Chinese Men Need Not Apply

The Chinese Olympic Team does not really need male competitors as the women basically carried the team this year, with the women winning 8 of the 9 medals (excluding pairs skating).  It's been terribly frustrating watching the Chinese men compete in this year's games.  Congrats to all the female gold medalists; and to the silver and bronze medalists, even though you gals didn't win, know that you're light years ahead of the men!  


After seeing Wang Meng's performance, I believe she has every right to be cocky.  Evan Lysacek is getting himself an Aston Martin after winning only one gold.  Wang Meng, after having won 3 golds and being the second most accomplished athlete (behind Marit Bjorgen of Norway) in this year's games, I believe you deserve that Bugatti Veyron!

Dad Was Right

When he said, “生女兒比生兒子好” (it's better to have daughters than to have sons).  The Chinese Olympics team has born out that claim.  Just look at all the Chinese medal winners.  After you exclude the pair skaters, 6 out of the 7 medals were won by the women.  


What's up with the dudes?  In my opinion, I blame it on the fact that Chinese parents put too much importance on having sons, and when they do have sons they coddle them.  Daughters are treated like an afterthought..."Oh, you're still here?  I guess I should feed you too."  Perhaps this biased treatment early on in life compel women to become more driven while the men fall by the wayside.  Interestingly, we are seeing this trend in the US (with more women than men in colleges), so perhaps this has nothing to do with 'misplaced values and partial treatment' but boils down to the fact that 2 Xs are just stronger than one X and a weak Y.

It's All About The Gold...

Have been neglecting the blog because I've been too busy keeping up with the Olympics.  Not only have I been neglecting the blog, I've also managed to neglect my Kdrama, the dogs, and the husband.


During every Olympics I pay close attention to the medal counts for each country, and what really irks me is that they always rank the countries based on total medals earned.  I don't believe that's how they should do the ranking.  It ideally should be based on total gold medals won.  Why?  Because a bronze medal means you're a little bit better than the rest of the losers; and a silver medal means you're just not good enough.  Only the gold medalist is the true winner.  Most would argue that the spirit of the Games is not about winning, but about participating in the sports.  Then, why do we bother having gold, silver, and bronze.  Just participate for the fun of it.


There's been a lot of talk about Apolo Ohno being the greatest US winter Olympian (beating out Bonnie Blaire) because of his seven medals won so far in his career.  However, to extrapolate my argument, I would beg to differ.  Bonnie Blaire beats him hands down given that of the 6 medals she won, 5 of them were gold.  Ohno?  Only 2 out of the seven were gold.


At the end of the day, only gold matters.  Everyone else gets the consolation prize in the form of 'the spirit of the Games'.

You Want Cocky?

Wang Meng is the consistent 24 year-old short track skater from China.  She is essentially in a league of her own.  Like someone said, "There's Wang Meng, and then there's everyone else."  No one in the world has topped her since the Turin Olympics in 2006, and she just won the 500m short track tonight in Vancouver.  You think J's cocky, he's got nothing on her.  This girl has been quoted to say some very 'confident' stuff before and after the race.


One month ahead of the games: "Unless I make mistakes, no one else will have any chance to win."
During tonight's medalists' news conference: "Last, but not least, I want to thank myself."


I guess when you're the best in the world in what you do, you're allowed to be cocky.

Pairs Figure Skating

So I've been following the pairs figure skating at the Olympics.  One of the Chinese couples, who are also married to each other, recently came out of retirement in an attempt to grab Olympic gold.  By the looks of it, if everything goes as planned, they should be able to win gold.  If you watch them you can see how.  They are so in tuned with each other.  
That brought me to my question, "Are pairs figure skaters who are married to each other better as a team?"  The intuitive answer would be "yes" given their bond with each other.  
That led me to my other question, "However, wouldn't it be scary for the husband to toss the wife into the air?"  "What if his grip slipped and she lands on her head?"
So naturally I posed this question to J.


Me: Would you be afraid to toss me into the air?
J: Of course.
Me: Why?
J: Coz I might throw out my back.


Figures.  I never get a straight answer from him because he always thinks my questions are ridiculous.  Obviously, I don't think my questions are ridiculous, otherwise I wouldn't ask.


Go Shen and Zhao!