maxiewawa

The last time I watched the Olympics (before the Beijing games) I had just arrived in China. All the coverage was in a strange foreign language, and just turning on the TV was intimidating. The language hasn’t changed, but this time I understand most of what’s happening. I’ve got a volleyball game playing on the TV in the background as I type, the USA vs Cuba. It’s pretty close.

Being an Australian, I was naturally concerned about the coverage of Australian events. But since the first day of competition on the weekend I can say that I’ve been happily surprised. CCTV (China’s government run TV network) has 3 channels dedicated to the Olympics, and although they concentrate on Chinese events (well duh, I am of course in China!) they have been showing a wide range of events. It’s rare that Chinese athletes are in three different events at the same time, so at least one of the channels is free for major events. This is something that we haven’t learnt yet in Australia, so often the final of the hockey (or something) is interrupted to see some Australian shooter win bronze in the trap event.

So I’ve been able to see whats-her-name break a world record in the swimming, and whats-his-face win gold in the pool this morning too. I watched Australia play soccer last night, and get beaten. Soccer always leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth, it always seem that South Americans and Europeans are so quick to fall over and grab their legs, and referees are so quick to award free kicks. It’s a shame, because I enjoyed soccer so much in high school.

Or it might just be that my country is so rubbish at it!