Saturday, August 02, 2008

Tom's Olympic forecast

Over brunch at Coupa Cafe, a few hours before I fly to Beijing for the Olympics.

Tom: "China is going all out for the medals this time. They have the home advantage."

Me: "I'm looking forward to watching ping pong. Odin predicted the finals will be China vs. China."

Tom: "No, not necessarily. It could be China vs. an American-born Chinese."

5 comments:

  1. I can't wait to watch the Chinese women's gymnastics team fall on their asses. They have physically beautiful form but zero mental strength. They can't handle pressure.

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  2. Actually, most Olympics table tennis players representing any country were born-and-raised in mainland China, as I had blogged about it in "Pong Dynasty: In Table Tennis, Chinese Rule"

    The four table tennis players
    representing the U.S. were all born in China.

    An alternate for the women's team is an American Born Chinese and San Francisco native!

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  3. NPR just did a piece this morning on this very subject:

    China's Pingpong Stars Find New Home Teams

    "All the players on the U.S. pingpong team are Chinese. Some do most of their training in China."

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ironic, I just watched “Balls of Fury” the other night.

    I didn't realize Ping Pong was such a big event. Next thing you know, somebody will say soccer is a sport.

    ReplyDelete

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