Memoirs of Beijing

I know.. I know.. The Olympics ended two weeks ago and what the heck am I writing about more Olympic news. I was supposed to write this a week ago but was either lazy to do it or too much work to do. Anyhow, in a sport where the older you get, the difficult it is to compete, this German female gymnast overcame it all and manage to win a Silver medal in the vault category in Beijing.

When her fellow Chinese gymnasts’ age are being questioned, no one can tell her that she’s not allowed to compete. Oksana Chusovitina is 33 years old and has been competing way before her fellow competitors are even born. This is her fifth Olympics for her third team (Soviet Union, Uzbekistan, Germany). She was even on the same team as the father of the all-around individual women’s gold medalist Nastia Liukin of the US.

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The 29th Summer Olympics just ended and it will go as one of the most memorable events in my life. It all started in 2006 when I came to Beijing to work for an Australian research company. At first, I was hesitant to move as I’m quite comfortable with my teaching job in the south. However, I told myself, I want to watch and experience the Olympics.

I’m not a sports buff but I’m quite a fan of women’s artistic gymnastics and swimming. Ever since I was young and watching Nadia Comaneci performing perfect 10s in different events, I was already hooked. My dad taught me swimming when I was young but I was never competitive so I just consoled myself cheering for whoever was competing.

Last year when they did a lottery of Olympic tickets, my friend and I submitted our wish list. I only won a badminton event for my friend but he won several events including the all around individual final in women’s gymnastics. Phase 2 and phase 3, I was lucky to win some more tickets for him. I was hoping to get some swimming tickets but to no avail. In any case, my friend promised one of the gymnastics ticket to me and I was satisfied.

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It’s hot in Beijing during the last day of the Olympics. Only a few matches left most notably the men’s basketball finals between the US “Redeem Team” and Spain. The US team won 118-107 with Dwyane Wade scoring 27 points. They’ve redeemed themselves after placing third in the Athens Game.

In the demonstration sport of Wushu, Team Philippines picked up 1 silver and 2 bronze medal in the last day. Mary Jane Estimar picked up a silver medal in the Women’s 52kg Sanshou category. Mariane Mariano and Benjie Rivera picked up a bronze medal each in their respective categories in Sanshou. Just like my brother said, hearing the Philippine national anthem played in the games is enough. Let’s hope that they will continue with this sport till it becomes a regular sport in the future games.

That’s the end of Team Philippines’ journey in the Beijing Olympics. We ended with no golds but we went home with rich experience and determination to improve ourselves to do better in London 2012. Till the next Olympics.. hopefully, I’ll get a chance to work in London.

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On the 12th day of the Olympics, Beijing is hot and humid. It feels like it’s going to rain the next day. As for team Philippines, Tshomlee Go will see action at 1145am against Ryan Carneli of Australia.

I don’t have any work in the morning so I’m glad to catch up some sleep. I’ve been waiting for the match between the two of them but wasn’t able to find the channel. I just check the results online and hope for the best.

Around 12 noon, the result came and Ryan defeated Tshomlee 1 to 0. I was so disappointed. I checked the blow by blow account and it seems that Tshomlee wasn’t able to hit his opponent. I was frustrated it seems like watching Tanamor all over again. Everyone was hyping that the boxer and the taekwondo jins have the best chances to get a gold but they’re nowhere near it. I hope Toni would do better this Friday.

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It was a cloudy, humid and hot day here in Beijing. As usual, I’m at the Nest boring myself out waiting for that elusive call. However, at 9:40am, I went up to level 0 and watch the long jump preliminaries. In Group B, our very own Marestella Torres vied for qualifying to the finals.

She was the 16th jumper in her group and with a personal best of 6.86m. I went up that morning rooting for her as if she’s able to jump her personal best, she would be able to qualify to the finals. Jumper after jumper, foul after foul. Then I saw a glimpse of her, warming herself up. Dressed in Philippine colors, I first thought the jumper was from Brazil. However, at the back of her bikini, there stood PHI for Philippines.

First jump.. and there she runs building up a momentum then the hop? She didn’t foul but she only jumped 4.27m. I groaned and said to myself, “ano ba yan! (what was that?)”. I just pray she does better in her next jump. I went back down to the office as it will be quite a wait for her next jump as there are 42 jumpers in all for both groups.

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Day 6 in Beijing and the weather is as usual gray with heavy downpour early to mid-afternoon. It’s a slow day for Team Philippines as only Daniel Coakley was seen in action. Daniel is the great-grandson of two-time Olympic bronze medalist Teofilo Yldefonso who competed in the 1928 and 1932 Olympic Games.

Daniel Coakley competed in Heat #9 with a start time of 22.80 seconds. He placed 6th out of 8 swimmers clocking in 22.69 seconds. In a field of 97, he placed 39.

Tomorrow, there would be 3 athletes from Team Philippines competing namely Christel Simms (50m freestyle), Ryan Arabejo (1500m freestyle) and Shiela Mae Perez (3m springboard). Also, check out my backstage pictures during the Opening Ceremonies through this link.

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Day 5 in Beijing and we’re back to smog in the city. I made a mistake in my previous update and missed one athlete vying today. Four athletes will see action today namely Mark Javier (Archery), Harry Tanamor (Boxing), Miguel Molina and Christel Simms (Swimming).

As we end the day, it’s a sad day for Team Philippines. Mark Javier lost 102 to 106 against Kuo Cheng Wei of Chinese Taipei this afternoon in the first knockout stage. Christel Simms placed 4th out of 7 swimmers in Heat #2 of the 100m freestyle clocking in 56.67 seconds. Best time from all the heats is 53.60 seconds.

Miguel Molina’s 200m individual medley. He swam in Heat 2 and placed 2nd out of 7 swimmers clocking in at 2:01.61 seconds.  Harry Tanamor‘s match against Ghana ended with the other boxer winning by 6 to 3.

Tomorrow, there will only be one swimmer competing.  Daniel Coakley in the 50m freestyle at 6:49pm.  On Friday, our taekwondo jins will arrive in Beijing for their competition on the 20th & the 22nd.

In other Olympic action.. Phelps won his 5th gold today and is on track to win 8 gold in the 8 events which he would be competing.  He’s taking a rest tomorrow on the medal standing and will be back on Friday.  The Chinese women’s gymnastic team took the gold away from the US who won in Athens.  Cuba defeated 2004 gold medalist women’s volleyball team China in their preliminary games with a score of 3-2.

Till tomorrow…

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After only a few hours of sleep on early Saturday morning, I had to wake up to attend a luncheon event at the Asia Hotel. The host of this event is President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Guests included the Filipino athletes who were already there for the Olympics as well as the flag bearer Mr. Manny Pacquiao and his “inspiration” Jinkee.

The event started at 11am with dancing from a Chinese group and the introduction of the athletes with the ‘standard’ Olympic Cheer introduced by China (heh!). My friend, Marco hosted the first part of the event while waiting for President Arroyo to arrive. Congressmen and members of the cabinet arrived a few minutes earlier than Arroyo. I was seated with the Congressman from Pampanga and Leyte. Tito Sotto was also there looking tough as the head of the Dangerous Drugs Board. Chavit Singson was also there sharing seats beside the Pacman.

When the President arrived, Consular Leyda introduced a cause which they would like to promote that day, the “World Simultaneous Breastfeeding Event”. The person in charge was quite passionate with her cause that she even encourages mothers to have their children breastfed till 6 years old. (EWW! 6?! Di na yun baby!) They’ve held Guinness Book of World Records on the most number of breastfeeding mother-child pair in one and simultaneous event. They presented a medal to the policewoman in Sichuan who breastfed 9 infants in the aftermath of the earthquake. Read the rest of this entry »

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It’s Day 4 in Beijing and the weather is perfect for sightseeing and outdoor sports. Tourist should be cautious as one American was already stabbed to death last Saturday at the Drum Tower. As for our athletes, only Miguel Molina was seen in action today at 7:28pm at the Water Cube.

Molina swam in the 2nd heat of the 200m breaststroke preliminaries. He clocked in at 2:16.94 to finish 6th on his heat. He wasn’t able to match his personal best of 2:16.62 which he registered in the Janet Evans International Invitational last July in California. There goes his dream but he’ll get another chance tomorrow in the 200m individual medley preliminaries.

So for a recap, out of the 15 athletes, three already are out of the medal running. Tomorrow will be a big day as four athletes will see action most importantly Harry Tanamor’s match against Plange at 8:15pm (not 8:45pm as previously announced).

For Day 5 updates, click this link.   For Olympic Park and some Games pictures, click this link.

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On my previous blog, I’ve posted the schedule for Harry Tanamor of Boxing. On this one, I’ll give you a recap of the athletes who’ve already competed and their outcome then the remaining athletes’ schedules.

In Day 3 of the Beijing Olympics, four of our athletes have already competed. Three of them bombed out while the other one has to compete on the knockout stages. Eric Ang of Trap Shooting competed in Day 1 & 2 ended up dead last in a field of 35. First-timer Hidilyn Diaz competed today in weightlifting under 58kg category and placed 11 out of 12 athletes. She was able to lift 85 kg in the snatch and 107 in the clean & jerk category.

James Walsh competed this evening in heat #2 of the 200m butterfly and finished first in his heats clocking 1:59.39. This time wasn’t enough to move on to the semifinal round. Mark Javier of Archery competed in Day 1 for the preliminaries and got an aggregate score of 654 to placed 36 in a field of 64. He will move on to the knockout stage against Kuo Cheng Wei of Chinese-Taipei on August 13, 3:30pm.

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