. Millions of viewers worldwide will be tuning in, plus of course the 90,000+ spectators in the superb, modernistic "bird's nest" Beijing National Stadium. I do wonder what the Chinese organisers have in store for us all. I think they will give us a memorable ceremony. Oh well, we shall see, we shall see......

The Olympics will hopefully be a good one. I wouldn't say I will follow all the events particularly closely. But I'll try to catch whatever I can. Whatever they show on TV (be it swimming, diving, athletics, whatever the sport), if I happen to be free, I will watch. As a football fan, though, I'll definitely keep a keen eye on the football tournament. I hope Argentina's Olympic football team will win a second successive gold medal, & retain its Olympic crown that it won in Athens 4 years ago. The football tournament is largely restricted to under-23 players (i.e. players who this year turn 23 & under), with each team allowed 3 overage players. Winning the gold medal again will be extremely difficult for Argentina. Its arch-rivals, Brazil, are very very motivated to win its first football gold (yes, it's true, Brazil so far have not won Olympic gold at football). Other strong teams will also be lurking, like Italy, the Netherlands, & the strong challenge from Africa (Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast). It will be tough.

Another thing worth following is the US swimmerMichael Phelps, with the big question looming: can Phelps win 8 gold medals? There's been much hype as to whether he can achieve this feat. If he does, then he will have won the most gold medals at a single Olympics, therefore surpass the 7 gold medals achieved by fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Oh well, let the ceremony happen already & let the games begin!