champions burying the past~

this is sports at its best.... admirable, inspiring, motivating!!!

firstly, the korean swimmer, park tae hwan, won the gold medal for the 400m freestyle at the world champs in shanghai.... he is the olympic champion, but at the last world championships in rome, he was absolutely slayed into by the korean media for poor form....

well... he did put on a poor showing.... he didnt even make the final in most of his events.....

putting all that adversity aside, he came to these meets with a lot of expectation.... he ran third in his heats... which was worrying because only the top 8 times qualify for the final.... he barely scraped through with the 7th fastest time... and swam the final in the outside lane, lane 1.....

in the final, he blew the field away.... i dont think many even expected him to medal... but he pulled through with a convincing win from lane 1, which was never done in this event before....

then we have cadel evans.... 2008 runner-up at the tour de france..... people thought that was his year... his best chance....

now he is the first aussie to ever win the tour, and the oldest to win since WWII....

riding 3600km through the alps is an achievement on its own.... but he was still a minute behind in the final racing day, and he overturned the deficit by coming in 2:30 faster than the leader.....

exceptional!!! what a champ~!!! what a weetbix kid~!!! he had a run of bad luck at the tour de france.... crashes and injuries..... he had a helpless team in the past that couldnt help him keep up with the leaders..... but this year, he almost had the perfect race.... he even won one of the earlier stages..... which was also a first for him.... phenomenal~!!!!

i hope both these guys stay on this high and compete for gold at the london olympics as well....

the rat race...

from sept. 1, it's gonna happen.....

i never thought i would really do it.....

but i've realised it may become a necessity for me to go back to australia one day.....

counting down.... taking a pay cut.....

the rat race...... no desire to race.... no desire to overtake, outrun, nor to win the race......

thats the thing about the rat race.... there is no winner.....

blah~~~

finally~!!! Winter Games in Korea~

finally~~

they lost to vancouver by 3 votes....

they lost to sochi by 4 votes.....

FINALLY~~~

pyeongchang will host the 2018 winter games!!!!

they received 63 votes, which was a whopping majority over the 25 votes for munich....

i was a bit worried.... i was sure they'd get it, until i saw the final presentations for each city's bid..... no offense... but i think most people knew annecy, france would not get it......already they have had 3 prior winter games... and their bid wasnt really strong either except 'the alps'.....

after the korean presentation, i was sure they'd get it.... until during the Q&A session, when asked about their preparation for any environmental factors.... and the development of winter olympics in asia.... they had hopeless answers.... for a moment.... i thought korea just blew it.....

after all, korea did have a nice long well organised bid.... but had no reference to any environmental issues..... also they argued that since this is the third bid, they have prepared the facilities already, and the last winter olympics show that the winter olympics is on the rise in korea too.... it was argued that all the gold medals were won "on ice" and korea still had a poor showing in the 'slide' and 'ski' events..... once again.... poor answer from the committee had me worried.....

well..... 7 years....

dunno what would be going on in 2018.... dunno where i'd be living... dunno if i'd be married... if i'd have kids...... i dunno if this blog would still be going....

but im pretty sure, im going to be in korea for the games.....

woo~~!!!

friendly fire...

at 11:50am on July 4, a korean marine went on a shooting spree killing 4 and injuring 2, including himself....

he loaded a K-2 rifle and went into the room where the others were sleeping after completing their night patrol rounds.....

3 marines died at the scene, 1 died while being transported to hospital....

the marine who fired the gun, then attempted suicide by throwing a grenade in a room, but only sustained facial injuries, and is in stable condition now. the second injured marine was shot in the leg 3 times as he struggled with the shooter to take the rifle away....

the ripples through the nation, media.... the overflowing opinions.... criticisms.... finger pointing.... blame game.... it has all started.....

the general response from the nation is.... "lack of discipline".... so many people are saying, the army these days is nothing like the old days.... they need to be more strict.... more discipline...

the greatest shame here is.... thats such a korean response..... what they dont account for is the mental issue here.... how can a 20 year old be pushed to become that mental that he is going to fire at his own mates.... if he was already being noted for not adjusting to his military services... then why dont they ever find a shrink.... counselling....??

the korean way is.... ur a psycho if u cant overcome these problems urself.....

secondly.... in the news reports, the neighbours said they saw the other marines running away in their underwear like they had just seen a ghost..... rolling and hiding in the bushes..... one man claims, he had never seen a group of soldiers run so fast.....

why does it take ONE marine to wrestle his mate getting shot in the leg, while the others run away in their underwear??? i dont get it.....

it was only 3 weeks ago.... this same marine division shot at an Asiana Airline passenger airline coming into Incheon Airport.... coz they thought it was a north korean fighter jet..... WHAT THE F**K is going on??? seriously.... i dont see the point.....

if they dont cause trouble like this inside the barracks, once they complete their military services, they cause trouble on the streets.... thinking that fists and muscles can resolve everything.... and you put young guys away for 2 years aging from 19~21 yrs old... they all get horny and turn into sex-maniacs.....

yes, its national duty, and i love korea too.... i also understand they are still 'technically' at war.... but if a war does break out, i wonder how many 19 year olds forcefully put in those barracks are prepared to die....

many people say i will never understand because i don't have to do the military service in korea... its probably true.... but as long as the guys who finish their services keep fighting, swearing and cause a public disturbance in restaurants like they do.... i dont really care to understand..... the two years makes them fitter and bulkier... but no more useful to society than they were before they went in.....

don't fix it if it ain't broke...

its seriously broken.... so FIX IT~!

total disgrace!!!

daylight robbery..... conspiracy......

The Champions Trophy has now become a meaningless disgrace.....

Korea who finished 2nd in Pool A, advanced to Pool C.... there they beat NZ, and lost to the Netherlands..... Argentina... who finished first in Pool A, they also beat NZ, and lost to the Netherlands..... in the end... they both had 4 points, they both had a goal differencial of 0..... but korea took 2nd place because they scored more goals....

like most round-robin leagues.... thats how ties are separated.... points, goal diff, then goal scored.....

but argentina appeals... saying, they won more matches in Pool A.....

yet Pool A is to qualify for Pool C and the medal rounds.....

then the appeal jury lacking common sense accepts the appeal, and now Korea are playing in the Bronze medal match against NZ, instead of the Gold Medal match vs the Netherlands....

This just sums up to... Argentina should be above Korea, because they beat England and China last week in the pool games.... wtf?!!!! Why is argentina above korea because they beat the other lower ranked teams???

this is the pure case of bending the rules......

disgrace~