Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Kim Yu-na is coming back and instead of starting over with new coaches, she’s gone back to the coaches who started her out. Instead of bowing out of competitions, the gold medalist will be back. (Chicago Tribune – Kim Yu-na)
Continue reading
We’ve been seeing the news unfold about the American speed skater Simon Cho who allegedly bent the blades of a fellow competitor just last year. Now the bronze medalist and current US Champ in the 500 meters blames his coach, Jae Su Chun who gave him the instructions in Korean. Of course there are denials and accusations. We haven’t heard the last of this. (NY Times – skate)
Continue reading
Today is the last day of the Paralympics in London. They come and go so quietly compared to the big summer games. If you live in the UK, you had a chance to watch over 400 hours of Paralympics broadcasts on Channel 4. In contrast, in the United States NBC had four nights of an hour long highlight show to cover the 11 days of ceremony and games. In Mongolia we got a good 4-6 hours of daily coverage, even after all of the Mongolian athletes came back home without medals. It’s reported that 11 million people tuned in to the opening ceremonies, nearly three times the number of viewers of the 2008 games in Beijing. China can console itself through a massive stack of medals its athletes will be taking home this summer. They are up to 95 gold medals so far, kept company by 71 silvers, and 65 bronze. Not too shabby. Pictured here are the “Sook Sisters” (they all have “sook” in their name and aren’t actually related), Korea’s archery heroes who came away with one gold medal a piece, and an extra silver for Hwa Sook. South Korea had a lot invested in its athletes this year. Most of its athletes trained and lived at the newly built Korean Sports Training Center d’ground, a beautiful facility South East of Seoul designed just for Paralympians . Leading up to the games, Korean TV broadcast touching documentaries about the lives of some the athletes, and the coaches and family members who support them in their training. Back in June, GR blogged about Maya Nakanishi who was getting some flack for fund raising with a self-published calendar featuring some sexy shots with just her prosthetic. She did end up making it London this year, and she competed in three Athletic games, but didn’t get any medals. I hope she can make it again in 2016. (Calendars as Christmas gifts are a big seller, Maya…) Fundraising is just one of the challenges facing paralympic athletes. There was a record breaking number of participating athletes this year, 4,200 from 164 countries. In contrast, more than 10,000 from 204 countries competed in the Olympic games. Even if a paralympic athlete can overcome cultural stigma in their country, their personal physical challenges, and train hard enough to dominate in their categorized sport, they still have to find a way to pay for it all and make it to the games. It’s depressing to think of all the individuals who are held back by financial resources when they’ve been able to take on everything else. There’s a dark side to the Paralympics, just like there is for the Olympic games. Much has been written about the “supercrip” archetype that surfaces with the Paralympic games. It’s fascinating, provocative, and a conversation that should be continued to better understand the challenges faced by the differently-abled. North Korea can enter into the supercrip conversation now. They debuted their first ever Paralympic athlete in London. At the very...
Continue reading
We’re not sure if this is all of the Asian American winners at the London Olympics, but in the end it’s a smaller list than what one would expect. (Asianfortunenews – Asian American Medalists) Nathan Adrian in swimming. Did you ever heard of this guy? 2 Golds and a Silver in swimming.
Continue reading
The greatest hurdler of all time, Liu Xiang who has had two bad outing at the last two Olympics is in the midst of controversy. He’s the Asian speedster and like Yao Ming, a national hero in China. According to the South China Morning Post, he was told that his injury was serious at London. He ran, hit the first hurdle and limped to the finish line. Was he injured the entire time, but kept it secret for his endorsements? That’s what the paper implies. The government issued a gag order to the media and he did his thing in front of the world’s eye and broke people’s hearts. This sounds like a piece of sensational news, but who knows. It was reported. When healthy, he’s still world class. (ABC – Liu Xiang)
Continue reading