Diving (8/19)

My generous friend, Ema, gave me a ticket to the Men's 10m springboard semifinal diving event.  Despite being incredibly generous, it was even more wonderful because it was my only chance to set foot in the Watercube.  In a stroke of pure luck, our friend Cara had seats only two rows in front of us.

The experience only got better when we realized that we had met one of the American divers, Chris Colwill, in the audience of the Today show.  We rooted him on to the final round.

Softball (8/18)

We had the best of luck when it came to outdoor events.  Not one was rained out.  Softball was no exception - the weather was beautiful.  We actually changed our seats to make sure we were tanning evenly.  That never happens in Beijing.  One big problem with nice weather is that in Chinese society, a lot of empasis is placed on white skin.  My students all think I'm crazy for wanting a tan.  Sunny weather brings with it as much umbrella use and rain does.  As a result, another factor in moving from our original seats was the number of umbrellas blocking our view. 

Softball was the first event we attended that China actually directly competed against the USA.  In typical American style, we sought out the largest group of fellow Americans (family members of the athletes) and cheered obnoxiously with them.  

Some Chinese fans near us got a little upset when we started overtaking their cheers by inserting "USA" in the place where "China" is usually yelled.  One girl told us to shut up.  But all in all, we had a right to cheer.  The USA played fabulously and almost won by mercy rule.  It made me wish I had never hung up my softball glove.  ;-)

China tried their best to make the Olympics have a friendly and welcoming atmosphere.  One way they did this way by introducing mascots ("fuwa" in Chinese).  Not one, like Olympics in the past, but five.  Their names are BeiBei (a fish), Jingjing (a panda), HuanHuan (the Olympic flame), YingYing (a Tibetan antelope) and NiNi (a swallow).  These names are short for "Bei jing huan ying ni", which means "Beijing welcomes you".  They have been a huge hit here (my friends and I were the Fuwa for Halloween) and were present at almost every event in life-sized form.  At the softball game they kept falling over and couldn't get up.  I couldn't stop laughing.

Boxing (8/17)

Sunday evening found us at Boxing, to which had extra tickets, so we invited Chris - a die-hard boxing fan, and Ian.  The competition included the Lightweight, Welterweight and Heavyweight Quarterfinals.  

I must admit that I was very excited about Boxing before I got there and realized that in Olympic boxing they wear so much gear!  I was looking forward to at least the potential for someone to get their ear bitten off, but that's not a possibility with a helmet on.  Oh well.

They were trying out a new scoring system, which is computer controlled.  The judges hit a button if they think one of the competitors has scored and if a certain number of them agree, it's added as a point.  This didn't seem like the best system as they often can't see all of the action.  It was also weird knowing who was winning.  I'm used to regular boxing where you don't find out until the end.

The most exciting match was in the Heavyweight round when an American fought a Moroccan.  It ended up as a tie, and then the judges voted that the American had won.  

The most entertaining match was the last one, where Italy fought Ukraine.  They both had the strangest fighting style and were hilarious to watch.

We had a great time and although I had seat anxiety (the seat in front of me had different people sitting/standing/coming/going at all times), it was an overall fun time.

Athletics (8/16)

Women's Javelin
Women's 800m Semi-final
Women's Shotput Final
Men's 100m Semi-final
Women's 100m Round 2
Men's 400m Hurdles Semi-final
Men's Longjump Qualifier
Women's Heptathlon 800m
Men's 100m Final

Athletics presented us with our first opportunity to enter the Bird's Nest. Luckily, it was a beautiful day and we made it to the venue in plenty of time to take in all the action. The Bird's Nest truly is an amazing piece of architecture and it was incredible to have to opportunity to visit it a number of times.

We were close to the Long Jump and Shotput area of the Stadium, where the third leg of a 4x100m relay would start. We had seats on the first tier, which was incredible, because we could see all of the athletes walking by to go to their various events. Athletics definitely brought out a feeling of Olympic spirit - moreso than any other event, especially with athletes all around stretching, warming up and competing.



One exciting event was the women's Shotput final. None of the women will be winning a beauty contest any time soon, but they sure are strong. There were four Chinese participants and two Americans, amongst others. New Zealand's Valerie Vili ended up winning the gold - which was New Zealand's first gold in Track and Field since 1976. She was understandably excited.

We watched the final event of the Women's Heptathlon - the 800m race. A Brazilian won the Heptathlon, but Hyleas Fountain, an American got Silver. It was great to see her celebrating with the American flag around the field.

One, if not the most, exciting part of the night came at the very end with the Men's 100m final. We had the chance to see the 22-year-old Jamaican, Usain Bolt, break the world record. He let up at the end, but still killed the other runners. It took awhile for the fact that we had just witnessed the fastest man on earth - ever.

Trampoline (8/16)

Saturday morning we were up bright and early with our friends Chris and Heather. Chris had extra tickets to Trampoline, so he invited us to come along. Trampoline has been an Olympic sport for less than a decade. I loved it, but it can get a little boring. To alleviate our boredom we began an elaborate game to guess the scores prior to the announcement from the judges. This definitely made things more interesting. I just admit, I won. As the only person who had read anything about the sport prior to attending, there was a slight advantage. We left earlier in order to make it to brunch, but it was a good time and we were thankful for the chance to go.

We had a little fun doing jumps in front of the Nini trampoline sign before we left.

Table Tennis (8/15)

Incorporating an Olympic event almost every day into a full time work schedule is taxing. Priorities (such as eating and working out) tend to fall by the wayside. The night of Table Tennis, Justin couldn't take it any longer and decided to get a workout in before the match. We were scheduled to watch the women's China vs. Hong Kong match from 7:30 - 10:30pm. So we decided to go after the workout - an hour late, at 8:30. The venue was on the far northwest side of the city, so after a 45 minute cab ride we finally showed up. We went through security, bought popcorn, a beer, and a Coke and prepared to enter the venue. At the gate, a very nice police officer said "We welcome you to come inside and look at the gymnasium," (sort of a strange thing to say, but "Chinglish" can be confusing sometimes), "but the match is over." It had ended in 45 minutes. We made our way in to eat our popcorn and take a few pictures as happy Chinese fans poured out. China had swept Hong Kong 3-0. Justin is looking good because of his dedication to his workouts, but at more than $100 lost in tickets, it was definitely one of the most expensive exercise experiences he's ever had. ;-)

Tennis (8/13)

Women's - Kanepi (Estonia) vs. Li (China) - Li won

Men's - Federer (Switzerland) vs. Berdych (Czech Republic) - Federer won

Women's - Williams, Serena (USA) vs. Cornet (France) - Williams won

Going into the event we were excited about the chance to see such big names play. Watching an sport that has such specific spectator protocol was interesting in China. The official spent as much time trying to quiet the audience as they did trying to do their job. It was a really hot day and even at 5pm, we were sweating like crazy. So we drank beer, then we were hot and tired. It was exciting to watch Li win, since the crowd was so excited about it. Federer, of course, was a highlight, however he did not play that well. I think he went on to lose in the next round.

Watching Serena Williams was quite an experience. Justin and I were both struck by her size. Justin couldn't get over trying to speculate about what football position her children would someday play. She is a very strong girl, and very serious about her sport. I don't think she smiled once. Cornet gave her quite a run for her money. At one point Serena got so frustrated she slammed her racket on the ground and broke it. The official didnt' like that. Cornet (18 years old) wasn't without her frustration. I got a kick out of her yelling in French at the ball boy, not because she was upset at him or because he understood a word she was saying, but because he was the only one who would listen.

For Serena's match we moved down to the lower section and a few minutes later looked over and realized the entire Williams family was sitting next to us. It was a much more interesting match due to the chance to listen to their cheers and it was fun to watch their encouragement help her win.