Some random news about the Beijing Olympics…
Liu Yan the injured dancer
26-year-old Liu Yan, a renowned Chinese classical dancers, was supposed to be one of the stars at the Olympics opening cerremony… but lady luck was not on her side, as she was badly injured during a rehearsal on July 27.
Liu was rushed to the hospital after falling from a three metre stage. Her spine was badly injured, and her lower body paralysed. It’s feared that she might not be able to walk again without assistance. Best wishes from us here.
The unstoppable Michael Phelps
American swimmer Michael Phelps won his 10th and 11th career’s gold medals on August 13, a record for winning the most gold medals in the Olympic Games. Phelps is still on target for his quest to beat Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals at one Olympics.
Sarah Brightman and Liu Huan
Liu Huan’s RMB1200 T-shirt
Chinese singer Liu Huan, who sang the official theme song during the opening ceremony, was heavily criticised for his over-casual attire for the occasion.
He later defended himself saying that it was a joint decision with the directors that he should dress more casual because he is pop star, and that his body doesn’t look nice in formal suits anyway.
Liu Huan also stated that the ‘casual’ T-shirt he wore during the show actually cost him RMB1200 (~USD176) and was carefully picked… I think I have a few similar T-shirts in my wardrobe, which probably cost me around $5-7 each.
The hopeless
Chinese gold medal hopeful rower Zhang Liang missed a heat on Saturday and was disqualified from the game. Zhang apparently thought that he was in the third heat of the single sculls but was actually in the second. [more on ABC]
It’s uncertain whether the coaches and supporting team or Zhang himself are to be blamed for… but heads will certainly roll after the Games, especially IF China loses the overall title by just a single medal.
The hopefuls
Eight babies were born at a Beijing hospital during the opening day of Beijing Olympics on August 8. Just wanted to share this cute pic (via Xinhuanet)…
The story of the girl getting injured and possibly permanately paralyzed are the kind that break my heart. Work so hard only to have it all cut short. And in rehearsals too. Is it worth it?
Yeah Michael Phelps. What can you say?! The man is a swimming machine.
Eight babies huh, lol. They must have done some tests to figure out which mothers would pop the opening day and possibly induced labor to a few others to get just the right number of babies born on the big day. The rest of the day early or day late mothers were probably then moved to a different facility just to play it safe, lol. Beijing ….always manipulating things. Singers, video of fireworks, and now number of babies born on opening day at the main hospital of choice in the capital. Nothing is left to chance with those guys, ;P
Isn’t that Zhang Yimou in the pic with the injured girl? second from the left.
Michael Phelps is an awesome swimmer…usa has a great swim team.
Yes it’s Zhang Yimou, he is the head director of the opening ceremony.
The babies are probably coincidence. There are so many hospitals around Beijing, surely there would be one or two that got the lucky number.
Some people say that Phelps is not a human, but an alien… I wonder lol. Ya, he is amazing… and I hope his dominance won’t last too long, as the games will become boring with the lack of competition.
she looks really pale. we could tell that she’s forcing a smile. who would be so happy knowing that they might be permanately paralyzed at just 26? i really hope she’d recover or at least get better.
i guess liu huan looked worse than he should look because sarah brightman was especially gorgeous that night. but what he said about how formal suits don’t look good on him is kind of true. but at least he wouldn’t get so much criticism if he chose something nicer. his t-shirt must be a big brand if it’s that expensive, lol.
i feel pretty bad for zhang liang. all the time and effort used for training and he misses his chance just like that. he must be quite regretful now. this must not happen again!
those babies look pretty similar. i like what they’re wearing, lol. very cute.
I just noticed that they have different colours for baby boys and baby girls.
Got some more info on Liu Yan and how the injury happened. The Chinese kept news of her injury quiet for two and a half weeks. They also had removed a news report from the web that had gotten the news earlier.
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Dancer Ms. Liu Yan was seriously injured during a rehearsal for the opening ceremonies on July 27. Anger swelled in Chinese internet forums after news of the accident—not posted until August 6—was hurriedly removed by censors.
Pressed by reporters at a news conference in Beijing the day after the opening ceremonies, director Zhang Yimou admitted a dancer had been injured but did not name Ms. Liu. On August 11, the dancer’s devastating injury was confirmed by Mainland Chinese media, and photos of the hospitalized dancer appeared online.
Ms. Liu, 26, fell more than 3 m when she leapt to a moving platform controlled by People’s Liberation Army soldiers, according to accounts of the incident published Monday in the Yangzi Evening News and online. The platform moved before she could plant her feet, web postings say, and Ms. Liu fell to the ground, landing on her back.
Ms. Liu was to be the lone solo dancer in the opening ceremonies, the Shanghai Daily confirmed on Wednesday, Aug. 13. The ceremonies included 14,000 dancers, 9,000 of them PLA soldiers.
The Shanghai Daily quoted doctors at the No. 206 People’s Liberation Army Hospital in Beijing who said the young woman would likely spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair and would rely on others for care. It offered no explanation for why the news had been held until two-and-a-half weeks after the accident.
Incensed bloggers circulated reports that it took over an hour for paramedics to arrive and take Ms. Yan to the hospital, where doctors reportedly operated on her for six hours.
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Cmon’ China. All this secrecy only backfires and hurts them in the long run.
I’m starting to see ALOT of blogs and editorials really angry about Beijing’s continuing screwups. :(
Pretty sad. She fell all because the PLA soldiers moved the moving platform that she was to land on too soon.
If this happened in the states and US military soldiers were at fault for the moving platform incident, there would be a major lawsuit against the military. They would be paying out the nose for what happened to her.
i felf sorry for the dancer. i hope the government will take care of her in future, that is the least they can do.
Thanks for the full story cole… I was a bit lazy to translate the initial report.
There is no need for the Chinese government to cover up the news… accidents happen, it’s sad but most people would understand it. All the secrecy only make things worse.
I certainly hope the Chinese government would take care of her, at least financially. Nothing could compensate the injury, not even a billion dollars could do… but they should at least do whatever they can for Liu Yan.
it’s terrible for what had hapened to the girl. .She looks so much in pain and sad.Wish her all the best
at first I thought something’s wrong with the picture, at a glance it looks like she have 3 hands, because there’s 3 people holding her hand. and then I just noticed again that the person stand next to ZYM were not holding hands but just giving a thumbs up