Wrestling (8/21)

In order to distribute Olympic tickets domestically, China held a lottery.  This sounds like a simple idea, however, navigating the ticketing website required hours worth of studying and many trial and error episodes.  Each person could apply for 10 events, however you could then choose a back-up option as well as cascading price points, etc.  Justin and I finally combined our powers (actually I just used both of our accounts - he can't stand doing stuff like this) to enter the lottery and maximize our chances for success.  The hard work paid off and we got face value tickets for a number of events, including Wrestling.  Initially not looking forward to wrestling, how enjoyable it was really took me by surprise.  As wrestling is not a huge sport in South Florida, I was not familiar with the rules, but thanks to the information pamphlet provided was able to pick up on them quickly.  The venue was rather small, and we had great seats.  

Again, it was fun to see die-hard fans from many small countries around the world go crazy when their competitor won.  The Olympics is such a special time for unity around the world.  Russia and Georgia were at war during this Olympics, yet athletes from the two countries stood together on the Wrestling medal platform.  I could not help but be reminded that they are normal people, despite the political stances taken by their governments.

Here's Georgia wrestling Cuba.  

96kg Medal Ceremony

Here's the Russian gold medalist (for 96kg) being interviewed.  Notice the medal around his neck.

My favorite athlete at this event was the 120kg Gold Medalist, Artur Taymazov from Uzbekistan.  When he won he was so excited he picked his coach up like a ragdoll and hugged him.  Here he is right before the coach attack and then during the medal ceremony.

Olympic spirit took interesting forms all around Beijing, most commonly through flags and temporary tattoos, however, one small fan at Wrestling made his Olympic statement a bit more dramatically.

For the Olympics, China released a special edition of the 10 yuan note.  It was a momentus occasion as (to my knowledge, for the first time ever) Mao's face was replaced by a picture of the Bird's Nest.  People stood in line for hours at the banks to get a copy of it and it was a huge joke around Beijing that Mao had finally been replaced by something representing openness and Capitalism.  Here are this venue, however, he still stood proud so we decided to take a picture with him.