A day at the Olympics: Tennis, water polo and beach volleyball
Wednesday, 13th August 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
The Olympics is a couple dozen world-class sporting events rolled into one. Here's my report on a day spent soaking up as much of it as possible.8:30 a.m. I run into an old water polo teammate on the Line 10 subway. She has an extra ticket for the afternoon session, which she gives to me. This might be my only chance to see water polo, one of my favorite sports.
9:50 a.m. Get off the subway at the supposed Line 8 transfer point. We follow signs for Line 8 that actually lead us to a security line to get into the Olympic Green—does Line 8 actually exist?
We get in the security line and a volunteer who noticed our tickets pulls us out to tell us that we need to take a bus to get to the tennis.
10:10 a.m. We arrive at the tennis venue, after a ride past the Water Cube and Bird's Nest. I noticed some sponsors' tents, looking a little empty. I've heard that sponsors are a little miffed that only ticket holders are allowed into the Olympic Green (a huge area containing eight venues). They were hoping for more foot traffic.
Zheng Jie in the second round of women's tennis singles
10:30 a.m. Peng Shuai's match with Alize Cornet of France begins at Center Court. Peng is not playing great, and loses 6-2, 6-2. But luckily our tickets give us access to all of the venue's courts, so more tennis awaits.
1:00 p.m. We move from Center Court to No. 1 Court, where Zheng Jie is playing Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain. It's the best tennis match that I have ever seen live, with beautiful shots from both players, great effort to chase down balls and at least one deuce in almost every set. The crowd is enthusiastic, maybe a little too much so. Despite regular requests from officials, they never really get the message that tennis culture calls for quiet while each point is being played. With a great boost from the home crowd, the under-rated Zheng wins in three sets that take more than three hours to play.
4:00 p.m. I head to the Olympic bus depot hoping to find an easy shuttle ride to the water polo venue. None of the volunteers seem to know how to get there, so I make my best guess and hop on the bus line 5. It gets me there slowly, and I still have a pretty good walk from the bus to Ying Tung Natatorium.
4:40 p.m. I arrive at the water polo in time to see the second half of play between two of the world's best men's teams, Serbia and Croatia. Croatia wins, 11-8.
China men's water polo lost to Germany, 6-5
5:00 p.m. I watch a surprisingly good Chinese men's team play Germany in the last water polo game of the afternoon. Water polo is new to China, but its teams are improving fast. China's goalie plays great, but the team seems exhausted in the last quarter. China loses, 6-5.
6:45 p.m. I arrive, via subway and taxi, at the beach volleyball venue in Chaoyang Park. It's beautiful from the outside and rockin' on the inside. In addition to the great athleticism on display, the crowd is going nuts over the blaring party music and the bikini-clad dancers who entertain twice for every match played. Beers for 5 RMB do their part to add to the party atmosphere. We get to see a total of six matches, lasting until midnight and including the Chinese duo of Zhang Xi (张希) and Xue Chen (薛晨), who defeat their German opponents.
10:30 I have my second random collision with a friend who doesn't live in China. Charley Walters, a friend from college, has flown in from Los Angeles to watch the games. He has been to the last five Olympics and is blogging about his trip at Olympics or Bust. Just how much of a party is the beach volleyball tournament? Check out his video below.
12:00 a.m. I go home exhausted after three events in three venues, with four competitions featuring Chinese athletes.
Tags: beach volleyball, Beijing Olympics, tennis, water polo, Xue Chen, Zhang Xi, Zheng Jie, 张希, 薛晨
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