Vancouver 2010 Round-up: Bottles, Bronzes and Bawdiness
The Olympics in Winter? How do they do the diving events? Absolute madness if you ask me. It turns out that the Winter Games concentrate on more traditional winter sports like shooting things while out skiing and going headfirst down hills. For those who this is all news to here is what happened in Vancouver.
Team China excelled to finish 8th in the medal table. Their feats equaled those of wintersports powerhouses Sweden and bettered the birthplace of après ski as they had more golds than the French. Zut alors.
China’s gold medals came from husband and wife team Zhao Hongbo and Shen Xue in the pair’s figure skating. The lovebirds then retired after reaching their dream. China’s women took the 3000m relay on the short track speed skating. That same track also gave China three individual golds for Wang Meng (500m & 1000m) and Zhou Yang (1500m).
Silver medals are nothing to be sniffed at – unless you are the ingrates in the US Men’s hockey team – and China managed two. One was for Li Nina in the Freestyle Skiing- Ladies’ Aerials. The other was actually two – one each for Tong Jian and Pang Qing, the pair who came second to Zhao and Shen on the ice. The two Chinese pairs were the only participants who performed fall-free routines. Jia you, not falling over.
Bronze is easier to keep polished so there’s that as some consolation. The Chinese athletes who came third were led by the pre-games favourites in the Curling. China’s women salvaged a third-placed finish after failing to reach the final. Freestyle skiers Liu Zhongqing (Mens’ Aerials) and Guo Xinxin (Ladies’ Aerials) join speed skater Wang Beixing (Ladies’ 500m) in rounding off China’s medalists.
Chunky metal jewelry aside, what of the gossip? Well, the Korean short-track speed skating head coach Choi Guang-Bok took issue with China filming his team’s training session. He responded by throwing bottles at the cameraman. "This is an Olympic venue. Filming or photography is permitted," China's head coach Li Yan told reporters. "We were just filming for analysis purposes. It's perfectly allowed. "The team's American assistant coach, Paul Marchese, said: "There's just a very, very strong rivalry between China and South Korea. That sort of showmanship might intimidate a lesser team, but it doesn't make a dent in China." Take that, angry bottle tossers.
Another piece of news is that China’s athletes are not as well paid as you might think. Apparently the ladies of curling get just RMB 2000 per month while also gold medalist Zhou Yang is reported only on RMB 500 per month, and her parents run a local lottery shop. Better news for her is that her gold medal will bring her a RMB 1,000,000 reward from the state.
Finally, a woman who is alleged to be of Chinese descent was involved in one of the event’s racier moments. Scotty Lago, a bronze-winning snowboarder, got the mystery spectator to “check the authenticity” of his medal. Have a look up there at her doing just that. This incident has got the always-rational users of China’s forums a little excited. Here are some responses:
"Why is she Chinese?!"
"She must be Korean!"
"This is what Chinese women abroad are like!"
"She’s Korean, look at her jaw, it's fake"
"Arrogant American bastards"
"She’s Japanese"
"Lucky she just got a bronze, what if she's got a gold"
And then this absolute gem, which was written in English: "I am ashamed for the girl even more, she must have some inpurities in her blood, can't be the same blood as ours"
Let’s assume they meant impurities and marvel at the good men who invented the internet.