Athlete of the day
Yao Ming and the Chinese men's basketball team takes its shot at Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and the "Redeem Team" from the United States at 10:15 a.m.(EDT) and scheduled to be shown live as part of eight hours of daytime coverage that starts at 10 a.m. on NBC.
When Yao came to America to play in the NBA with the Houston Rockets, it was in part to expose him to the game at its highest level. The moment when that could pay off is at hand with the Beijing Games and this matchup with Team USA.
How big is the 7-foot-6 Yao's presence at these Games?
"In China, Yao is the messiah," American guard Dwyane Wade said Friday.
The Americans face another big obstacle, too. The crowd will be largely Chinese, making it a hostile environment for the U.S., coached by Duke's Mike Krzyzewski.
Country of the day
Russia
Population: 141,377,752
Location: Europe/Asia
Area: 6,592,772 square miles
National anthem: Gosudarstvenny Gimn Rossiyskoy Federatsii (Hymn of the Russian Federation)
Top medal contenders: Diver Dmitry Sautin has won more Olympic diving medals than anyone in history, and he's back. The track and field athletes are expected to contend for many medals. The men's and women's basketball teams, women's and men's volleyball teams and women's water polo team also are contenders.
Olympic history: Russia is making its seventh Olympic appearance as an independent nation. Its most successful sport has been track and field (42 medals).
Olympic fact: In both Sydney (88 medals) and Athens (92), Russia was second in the medal standings behind the U.S.
All-time medals: 250. Gold: 86. Silver: 80. Bronze: 84.
— Sarah Rothschild, Miami Herald
This day in Olympic history
Aug. 10, 1928, Amsterdam: Henry "Bobby" Pearce of Australia captured the first of his back-to-back Olympic rowing victories in single sculls. He won a quarterfinals race against Victor Suarin of France, even though Pearce held up halfway through in order to let a family of ducks swim clear.
— Mark Maloney, Lexington Herald-Leader.
Source: The Complete Book of the Olympics
On TV
After breakfast basketball in the U.S., it's another morning swim (Beijing time) as Americans Michael Phelps, Katie Hoff and Brendan Hansen chase gold in the prime-time pool
Also, gymnasts take to the mats for women's team qualifying. Teenagers Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin lead the reigning world champion U.S. team.
Chinese invention of the day
Quicker picker-uppers (chopsticks)
Chopsticks originated in China and evidence of their use dates back to the Shang dynasty (1766-1122 B.C.). In China, the substitution of chopsticks for knives at the table reflected how the scholar replaced the warrior as a cultural hero.
The eating utensils are used in other Asian cultures but some universal rules of etiquette apply:
Don't use chopsticks to make noises or to gesture. Don't use them to toy with or pierce food. Don't stick them upright in your bowl of rice, which is a common symbol for food offerings to the dead.
And beware of losing control: Dropping them is bad luck.
— Luciana Chavez, The News & Observer
Observations
- Dancing girls apparently translate even into communist cultures. At beach volleyball, a colleague reports that the sand, smog, heat, American music and would-be Laker girls all combined to make him feel like he was in Los Angeles. The dancing girls were Chinese and wore skimpy costumes, just like their American counterparts.
- There have been two near-riots in the Main Press Center so far. The first came on 8-8-08, as dozens of Chinese journalists pushed and shoved their way in line at what had been a nearly deserted post office until then. Why? They all wanted to mail stuff that had the 8-8-08 postmark, since the number "eight" is considered lucky in the Chinese culture.
- Riot No.2 offered shades of 1992 and the original Dream Team. During the U.S. men's basketball press conference Friday, the foreign photographers and cameramen stormed Kobe Bryant, surrounding him and standing dangerously on tables above him as volunteers tried to shoo them away. Bryant was unhurt and unfazed.
- One really cool thing about the opening ceremony was how basically everyone in China stopped to watch. I took a bus back to my hotel when the ceremony was close to over and there were people in the streets everywhere. Why? The bars and restaurants were so crowded that they couldn't get in, but they were watching the TVs through the plate-glass windows and applauding whenever something spectacular happened.