Day 6.
Today we relaxed. Woke up late. Watched USA own France. Ate lunch. Planned itinerary for the rest of Beijing.
Tomorrow our cousin Jimalyn scored us some tickets to Greco-Roman wrestling.
No attacks from below the waist. It's the homosexual one I think. Like if you give up a point, you have to lay on the ground and the other dude mounts you. Like hump you. Look at these guys. I think the one is kissing the other one.
SO random facts about Greco-Roman wrestling. Remember the name ALEXANDER KARELIN. From the former SOVIET UNION. Nicknamed the Russian Bear and the Meanest Man on Earth. ALthough he was not mean. This is guy is the most dominating Olympian of all time.
His conditioning, quickness, and incredible physical stature for his weight, perhaps combined with his dominance of the sport, led to him being known as "The Experiment" by much of the rest of the world. The term connoted the notion that his strength and skill were the result of some kind of scientificexperiment. When asked why he thought he was called that, Karelin noted that others don't understand because "I train every day of my life as they have never trained a day in theirs.
Karelin was famous for his body lift, the "Karelin Lift," where facing the opponent who was lying flat on the mat to keep from being thrown, Karelin was able to lift the opponent from around his waist and throw him all the way over his shoulders, scoring from 2 to 5 points depending on the height of the throw. Karelin's ability to perform this throw against elite opponents weighing as much as 130 kg was amazing to audiences as well as other participants and observers of the sport.
Here are some stats about his career.
He was a wrestler in the 130 kg, 286 lbs weight class. He won gold medals in the 1988, 1992, 1996 Olympics. He went UNDEFEATED in the last 13 YEARS of his CAREER. He went the last 6 YEARS of his CAREER without giving up a SINGLE point. In the 1996 olympics, Karelin won with a separated pectoral muscle. His opponent had previously lost to him 20 times in a row.
He lost in the Sydney 2000 gold medal bout to a worthy adversary Rulon Gardner. More on him later. His first loss in 13 years. How is this possible. It was one of the biggest upsets ever.
Here is his career
| 1967 | Born September 19 in Novobirsk, Siberia |
| 1980 | Takes up wrestling at age 13 |
| 1988 | Wins Olympic gold medal in Seoul, South Korea; also wins European Championship |
| 1989-91, 1993-95, 1998-99 | Wins European and World Championships |
| 1992 | Wins Olympic gold medal in Barcelona, Spain; also wins European Championship |
| 1996 | Wins Olympic gold medal in Atlanta, Georgia; also wins European Championship |
| 1997 | Wins World Championship |
| 1999 | Elected to the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament |
| 2000 | Wins European Championship |
| 2000 | Wins Olympic silver medal in Sydney, Australia; also wins European Championship |
| 2000 | Retires from wrestling |
Can you say HERO.
The man he lost to, Rulon Gardner is pretty amazing too. Not because he was a wrestler, but his amazing ability to SURVIVE. This guy survives everything. Read this. It's insane.
Rulon Gardner has had an amazing streak of luck with survival. While in grammar school, Rulon was impaled by an arrow in a show-and-tell incident. In 2002, Gardner was stranded on a wilderness snowmobile trip and had to have a toe amputated after suffering frostbite. In 2004, he was hit by a car while riding his motorcycle. In February 2007, Gardner and two others crashed a Cirrus SR-22 airplane into Lake Powell. After surviving the impact, they were forced to swim in 44 °F (7 °C) water for over an hour. The three survived overnight without shelter or fire in 28 °F (−2 °C) air temperature. His amazing luck streak continued when a fisherman, out of his usual route, found and picked them up in the morning.
I mean if you're going to lose might as well be to this guy. He is survivor man.
Rulon Gardner.
Ok. Then Tim and I went shopping. It was a pretty clear day from all the rain the day and night before.
A main shopping area.
Mall.
This looks like the players.
There is a lot of stuff to buy. We will come back another day when it is less crowded. It is a nuthouse. The official Olympic store is so packed. It smells like human BO. There are a lot of Wei Gwoh Ren's, foreigners. I was standing in line and this Chinese guy tried to cut me in line. I pushed him back with my elbow. OWNED.
Crowded.
Medal count.
Outdoor viewing
We will come back another day. Our cousin gave us free McDonald's meal vouchers. We just wanted the fries so we gave the rest to some homeless guy.
Trying to get home was terrible. We couldn't get a taxi to take us where we wanted. We don't know how to get back to where we live, so our Uncle wrote it down on a piece of paper. Too bad none of the cab drivers can READ. We had to call our Uncle and he had to give them directions over the phone.
More cousins are staying with us. They had a later flight and we all ate together.
Now I am going to sleep to watch some wrestling tomorrow. Nice.
-James
No comments:
Post a Comment