It's been so long I can't even vaguely recall the last time I'd had a whole weekend to myself. By "to myself" I mean actually having the two full days of nothing. No errands to run, no assignment to work on, no hiking training to wake up at 6am for and suffer the subsequent day of sore muscles from. This past weekend, it was just my time, my bed, and the Olympics.
The global Chinese population must've been at a peak level of patriotism these past two weeks. Our five-star flag was raised a total of 63 times and our national anthem played 32 times in Athens, including at the closing ceremony when the torch was passed to Beijing.
I wasn't at all surprised that the China team pulled a record-breaking score as second in the medals chart, or that our women's volleyball team was able to beat the 2.04-meter Gamova of Russia to a pulp. But I did get my few surprises. Hong Kong's silver in men's double table tennis, Taiwan's two golds in Tae Kwon Do, and Japan's performance in the pool (And stop accusing them of using illegal dolphin kicks, it's their O-shaped legs, I tell you). But most of all I regret overestimating Tian Liang's chance at the 10m platform gold, and doubting Liu Xiang's at the 110m hurdle gold.
2008 is going to be a hell of a great game. I must start saving up now so I can afford a few courtside tickets at Beijing four years from now. It's also good to know I have four years' time to memorize the words to our national anthem.
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