The Perfect Hostesses...at BoB

If you have been watching the medal presentation ceremonies at the the various sporting venues of the Beijing Olympics, one thing in particular stood out clearly....the elegant and pretty hostesses performing their roles to perfection. I was wondering about how they were selected, what kind of training did they receive and what essential qualities were the Games organisers looking for?
Since our country will be hosting the very 1st Youth Olympics in 2010, we would do well to learn from China....otherwise our hostesses may very well turn out to be no more than "Ah Lians". As a matter of fact, I have witnessed many of such "Ah Lians" in my long association with organised sports in Singapore. They were chosen unwittingly by people in charge who did not exercise care and diligence. Quite often, they were "friends of friends" types.



The "ah Lians" had no looks, no proper posture, no elite training...nothing!
Just look at the pictures of these Beijing hostesses...I'm certain they look every inch better in real life.( The one in photo below caught my attention. I thought that famed actress GONG LI was somehow involved !! )
Ok, so how were they chosen? Where do they come from? What were the criteria for selection? Read on.....

297 hostesses were needed. Plus 40 more volunteers. Age between 18 and 24. Height must be between 1.68 to 1.78 metres. All must be university educated. Physical requirements: All must have a " ruddy and shiny complexion " with a plump but not fat body. Must be able to smile with 8 teeth showing and hold it for 30 minutes. There are also exacting facial requirements like eyes to face 3/10 length and width of nose and mouth ratio to face. They must be able to run 1 km daily to keep fit.

Despite all these stringent criteria more than 5,000 hopefuls applied.

The lucky ones were put through a vigorous glamour boot camp. One report I came across revealed that all applicants had to strip to their birthday suit as trained medical personnel took their detailed measurements.

Did they protest?

Certainly not, none did. All were vying to be among the 297 hostesses required for the Games !

Country comes first to these ladies.

Those selected knew their roles and duties are simple, yet were fully aware that much is really at stake in the glitz and glamour of worldwide TV. One tiny mistake and you may put your country to shame, undoing all the hard work put in.

They have 5 different sets of costumes made for them...blue and white porcelain, embroidery and jade.

You would have noticed that at every medal presentation 2 dressed in lovely "Cheongsam" will be at either side of the podium. Another 3 or more dressed in knee-length dresses would hold the platters bearing the medals and bouquets of 9 red roses.

Why 9 ? Nine in Chinese means everlasting!

And "red roses" why? Red in Chinese belief means lucky !

All the hostesses I've seen looked very elegant, immaculate and very precise. Their appearance project GLAMOUR and PROFESSIONALISM.

Perhaps, at the end of the Games, the worldwide audience or the IOC should award the final and last medal of the Games to these hostesses.

And what should the medal colour be? In my humble opinion, I would award them a 10 out of 10 score.

GOLD ....no less!


Photo credits: Beijing Olympics website

A True Olympic Heroine ...Zhang Ning

Did any of you watch this fantastic match between Reigning World #1 and World Champion Xie Xingfang and the Defending Champion of the Women's Singles event from the last Athens Olympics, Zhang Ning?

This was the only all Chinese Final in Badminton in Beijing.

It was a battle between the younger queen and much older "mother of the Chinese team ". Xie is 27 while Zhang is 33.
Zhang Ning was playing with a heavily strapped right thigh and have been having a serious knee
problem for the last couple of years. She was struggling to come to terms with her constant injuries. Xie has no such injuries we know of.
When the match got underway, I noticed a very confident and smiling Zhang Ning on court while Xie appeared very tense.
In terms of skill level, both are equal, pretty much the same with most of the top elite players.
But with so much at stake...as an Olympic GOLD holds...it would require more than just skill and
physical fitness to truimph.
It was to be a battle of the toughest sort...one that can never be seen fully.
And that battle has nothing to do with who your opponent is.
It is essentially a battle within your own mind about yourself first.
Zhang Ning proved to be mentally stronger when it mattered.
She won the 1st game, lost the 2nd and in the decider even when Xie levelled to 16 all, she kept
her focus and went on a final attack to clinch the GOLD.
To be an Olympic Champion that 1st time at age 29, was a huge achievement already.
To repeat that feat, 4 years later and older, puts her in the realm of the Badminton Legends forever.

Top photo: [ source Badzine ]

Bottom photo: [ Beijing Olympics website ]

No longer the same old story ending !

In my previous post titled ' Alien in Beijing', I recounted how we have all
been patiently waiting for our next Olympic medal of any colour since Tan Howe Liang's Silver achieved in Rome, in 1960.....48 year to date.!
And I said I will make a special Magical wish for this sad state of affairs to change ( see my remarks in Green at the post ). It is not a joke.

I was watching the game "LIVE" on TVthis afternoon. Singapore had let slip a 2-1 lead against South Korea in this S-Final of the women's Table-Tennis played in Beijing, when Dang Ye Seo beat Wang Yuegu (Sg) in 3 easy sets...to tie it up at 2 - 2 overall matches won.
It was now left totally to Park Mi Young of S Korea and Feng Tianwei of Singapore ( Photo of Tianwei being hugged by SG coach Liu G D) to decide the final outcome and the fate of our 2 teams. Tianwei had already given us a BIG head start by beating Dang Ye Seo 3-0. And now, in the 5th and final match up, our destiny was in her hands.
She won the 1st 2 sets, lost the 3rd and in the 4th set with Matchpoint at 10-9 in her favour,
her rival Park served out....and the score was 11-9. SINGAPORE HAD MADE HISTORY AGAIN after 48 long years of drought.!
By beating S Korea 3-2 , we advaced into the FINAL against the host nation CHINA.
That match will be played on Sunday night...2 days from now.
All the players should be congratulated .
But the one player who showed RAW COURAGE and displayed TRUE GRIT more than the others, is FENG Tianwei.
In my sporting book she is the S'porean Heroine of this Sensational, history-making win.
She is the one that ensured that the previous story told every 4 years,for this past half century, would no longer have the same old boring ending.
Remember this date Singaporeans!.........Friday, 15th August 2008, Beijing Olympics.

There's an ALIEN in Beijing !

The living legend pictured here cannot be a human. He must be an alien from some other planets, just like his predecessor Mark Spitz, who won 7 Gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Can they really be human when you see their superhuman efforts in the pool, outclassing all other humans, many with better physique than the two "aliens"?
M Phelps' performance at the pool so far, has earned him 6 Gold medals. He won 5 Gold medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics. The total is now officially 11 Golds, making him the most bemedalled athlete in the History of the Olympics. And he has a couple more events to go yet! He has completely overtaken the 4 others who each had 9 Golds in all. Legends such as Carl Lewis, that great USA track and field superstar. Phelps sensational wins have been described widely in the media as," phenomenal, unbelievable, sensational, out of this world...etc". See.."out of this world " has alien connotation, right?
Whether he is an alien or not, many may not know that after his exploits at the last Athen's Games he was hounded by the American media and criticised for not being able to achieve 8 Golds [ he won only 5 Golds]. Can you all believe that? He was the most bemedalled athlete yet he was hounded! How can this be explained? Have they lost their minds?
The answer lies in just one word and that word is...Perspective.
They obviously had a different perspective to...say ours.
Our one and very lonely silver medal came from Uncle TAN HOWE LIANG in weightlifting at the 1960 Rome Olympics. Since then......a BIG,BIG ZERO! NIL! KOSONG! No medal of any colour or type and yet we keep sending participants and contingents, with lots of hopes and promises but in the end....the same old story, the same old boring ending, with no kick or spice. That same story will be invariably told and repeated once every 4 years.
Some of our Sg competitors are still within earshot of achieving something in Beijing. But that also happened in Athens and Sydney as well. And we all knew how it ended too. SIGH!
The Wise Owl here is making a special magical wish for our S'pore challenge in Beijing to have
a different ending. Can it be done? Why not? It's all in the MIND !
We should learn from the Alien.
He gave an interview recently when he was starkly reminded about the media's hounding.
His answer ...he does not give a damn about what they think or write or say.
He only needs to contend with himself!
The Devil or Giant is in his own MIND...not others.
That my friend, is the secret of the Alien's sucess.

A real Olympic Hero ! Weightlifting.

I have been catching up on all the "Live" Olympic action via the non-stop "Live" telecast on our
various TV channels. The greatest show on Earth has seen 5 days of top competition in all sports...except Athletics.

If you want to look for the best and latest lessons on the meaning of true grit, fighting spirit, mental toughness, endurance, patience, humility and other positive human attributes....then watch the Olympics closely.
I cannot even begin to know where to start as I have witnessed so many fine examples of these values.
Take for example Liu Chunhong from China, competing in the 69 kg Weightlifting event for women ( photo here ).
Her performance in the 2 compulsory sets of the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk broke all kinds of Olympic and World Records. In her very 1st attempt in the Clean and Jerk, she lifted 149 Kg more than anyone else could lift. Then she added 9 kg for her next attempt and the weight was 158 kg.
She managed to lift this for a new World record. I actually saw the metal bar bending due to the heavy load! Her best for the Snatch was 128 Kg. Total weight lifted was 286 kg. This was 31 kg better than the 2nd place N Slivenko from Russia ( 255 kg ).! Unheard of really in top competitions like this!
The 3rd place went to N Davydora from the Ukraine.
Immediately after the medal presentation ceremony, while still on the podium and in full view of the world, she removed her Olympic GOLD medal and hung it on the neck of her 2 coaches.
That was one very, very thoughtful act on her part.
By doing so, she has publicly acknowledged that her incomparable victory was in no way due to just her own efforts.
She had her 2 wonderful coaches and others to thank!
That win and her action afterwards exemplifies my contention....there is much we can learn from by watching these events closely.

More on that 100m Butterfly Final....

These photos came from my own digital camera taken off my TV screen as it happened.

They show the medal presentation ceremony. The Olympic medals were presented to the 3 deserving winners by Ng Ser Miang, Singapore's top IOC official.

Bronze, Silver and finally Gold!

I read the hundreds of remarks and comments on AsiaOne Forum page online regarding Tao Li's remarkable achievements in this same Final. She had finished 5th ,making her the best top 5 swimmers in the world for this event.

Many who commented praised and saluted her. But there are those who continually "rubbed " it into her and our Sg sports people that her achievement, per se S'pore,...leaves little to crow about.

Many of these unhappy people are quite, quite mistaken in their simplistic reasoning. Perhap, they are too inflexible in their world views or have not kept up with the times. We are now in a fast moving, globalised world where many, many nations have opened up their country, with wide open arms, to welcome talent in diverse fields....not only sports. To continually harp on the fact of her past history does great injustice to Tao Li and others like her. She and her family came willingly to our country....NOT AS A TOP CHAMPION in SWIMMING yet. Just one of the hundreds of kids in China who have some talent.

She was moulded here over many years, trained and groomed by our coaches. Many have tried and many have failed, whether from S'pore or China. Only those with the GUTS, PASSION and an -all CONQUERING SPIRIT never quit...despite many failures and setbacks, and unappreciative remarks from a small section of disgruntled public.

That requires loads of RAW COURAGE.

It is different if we were to pay say

$10 million to a former or current foreign world champion to represent us in a sport...hoping for instant Glory.

Then I say it it dumb and I will join in the bandwagon of protest too.

Clearly, Tao Li and others like Li Jiawei, Ronald Susilo and Tang Juihong came here, had to work extremely hard to be where they are today.

No short cut!

ps: Ng Ser Miang presenting the Gold Medal to Libby Trickett the Olympic Champion.

Those Were The Days....!

This is the title of that very popular song that we all used to sing along with and enjoyed in the "Good Ole days".

It brings back bitter-sweet memories of the life and times of those yesteryears. Gone but never can be forgotten. Such were the times we were all living ,in those simple "kampong" days where life was carefree and daily we talked and chatted with our neighbours and friends and anyone else....face to face.

Not on handphones!

Not through emails!

Not with SMSs !

My good friend Frances has put a superb video-clip capturing the ESSENCE of those nostalgic years when we were kids and life tasted like COCA-COLA ! [ my favourite drink back then ].

You can see the clip at her blogsite listed at my blog links....titled "Walking in the Rain".

The greying photo was taken at Changi Point Beach in 1969.

Me and my younger brother who is in his late fifties today.