SPO: 中国加油

The Olympics are under a day away so more sports. But first, a few words on American sports, especially trades in American sports. But just a few words. Brett Favre has gone from mythological legend, to silly bore, to uber villain. Brett it was awesome that you almost retired and then came back and led your team to the NFC Championship! Brett it's awesome that you're going to retire. Wait you're not going to retire? You're not ultra loyal to the Packers? You're a JET??? Consensus: Brett Favre is an unexpected douchebag. Manny Ramirez has gone from whacky to...whacky to ex-whackjob. Actually I don't want to talk about it. Manny, I appreciate you winning 2 World Series for us and being thoroughly entertaining and smiling at me that one time I went to work really early, but seriously...get your shit together.

Those are my few words on American sports, cause really, American sports < Olympic sports. They really do pale in comparison, but that's cause there are no trades in the Olympics. People just swap countries for money, but it's cool cause you get to see Kenyans trying to speak Danish. But today I want to talk about China, probably one of the least ethnically diverse teams (except for their coaches, which are very global in origin). I have heard the subject of this post, 中国加油, at least 100 times in the past few weeks, mostly from little kids, TVs, and Lisa He. So 中国 means China, zhong guo, it's pretty simple. 加油 means add gas, literally, but it also means like Go, as in Go China! So China add gas is how people say Let's Go China! It's not easy being a translator. People chant that phrase here a lot, often while carrying small Chinese flags. While talking sports with my barber, I said 中国加油 and he responded with 美国都加油, which means "America also add gas." I gave a hearty chuckle.

So who are the Chinese athletes garnering attention mainland wide? What sports do people here care about? Is Yao Ming really as big in person? I hope to answer at least 2 of these questions...

1) Yao Ming - basketball. I have yet to see him in person, but he is the 7'6" bamboo shoot that anchors the Houston Rockets and the Chinese National Team. Easily the most recognizable Chinese athlete worldwide and probably the most famous Chinese person alive, since Mao Tse-Tong and Bruce Lee are dead. He's got some pressure on him, as every Chinese athlete does, but not that much cause the Chinese people I've talked to would be thrilled to beat Angola and Germany and make the round of 8, and many don't even see that happening. ESPN says he'll be the flagbearer (contrary to China Daily's report) so he'll be one of the biggest (tallest) figures of the Games.

2) Liu Xiang - 110meter hurdles. He's arguably bigger than Yao Ming here. The only Chinese track & field gold medalist ever, Liu Xiang is the beneficiary of a genetic anomaly that has somehow put insane fast twitch muscles on an abnormally tall Asian man. At 6'2" and a former competitive high jumper before switching events, Liu Xiang has basically all the physical attributes that I really want. Although he won the 2004 Olympic Gold, the 2007 World Championships and held the world record of 12.88 s all at the same time, Liu Xiang is not the clear favorite. The emergence of Guantanamo-born Dayron Robles, who ran a 12.87, has set the stage for a real tense showdown. Nonetheless, the one wish that the Chinese people hope for in these Olympics, besides safety, is for Liu Xiang to win gold. I'd put money down on that too. His form is so effortless and perfected - watch him race and see how steady his upper body is during the entire race. I'm not sure if he has the pure speed to match many of his competitors, but he could hurdle blindfolded.

Disclaimer: While typing this post, I took a break to get drinks with Vivian Chen, Georgetown '11. Since then, I have shot down a mojito, long island iced tea, vodka cranberry red bull mix, 4 beers, and a 23 year old stewardess. Then I woke up today and got boxing tickets. What what?

3) Guo Jingjing - diving. While you've probably heard of Yao and Liu, Guo Jingjing is a relative unknown in the US, but of nearly equal celebrity footing in China. She's a diver, just 26 but appearing in her 4th Olympics, having competed in Atlanta at 12. She won 2 silvers in Sydney and 2 golds in Athens, where she broke out as a mega superstar. She was signed by McDonald's and then briefly kicked off the national team for commercializing too much. In addition, she hit the tabloids because of a relationship with Kenneth Fok, "the playboy grandson of the Hong Kong business tycoon" according to Wikipedia. Sounds like a few of my relatives. Anyways, she's a diver, which means she spins and rotates very well and is surprisingly jacked. She's decent looking but IMO doesn't deserve the tabloid hype. Also, her relationship has gotten mostly negative publicity cause Chinese people apparently don't want their athletes having fun and just want them training. This is kind of the opposite of American sports fans who go gaga at the sound of "Brady & Gisele."

4) Wang Hao - table tennis. Ping Pong is China's national sport, and nothing would bring more national shame than an upset in Ping Pong. Ensuring gold in men's singles will be Wang Hao's (and Ma Lin) mission, and he's in prime position to do it as a defending silver medalist and the current world #1. Ma Lin is the world's #2. Wang Hao uses an unorthodox grip that they call the penhold, which looks and sounds really freaking tough. The feeling I've gotten from co-workers is that China dominates this sport, expecting to win at least 3 of the 4 golds offered, but South Korea and Sweden are strong rival contenders.

5) Lin Dan - badminton. More on the sport in a second, but first be aware of Lin Dan. He's the 2 time defending world champion in men's singles and apparently has kind of an edgy personality that the media likes, and going out with a female Chinese badminton team member. I've never seen him play so I can't really add anything else.

6) Zuo Shiming - boxing. Zuo is a 2 time world champion amateur boxer and won bronze in Athens. According to Time, which placed him #20 on 100 athletes to watch for, he's 5'6" yet somehow boxes in the 48 kg light flyweight division (the lightest division), and he's very muscular. 48 kg is 105.6 pounds, which means he almost could have wrestled Joseph Baron. I don't know how he can possibly be that light, but as a former wrestler, I know it couldn't have been fun and I wouldn't be stunned to hear that Chinese doctors had removed several heavy organs from his body. He may very well win gold in a sport that the Chinese are again traditionally not very good.

Once again, there are 639 Chinese athletes and I don't know all of them, so if there are other compelling figures to include please let me know. I do know what sports the average Chinese is interested in though after asking that question 1000 times at work. Like most people, they're interested mainly in the sports that their countrymen are good at, so 110 meter hurdles, diving and ping pong are big events. In addition, basketball is HUGE here - a good anecdote is my conversation with a taxi driver while returning drunk from San Li Tunr one night. My Chinese is still fairly hard on the ears, and unlike some people's, alcohol does not improve it. Nonetheless, I had a 30 minute conversation about the NBA with this guy, who knew the Chinese name (can you guess who Ji-nu-bi-li is?) of at least half the players, and he told me he's not expecting much of the Chinese team in the Olympics but would be thrilled if they advanced. The Chinese are in a "pool of death" with the USA Redeem Team, defending world champion Spain, Greece (which beat the US in said world championships), Germany and certain cellar dweller Angola. 4 teams advance and essentially China will have to defeat Dirk Nowitzki and the Germans to do so. Anyways, the Chinese love basketball and tickets for the opening game, China vs US are going for 5000 kuai, which is ridiculous for a first round certain blowout...although if China won, God knows the absolute riot that would ensue. But back to other sports, Badminton and Tennis are also extremely popular. There aren't too many Chinese tennis hopefuls, one girl is decent, but badminton is a sport that China actually dominates.

I had never watched badminton at a competitive level before I came to China but I've seen a lot of it here. Apparently, Indonesia, Malaysia, China and Denmark are some of the sport's powers, which surprised me because I always thought of it as the lawn sport of the British elite. While a lifelong tennis player and big tennis fan, badminton objectively contains more action. Whereas tennis points end quickly, as short as one service ace and typically as long as a few strokes, badminton volleys as they call them last much longer. Because of the shuttlecock's floatiness, contestants can basically slam upwards all the time, and the cock will fall back down in play. It's like a polished version of a tennis game where both players are at the net and just volleying back and forth. Badminton players are rail-thin but extremely quick and often with good ups. Almost every volley contains at least a few drop shots and a ton of slams. Despite its feathery form, a Chinese player n 2005 slammed it 206 miles per hour for a world record. The fastest tennis serve was 153 mph by Andy Roddick, and his serve once got stuck in clay, so you should be impressed. It really is an exciting sport and I'm surprised it hasn't caught on in the States. A few more notes on badminton: serves must be in this weird backhanded underhand form while standing in front box and must reach the back box. The boxes are shaped like a tennis court, except that the alleys in doubles also extend back behind the baseline. If you've never seen this sport played, like I hadn't, I strongly suggest you tune in during the Olympics and watch Lin Dan slam some shuttlecock.