Archive for January, 2008

A few days ago, Bode Miller won the Lauberhorn downhill, reaching Phil Mahre’s U.S. record of 27 World Cup victories. It means that with one more victory, he will fulfill his dream to be best American skier ever. The downhill course on the Lauberhorn varies widely and it is the longest course. But making clean turn in different situations is what Miller verses in. Besides, he is in best condition now. The good weather and course preparation also contribute to his victory. To some extent, Miller is quite special. Due to the conflicts with U.S. skiing officials, he broke away from the team and organized the “Team America.”
Bode Miller is a hero in my mind, not only because of his talent but his particular style. He gets trained in his own way with his training system. It really works very well. We can see its function from Miller’s victories. Maybe we could do a research on his system to find its shinging places. His victory on the Lauberhorn doesn’t surprise me. His gift is there. His good condition is there. The victory is on his hand. The only thing he needs to do is to grasp it. In March, he still had competitions. Hope he will achieve his goal at that time. Good Luck!

Last October, Marion Jones, the former Olympic track gold medalist admitted that she took the steroid from September 2000 to July 2001 and lied to federal investigators in November 2003. Recently she was sentenced to 6 months in prison for lying about using steroids and check-fraud scam. Now she feels extremely sorry and regrets about what she has done. She had tried to plead the judge, but in vain. The judge thinks it is necessary to punish her for the mistakes she made. In his opinion, athletes should be responsible for the society since they’ve served as a model, even a hero. People will follow their behaviors. So what Jones did may affect the society badly. It is important to remind people of not cheating.
After learning this news, I feel very disappointed about her deed. She had won five medals in 2000 Sydney Olympics and she was ever considered the fastest woman in the world. Now finally we find everything is wrong. She doesn’t deserve those acclaims. I agree with the judge. He is right. And also her example could make others think twice before they do. After the incident was exploded on the surface, Jones was knocked off her pedestal suddenly. All her reputation and money had gone. We should remember this, especially for those athletes who intend to the same stupid thing.
Hope we can have a clean Olympics in 2008!