Thursday, August 28, 2008
Commentary on Liu Xiang's quit
With Liu’s Loss, All of China Misses Out
By Andrew Das
The news of Liu Xiang’s sudden, stunning exit from the Olympics early Monday, before he had a chance to hurl himself across a single hurdle, certainly ranks among the biggest disappointments of the Beijing Games. Not only for Liu, must who certainly have felt the crushing expectations of the host nation as he limped toward the Games on a bad leg. And not only to his supporters in China, who almost certainly number in the hundreds of millions.
Liu’s loss is everyone’s loss.
Not every country gets the chance for a moment like the one many hoped Liu would deliver. Think of what the United States ice hockey team victory in 1980 is meant to this country, or what South Africa’s 1995 Rugby World Cup triumph or France’s World Cup soccer win in 1998 meant to those nations. The Olympic Games are great for these time-stands-still events; some that were there say they have never heard a noise louder than the ovation as Cathy Freeman approached the finish of the 400 meters in Sydney in 2000.
But Liu’s coronation was bound to be different. As the organizers showed in their wonderful opening ceremony, the scale of successes in China — like everything else — can be astounding. If Liu could provide one of his own, if he could bring together the combined force of all China to produce an achievement fans of any country could appreciate — that would have been something to see.
Instead he never got out of the blocks, and we all missed out on something.
As Liu said in a Times video in May, “I will try my best to make the best of the opportunity, because once the opportunity is gone it’s not coming back.”
Commentary:
After reading this passage, I would like to present my point. Although I support the statement that some miracle presented in the Olympic Games is the scale of successes to a country. In fact, I really do not agree with the author’s opinion mostly. In my mind, Liu Xing’s loss cannot represent the loss of everyone.
Initially, I need to say that the author’s first point is exactly true. It is indeed that the miracle in the time-stands –still events make the Olympic Games great. Because the stunning legends presented not only reflect the progress and successes of one country in sports. But also represent the Olympic motto: faster, higher, and stronger. Moreover, and more important, the legends will refresh this game. You can imagine if a event is dominated by one country, such as table tennis to China, the situation will constraint the development of this sport (Luckily, Chinese table tennis player immigrate to every place around the world thus unburden this situation ). The reason is quite simple; the event is surely very popular at the first time, because many countries will be interested in it and try to have some achievement in it. This reaction is quite reasonable due to the glory contained in the gold medal. However, if the other states feel that it is not realistic to threat the first position of this country, they will soon lose interest in this event. Gradually, less and less people will participate in this kind of sport. However, if there is a legend appears unexpectedly, it will raise up the interest. Thus, the development and improvement of this event come to be possible. Back to the topic, one of the basic functions of Olympic Games is to develop the sports.
However, not only the legend or miracles can represent the achievement of a country in the Olympic Games. Similarly, an expected legend fail to appear cannot be regarded as the failure of one country, it is also not a loss of everyone. Just take Liu Xiang as a relevant example. It surely will be a glorious triumph if Liu succeeded in the gold medal of 110 hurdles. Not only to himself but also to the whole country. And certainly his matches will be the focus of this Olympic Games. It is not fair to others in some aspect. Other athletes sweated and bleed as well, and their competitions were also very amazing and fantastic, such as swimming, shooting, they are all supposed to be the focus of the audiences. Undeniably, their performance enriched the Olympic Games. So, the quit of Liu exactly provided more chance for the audience to witness the other aspects of Olympics, provided the other wonderful views of the Olympics. Since, the people got a wider view of the games, I don’t think Liu’s loss is everyone’s loss.
In the end, i would like to say we should not put so much hope on Liu; we need not to bind his coronation as different. In fact, we need to regard him as the unknown athlete who got the gold medal in 2004 in Athens.
By Andrew Das
The news of Liu Xiang’s sudden, stunning exit from the Olympics early Monday, before he had a chance to hurl himself across a single hurdle, certainly ranks among the biggest disappointments of the Beijing Games. Not only for Liu, must who certainly have felt the crushing expectations of the host nation as he limped toward the Games on a bad leg. And not only to his supporters in China, who almost certainly number in the hundreds of millions.
Liu’s loss is everyone’s loss.
Not every country gets the chance for a moment like the one many hoped Liu would deliver. Think of what the United States ice hockey team victory in 1980 is meant to this country, or what South Africa’s 1995 Rugby World Cup triumph or France’s World Cup soccer win in 1998 meant to those nations. The Olympic Games are great for these time-stands-still events; some that were there say they have never heard a noise louder than the ovation as Cathy Freeman approached the finish of the 400 meters in Sydney in 2000.
But Liu’s coronation was bound to be different. As the organizers showed in their wonderful opening ceremony, the scale of successes in China — like everything else — can be astounding. If Liu could provide one of his own, if he could bring together the combined force of all China to produce an achievement fans of any country could appreciate — that would have been something to see.
Instead he never got out of the blocks, and we all missed out on something.
As Liu said in a Times video in May, “I will try my best to make the best of the opportunity, because once the opportunity is gone it’s not coming back.”
Commentary:
After reading this passage, I would like to present my point. Although I support the statement that some miracle presented in the Olympic Games is the scale of successes to a country. In fact, I really do not agree with the author’s opinion mostly. In my mind, Liu Xing’s loss cannot represent the loss of everyone.
Initially, I need to say that the author’s first point is exactly true. It is indeed that the miracle in the time-stands –still events make the Olympic Games great. Because the stunning legends presented not only reflect the progress and successes of one country in sports. But also represent the Olympic motto: faster, higher, and stronger. Moreover, and more important, the legends will refresh this game. You can imagine if a event is dominated by one country, such as table tennis to China, the situation will constraint the development of this sport (Luckily, Chinese table tennis player immigrate to every place around the world thus unburden this situation ). The reason is quite simple; the event is surely very popular at the first time, because many countries will be interested in it and try to have some achievement in it. This reaction is quite reasonable due to the glory contained in the gold medal. However, if the other states feel that it is not realistic to threat the first position of this country, they will soon lose interest in this event. Gradually, less and less people will participate in this kind of sport. However, if there is a legend appears unexpectedly, it will raise up the interest. Thus, the development and improvement of this event come to be possible. Back to the topic, one of the basic functions of Olympic Games is to develop the sports.
However, not only the legend or miracles can represent the achievement of a country in the Olympic Games. Similarly, an expected legend fail to appear cannot be regarded as the failure of one country, it is also not a loss of everyone. Just take Liu Xiang as a relevant example. It surely will be a glorious triumph if Liu succeeded in the gold medal of 110 hurdles. Not only to himself but also to the whole country. And certainly his matches will be the focus of this Olympic Games. It is not fair to others in some aspect. Other athletes sweated and bleed as well, and their competitions were also very amazing and fantastic, such as swimming, shooting, they are all supposed to be the focus of the audiences. Undeniably, their performance enriched the Olympic Games. So, the quit of Liu exactly provided more chance for the audience to witness the other aspects of Olympics, provided the other wonderful views of the Olympics. Since, the people got a wider view of the games, I don’t think Liu’s loss is everyone’s loss.
In the end, i would like to say we should not put so much hope on Liu; we need not to bind his coronation as different. In fact, we need to regard him as the unknown athlete who got the gold medal in 2004 in Athens.
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