Beijing Olympics 2008

So the game has begun! All eyes around the world are watching the games closely as China hosts it’s first ever Olympic games this year. The opening ceremony which was held on the auspicious date (According to the chinese) 080808 at 8pm started and ended in a grand fanfare of lights, colours and music. Over 90 000 spectators were in the stadium watching first hand as the opening ceremony unfolded for more than 3 hours.

I was watching the opening and from the begining to the end, it was almost flawless. Directed by none other than Zhang Yimou and internationaly acclaimed filmmaker and cinematographer, he makes use of space, colour and technology to bring the ceremony to life. I was impressed through and through and after watching it, i now have a better respect towards the people of China. China is now ready to take on the new world. The final hour or so of the ceremony came the march of athletes from all over the world. With a record of over 200 nations participating in the games this year, it took a quite a while before the Singapore contingent of athletes came into view. But still it was still a sight to behold, as Li Jiawei walked around the new Bird’s Nest Stadium as a flag bearer.

And today, Tao Li, our olympic athlete hopeful, started competiting in the butterfly 100m women heats event and came out top in the heats. She made it to semifinal, ranked no. 4. The semifinal event will take place on sunday morning, around 10am. She equalled an asian record in the heats event of 57.77seconds.