On March 16th, Xinhua released a piece of news that the famous basketball player Yao Ming may become the first person in mainland to be the torchbearer.

 According to the official statement, the Olympic flame will be lit on March 24th (TODAY) in Olympia, Greece. The flame is scheduled to arrive in Sanya in Hainan Province after it arrives in mainland. That is to say, Sanya is the first place that the torch will arrive in mainland.

A Sanya local government official said that Yao represents China’s sporting celebrities and he had the honor to be the mainland’s first relay runner. Another famous player, Yi Jianlian, will also take part in the torch relay as Yao’s backup torchbearer.

 We heard that Yao got a stress fracture in his left foot the other days. And the news reports that he will recover later and decide whether he will participate in the Games.

Whatever happens, the torch relay is expected and considered to be the important part of the Olympic Games. The route has been set in China, in Yunnan, people there will performance a kind of traditional dance, bamboo pole dance to celebrate the arrival of the torch in the following May.

 And the official said that several other celebrities like Yang Lan will participate in the torch relay. And I think the participation of the sport celebrities will be the respect and display of culture to the Olympic Games. The Olympic Games is held in every four years in different countries and to be a torchbearer will be one of the meaningful and valuable things for a person to treasure even for the celebrities.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/2008-03/20/content_6553393.htm

Jets and Giants Fans May Pay for the Right to Pay for Tickets.
During the passed years, National Football League has helped stadiums to profit enough money by selling season-ticket. But now the way of selling of personal seat licenses which will entitle fans to buy season tickets becomes Jets and Giants’ consideration because of the higher costs of stadium, and Jets and Giants have to repay their debt which is required by the N.F.L. So the fans have to pay extra fee for the right to get season-tickets.

Some fans begin to worry about how they can afford the extra fees. One fan is paying for four season tickets, but now, he begin to worry about that if he can pay extra fees for these tickets. There are also some fans say that they don’t care about the money because the revenue make them satisfied.

Reacting to the reaction of the public, the president of Giants say that they will look at all possibilities for the financing of the stadium. But marketers say that they provide the seat licenses is not a way of profiting from the selling. One consultant says: “They’re not stockholders in the team. But they own the seat, and that’s worth a lot.”

Some teams expresses that they will not use licenses. Now the seat licenses have been sold online and privately. Even the creator of the seasonticketrights.com say that it is difficult to say that who should pay for the right of the season tickets. Some fans also think that the plan will make some fans stay out of the court even others say that they will go to see regardless of the price.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/22/sports/football/22seat.html?_r=2&ref=sports&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

 On March 10th, Haile Gebrselassie, from Ethiopia, who is the famous long-distance runner and the record-holder of the man’s world marathon competition, said that he would not participate in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games because of the air condition which he thought would impair his health. (He suffered from asthma and had be absent in the London marathon last year.) But he said he would take part in the 10,000 meters.

On March 19th, Dr Kinpchoge Keino, IOC member and Chairman of Kenya National Olympic Committee told the Xinhua exclusively that Kenya would send a team to participate in the marathon competition of the Beijing Olympic Games. Gebrselassie’s decision is an individual thinking which would not mean Kenya’s quit of the Beijing Olympic Games.

Kinpchoge Keino said he had come to Beijing for several times, he thought and wished that he air condition and other conditions would be good for the athletes. He also said that athletes should cherish the opportunity to compete, in Kenya there are 50 to 60 athlete qualified to compete and they had trained hard for four years expected that they could performance better in the forthcoming games.

From the situation, we know that this is an issue for the whole world to consider and it also attracted the whole world to turn eyes on China, on Beijing. So during the CPPCC (Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference), the international journalists got a chance to ask the Chinese officials about the air condition in Beijing. On March 12th, foreign Minister Yang Jiechi of The People’s Republic of China was asked. I thought he gave a very interesting, considerable and right reply. He said that many athletes in the world are satisfied with the air condition of Beijing, and many Chinese athletes broke the world record in China especially in Beijing. He told the attendants that if athletes from other countries can not break the world record, they can come to Beijing for more chances. I think the news and the information around us can show that our government is trying their efforts to ensure better condition from many aspects which will contribute to the better performance of the athletes.

http://english.cri.cn/2886/2008/03/21/1722@336471.htm

As the Arizona interim coach, Kevin O’Neill is facing an uncertain future.

On Thursday night, Arizona got a big defeat in the N.C.A.A. tournament for the second consecutive season. Some thought those were the times for Arizona basketball team to have a transition, but it seems that the team players were strongly involved in against each other.
O’Neill had known that the former coach would come back Arizona before this tournament; He refused to say that he would return next season. He said that he did not have bad relationship with his two assistants who were thought loyal to him, he never talked with them because he was the head coach.

Even we are sure he had bad relationship with his assistants judging by his words and something else, the relationship between he and his players are in the normal and even better level. He changed the style of Wildcasts and trained them attaching much importance to the defense during the match.

Now, the situation of changing of coach made the player feel confused. Some of them said that the changing was happened between the coaches, which was not related to them, others said that this was not good influence for them, they expected to wait for the ending of the situation.

The situation of coach is undoubted to exert great influence on the performance of the players, which is a phenomenon for us to understand and accept easily.

http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/21/chilly-in-arizona/

Former Olympic medalist Marion Jones had lied to the prosecutors abut the use of drugs at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.On January 11, 2008, Jones was sentenced in New York. But till March 4th, she admitted to the authorities the use of drugs which had helped her win five medals in 2000. She admitted that in 2003, she had lied to the investigators that she used a kind of substance. In January, she was sentenced two six-month sentences behind bars, to run concurrently.

Jones is 32 years old, she has lost the Olympic medals which she had ever won, and her one-time “better” performance had been erased from the books which record the best results. The prison which she was sent to is a prison where most prisoners have medical problems, the reporter said that if Jones was not sent to this prison she could not admit what she had done.

We once talked about the banned substances which are used in sport. Yes, sometimes they are useful for the enhancing of their performance, but they will increase more possibility of getting some other physical diseases. And it is a kind of disrespect to other athletes who do not use the drugs.

http://english.cri.cn/2886/2008/03/08/1042@331316.htm

Lia Neal is a 13-year-old teenager who has experienced many different things in sports field compared with her peers. She is a record-breaker in swimming!

When she was 12-year-old, she had qualified for the U.S. Olympic trials and broke a record. Now she is at the age of tending to grow with a lot of energy, some people compared her to a prodigy with dark skin. Even though, she acts like a sister during the training together. Till now she has created several best performance of herself.

She is young, she is energetic, and she has little pressure, which contributed to her better performance. Just like other standout athletes or super stars who also successed at their early age. But the early success does not mean great possibility to success in the future. Some people said that many athletes had the story that mentioned above. Grace Cornelius, who held the 100 freestyle record that Neal broke, said that when she was 12-13 years old the competition was fun, but later it did not like that.

Maybe Neal would feel like that. Now she is young, she broke the record, but this does not imply that she will reach the highest level in the future. Any success is based on the working of yourself, sport is not an exception.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/sports/othersports/07swim.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=othersports

The media and the existence of sport are related in some respects.
Nowadays, some sports are commercialized by the organizers and even the audiences. Because sports were only sports for the athletes and spectators at the beginning. The athletes participated the games for nothing. However, when a sport event was over, many people wanted to discuss the result, the performance of the players and the judges. So the media became the best vehicle for this kind of discussion. And the audiences and fans turn to media because they can get the information that they want.

At the same time, the sports promoters and team owners who are aware of the importance of the coverage of media begin to contact with the journalists and the commentators to publicize the events. So some commercial companies become active in sports which are great stage for them to advertising their products nationally and internationally. I think this is the result that we can see many brands in the revenues when competitions are going on. But sport is sport, even some people can profit from it by media, this phenomenon doomed to happen because of the features of sport and the media.

Jay Coakley, Peter Donnelly Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies
Canada: Transcontinental Printing Group, 2004

Table tennis aces, Wang Nan and Zhang Yining will be the delegates of the 17th CPC National Party Congress. They are two of the delegates who attracted great attention this year. Other athletes like Liu Xiang, Wang Yifu and Zheng Jie will also participate CPC.

Some people thought it would be difficult for them to understand other delegates who are elder and are more experienced and it would be hard to discuss with them, but they said they would try their best to learn political knowledge and they had benefited from the elder generation’s policies. As for the reason to be delegates, they said it was an honor and pride to be delegates, “the honor of the nation goes beyond everything”, and this is also the thing which motivated them to be the medalist, so they train hard and performance better for the nation.

They stressed the harmonious society which had created steady environment for them to train and play for the nation. And to some extent, they are pleased of the model of sports training in China now, because the Athlete Protection Law had been issued which will solve the low level knowledge of athletes. For the 2008 Games, they said they would try their best to win, but they are no sure about the unexpected condition which would affect the competition.

I have heard that many Chinese athletes will live a hard life because they have little knowledge to be accepted by the society. This is not their fault, they had to spend the time to train, but after retired they will become normal person. When I saw this news, I was pleased and I though it will be much better for the athletes. As for the medalists, most Chinese experts are talking, but nobody dare to say he or she will be the medalist because of the condition, I think this is the responsibility for themselves and for the nation.

http://www.bjreview.com.cn/olympic/txt/2007-10/19/content_81821.htm

At the end of the last year, because the Taiwan governors thought that the torch relay passing Chinese Taipei was a decision which disrespected Taiwan. Even the government in mainland made some efforts, the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee said in a letter they would not have discussions on this issue, the torch relay can not pass the Chinese Taipei.

But now the government announced that the mainland welcomes Taiwan Compatriots to take part in the Olympic related activities, including the sports activities and culture activities. I think this is good for the people in Taiwan. The Taiwan students can participate as volunteers or the organizers of some culture activities, which will motivate the communication between the mainland and the Chinese Taipei and make more Taiwan people know more about mainland. I hope that the Olympic Games can be a bridge for two sides to communicate and to know each other, I think this will be better for two sides.

http://www.bjreview.com.cn/olympic/txt/2007-09/27/content_77962.htm

As the famous American director of Hollywood, Spielberg refused to come to Olympic Gamed this year. From his point, he quit this because of the political issue in Darfur of Sudan. Some people said that Spielberg was used as a tool by some western people who want to attract China in 2008. Spielberg’s decision measured a lot of attention from Chinese people and several governors. Some people felt disappointed about it, others even thought it was unbelievable.

Personally, I agree the first opinion, I think the Olympic Games is just a sport meeting which is not related to any political issues or political policies. Even the American President Bush said he would come to China in 2008, he said Olympic Games is a sport meeting and he would have more channel than Spielberg to communicate with China. I think this is the reason why the Chinese government gave the reaction: Do not politicize the Olympic Games. I think everyone who understands the Olympic spirit will feel disappointed about this decision.

http://english.cri.cn/2886/2008/02/17/65@324001.htm

Almost four months ago, I heard the phrase “Olympic Marketing” for the first time. Because I knew a little bit about marketing, I thought it would be difficult for me to understand Olympic Marketing. But to some degree, after three month, it was not too difficult to apprehend the meaning on the basis of knowledge of sport.

The word marketing was used in companies at the beginning, companies wanted to benefit with investment. So they had different strategies to promote their companies, to publise their products, to popularize their brand, to sell and to gain profit. These principals are true to sport or Olympics. After 1984, Los Angeles Olympic Games, Peter V. Ueberroth who is a successful business man was nominated to invest in Olympics because the IOC was facing financial crisis at that time. But, to almost everyone’s surprise, Peter V. Ueberroth profited 220 million in the Olympics. So now every country wants to host the Olympic Games because of its tremendous impact. I was thinking that the only purpose to host is just to stimulate the economy or to spread the Olympic culture or even to make the people realize the sport culture and the importance of sport ,and what kind of influence that the Olympics can exert to the normal people?

In Beijing, I can feel people’s passion to the Olympics, they have many kinds of activities to express their enthusiasm to Olympics, even some people who think the Olympics can not measure their attention in their daily life, they can also be involved in the influence of Olympics, like the price change of subway ticket, from 5 RMB to 2 RMB. These are the results of the promotion and the Olympic marketing. By doing this, the big companies or we can say the sponsors gain profit and the people enjoy their meaningful life by joining the activities. So my understanding is that the normal people gain less than the enterprises during this period. What I saw from this is that the Olympics become a way of business. Companies want to become the sponsors to benefit or to invest in Beijing to take the advantage of 2008 and profit, Beijing will be a better place for tourists to come and Chinese economy will be boosted, which are the wishes of our government and are reasonable. But some respects reflected that to host is to benefit, as for the sport and the Olympic sprit are the secondary concern. Their promotion and marketing are serviced to their interest, so the normal people only can gain the happy process of participation in this case.

From this view, the only thing I fund is-sports or we can say olympic can be a source of money.

Qiu Zhaoyi, People Sport Press,2005,11 Olympic Marketing

Recently, it is reported that McLaren possessed Ferrari’s technical information and intended to apply in his 2008 new cars. McLaren got the information without the agreement of Ferrari. Actually, there will not be the agreement because they are rivals in the competition. After the investigation of the FIA (Federation Internationale de L Automobile), the truth almost appeared. These days, McLaren apologized to Ferrari in public.

Their issue lies on a kind of gas used in the tire and the quick shift as well as the Fast fill. It is said reported that an engineer from McLaren got the information by contacting with an engineer form Ferrari secretly.

I am thinking: Why did McLaren want to get the new information? Yes, because they wanted to be better than Ferrari, therefore their drivers would gain great chance to win the championship. And then, what they can do next? They will earn more money directly or indirectly. So they can attract more potential and excellent drivers to their team, they began the new competition, then repeat the things above.

Does sports always relate to money? Now I think so, but it has deep meaning. Just like the Olympic Marketing, sports marketing are the result of the development of the society. The purposes of sports are various. It can be a way to educate the individual about personality, about the achievement of wellness and strength. Our teachers always said sport can build up one’s strong character. How do we know? Practice sport. And the athletes set good examples for us. They practices well, then we want to see the sport competitions, we pay for the ticket. The one thing that we don’t know is that the money is in the pocket of the individuals of corporations or enterprises.

I thought it was difficult for me to accept this, but now I can, even though I know something is not the reflection of the humanism. For example, in a Boxing competition, the organizer may tell the boxer to lose the games deliberately just for more selling of the tickets, for attracting more spectators. But sports is not a gold mine, we should focus on the spirit of sport. For the money, it is just a way for the organizers to invest in sport and then reinvest to sport. This is the real purpose to create the phrases “Olympic Marketing” and “Sports Marketing”. I think so.

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2007/12/7176.html

On July 13th, 2001, Juan Antonio Samaranch announced to the world that the winner to host 2008 Olympic Games was Beijing. At that moment, the whole China was like the boiling water. I am not an exception. But here is point: what I excited about was just only the winning moment, beyond the winning, I knew nothing about it at that age.
At that time, I knew the athletes trained hard together leading by a coach just like we studied hard guided by our teachers. Their goals were to reach more achievements—winning the Gold Medals. Medalists were the best athletes in the events, like high mark students are the best ones. The goal is just to teach the best, without other consideration,

The opportunity to host began making me know more about sports and Olympics. The most important one is the Olympic spirit. The creator of Modern Olympic, Pierre de Coubertin, developed it: mutual understanding, friendship, unity and fair play. The spirit is reflected in the process of holding Olympic Games and the performances of the athletes.

However, even they proposed the Olympic Truce, there were 3 Olympics were prevented by the Wars. Some political issues were involved in the Olympics. For example, the U.S. boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games because of political conflicts, and in retaliation to the U.S., Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Los Angles Games. To me, sports appear to have more relations with other fields, and I become know more about it.

Now, I find sports or we can say Olympics is a way to earn money, maybe a good access, especially for the big companies or international enterprises, like Adidas and Coca-Cola. Two years ago, my sister asked me that what kind of influence the Olympic Games will exert on Beijing or China? I just knew a little bit, but now I can say “GREAT!” In a simple sentence, just like an economist said that people in China or Beijing will live the future life ahead of 10 or 20 years. I thing this figure can convince you: there will be 2 million posts for China by holding Olympic Games.

Welcome !

This is a time for us to experience a exciting year-2008! I wish every one can carry out his/her dream in the new year and be happy everyday.
Here is a place for us to talk about sports, to discuss sports and to learn English. So I wish I can be more smart in sports in the future by talking with you.