Saturday, August 09, 2008

A general take on the Olympics

The olympics officially started yesterday in a bang, or so I heard as I did not make an attempt to watch the opening ceremony although I initially did mean to check it out.

A few weeks before the games started, they had these shows on tv which guided us through the journey of the games in the years gone by. I was amazed to see clips of the games from London 1948 (actually the amazement is due to the fact that video from that era still exists!), the records that were broken by relentless athletes, a story about how the villagers of a small town pooled money and bought a black and white tv just to watch their home girl run in the marathon and other such stories.

The first ever olympics that I was aware of was the one in 1988, held in Seoul, Korea. There was this theme song (we had a localised version, if I recall correctly) which our Moral studies teacher made us sing along to in school (I thought that was fun) I remember asking my parents when Malaysia would get a chance to host the olympics. I can't remember their answer though.

Talking about theme songs, the one I loved the most must have been the one from 1992 (Amigos para siempre) which I had mistakenly referred to as Amigo sampreti for a few years (because of my zero knowledge in Spanish at that time and the non-existence of information at our fingertips like how we have it these days)

Oh well, I guess I'll just end this with a good luck wish to all the olympic athletes out there

8 comments:

  1. It was 1988 when the Olympics were held in Seoul :)

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  2. gee, thanks. It was a typo.

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  3. The Games that were held here in Sydney in the year 2000 changed the city forevermore. In so many good ways. The only downside being that life became instantly expensive because we were suddenly 'world class'. Pssh.

    And if you get a chance to see the opening ceremony for the 2008 Games I highly suggest you do, it was epic. Just magical. Probably the best performace I have ever seen.

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  4. I managed to watch the last part of the opening ceremony last night and it was magnificent. The fireworks display was such a beautiful sight and the acrobatics performance was amazing.

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  5. i love the olympics, but the horrendous coverage of them in the US as well as the allowance of professional athletes in the competition has soured me on them a bit in recent years.

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  6. lol at "to watch their homegirl"...

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  7. orhan: Yeah, I did catch some the day after (thank goodness for repeats) but I need to catch another half or so. True, I guess hosting an event of that magnitude sure will change things.

    anita: That's what everyone's saying as well. I saw the teams being introduced, and then there were speeches, so I got bored. Looks like I missed the fireworks, then :)

    cyberfish: Yes, it's all about money these days. Even here, the athletes in the old days who had to self sponsor themselves for competitions did much better than the athletes who get all the help nowadays. I think there's only 1 athlete who really does well but was never recognised until very recently.

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  8. My first memory of the Olympics was the summer games of 1972. I was 8, and I was so sad when the games ended.

    My mom told me that the games would return in four years and I could watch a whole new group of athletes, and even a few who might compete again. And I remember being afraid that I wouldn't be interested in it by then, because four years was a long way away.

    But luckily I never lost my interest in the competition. In fact, I've gained a greater appreciation of it as I've gotten older, so much so that I can root for excellence in performance that isn't driven by nationalism. I want American athletes to do well, but I also appreciate the athletes from other countries as well.

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