Guo Jingjing, China's diva diver
So here's the deal. Our Chinese hosts want top spot on the medals table and they want their diving team to lead the charge. China won five of eight diving gold medals at the Sydney Games in 2000 and six of eight golds in Athens four years later. More recently, they won nine of ten golds at the World Championships in Melbourne last year, so they are going for the clean sweep of eight here and no one would be surprised if they got it.
World awaits basketball battle between China and United States
The great superpower battle of the 2008 Olympics, China against the United States, will be played out on the track, in the diving pool, on the rowing lake and across all the Beijing venues, but nowhere is it more keenly awaited than on the basketball court. “It will probably be the most watched game in sports history,” LeBron James, the US superstar, said of tomorrow's clash, which may be overstating the case, but only a little.
Something in the air tonight in Beijing
If you peer hard enough through the pall of smog that squats over this city, you can sight glory and smell triumph. Not just the wonder of Olympic athletes in victory, but also a wild celebration of the human spirit. The smog itself tells us about all the astonishing things that humanity is capable of achieving. It is utterly appropriate that the day before the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games of 2008 should pass, as all other days this week have passed, in a great and glorious cloud of murk.
World awaits basketball battle between China and United States
The great superpower battle of the 2008 Olympics, China against the United States, will be played out on the track, in the diving pool, on the rowing lake and across all the Beijing venues, but nowhere is it more keenly awaited than on the basketball court. “It will probably be the most watched game in sports history,” LeBron James, the US superstar, said of tomorrow's clash, which may be overstating the case, but only a little.
Something in the air tonight in Beijing
If you peer hard enough through the pall of smog that squats over this city, you can sight glory and smell triumph. Not just the wonder of Olympic athletes in victory, but also a wild celebration of the human spirit. The smog itself tells us about all the astonishing things that humanity is capable of achieving. It is utterly appropriate that the day before the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games of 2008 should pass, as all other days this week have passed, in a great and glorious cloud of murk.
Original post: Guo Jingjing, China's diva diver by Copyright 2007 Times Newspapers Ltd. at Sports News from Times Online