JANE

     After Spanish fans’ abuse towards Hamilton was known around the world, Lewis’ father revealed that there were some people in China who were also quite abusive, not Chinese fans, but people who had travelled from Spain. The FIA president said it would be an overreaction to cancel the Spanish Grand Prix, but they already had taken measures to ensure that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated. He also said motorsport shouldn’t be affected by racism, since in motorsport no one cares about your background, race, gender or religion; people only care about how fast you are; and because of this it has brought people from different part of the world together.

     I don’t know whether this kind of abuse has happened before. But being a passionate Formula 1 lover myself, I was shocked by the news. I feel great resonance to the FIA president’s words. I love this sport, and I love all those excellent drivers, no matter what his skin color is. Shummi has been the hero in my heart for years because of his unparallelled achievements, his determination and strong will. Since Shummi retired, I’ve been very upset, and I felt there was no one to watch any more on the track, until I saw him, Lewis Hamilton. His talent, his modesty, his smile…everything is so impressive. I believe he will rule the sport for the next maybe decade or even longer.

     I simply just cannot understand why people are so intolerant. Everyone is born to be equal despite his or her skin color. Those Spanish are not real F1 fans; they are just a group of undercivilized racists. They cannot stand Lewis’ talent and accomplishment; they cannot bear their “national hero” Fernando Alonso been beaten by his more promising teammate. I think this kind of people should be banned from entering the track, because their purpose is not to enjoy the match, but to bring in disharmony and hatred which is against the ethos of this sport.

     Go! Lewis! No matter what, there are always people like me behind you!

     I went to the Beijing Olympics and Paralympics Core-Volunteer Foreign Languages Winter Training Camp during the first week of our winter break. It was pretty much a coincidence that I could go there, and I had doubt before I made that decision since I had no idea what it would be like. But I don’t regret going there.

     Actually I didn’t learn much during that week since they just taught some very basic things of English, like pronunciation. What impressed me most was the atmosphere and the friendships we formed. The teachers were so enthusiastic, it’s totally beyond your imagination. We got up at around six in the morning, then an unimaginable busy day started. We had to get to the classroom before seven, then it’s morning exercise time, mostly jogging,  under the leadership of an “officer”. It was a semi-military winter camp. Even when we went to the canteen we marched in procession. We had four quizzes each day, before the three meals and one before going back to dorm at around 9:40 pm. Very tight timetable indeed.

     Thought it was not that comfortable living there, a suburban university of Beijing, I enjoyed it. Even when I met a stranger in the canteen or down the hallway we usually would smile at each other. It’s such a wonderful experience. We learned we are not just volunteers of the Beijing Olympics, we are also the face of China.

    Britain has decided that their athletes will wear masks while competing during the Beijing Olympic Games in order to protect them from the heavy pollution. Many leading Olympic countries are working on how to solve this pollution issue during the Games, but they decide to take different measures. The US team will wear masks but not in competition while the Australian and the Canadian teams will not wear masks at all. Britain decided to do this because they want to offer their athletes the best chances to win. The Americans are more concerned about their relations with China. They don’t want to create embarrassment. The Australians have prepared a large team of medical specialists and they believe their medical strategy will give them an edge.     

     Britain’s decision is understandable. If I were the authorities I probably would do the same thing since I want to protect our athletes’ health. But is Beijing’s air quality really that bad? I’m not sure. Having lived here for nearly three years, I do feel this is a polluted city. I once heard a piece of news saying the so-called “quality air condition” in China cannot be counted as “qualified” in many other countries. That’s ironic. Anyways, hope no events will be postponed during the Games due to the air quality.

     Elizabeth Loisel, the head coach of China’s women football team was fined for tardiness.

     I first heard this piece of news several days ago on TV. I think this is a good start. China’s national teams tend to prefer foreign coaches. It seems that foreigners know us better than ourselves. That’s ridiculous of course. But maybe they are more experienced, or they have more advanced training methods. And that’s the main reason why we spend so much money hiring foreign coaches. Foreigners tend to have more privileges than we original Chinese in China. This has become a tradition. And just because of that many foreigne coaches are spoiled. They think they can do whatever they want, however they want it. And we used to endure them for a long time. But what did we get? Maybe a little better scores, a little higher ranks, but we never got what we expected. Of course this is not all the coaches’ fault. We have problems too. A big one is, I think, we don’t give them enough time. Usually before they are hired a goal is set for them in a limited period of time. And if they can’t reach that goal within that time which is uaually quite short, they will be fired. I don’t think that’s the right way of doing things. When it comes to training a team, it takes time. How can we expect those coaches to achieve something amazing if we don’t give them enough time? That’s our part of fault. Back to the foreign coaches, they have to be clear about what their job is, and work hard for their goal. Not everyone is like Ms Loisel, but obviously her behavior represents some of the problems of the foreign coaches in China.

     I support the team’s decision. It is time to let those coaches know what is discipline.