End of Day 8: Au Revoir Swimming

google says it's time to swim in sync

Finished typing everything slowly and it's only 4am. It could only be *sighs* the last day of the swim events. I admit I lost a little bit of interest by sleeping yesterday and attempting to give the meet a miss the day before. But the usual melancholy of the finale still struck me. With my end of day posts getting shorter and shorter, I'm sure you can tell how I'm doing. :((

I'm more composed now. Hopefully during the next olympics I can really be a real neutral spectator and not have any more biases. I don't really want that to happen though, where's the fun in that? Having someone to root for, something to look forward to, really gives you that adrenaline and emotional roller coaster that could be so awesome and satisfying. I can get on to reality now. Everything that was paused can now be resumed now that swimming is over. I can sleep now. :)))

I had fun throughout, and I concluded there's only 3 types of medalists. The young guns announcing their arrival to the world, the bridesmaid who was forever waiting and waiting for their turn to shine, and then there's the ex-champions looking to defend their titles. I've witnessed so many heartwarming moments, bridesmaid who finally got a taste of gold, young swimmers who never swam as fast in their lives and are shocked to tears at their own capabilities, these are swimmers who gave up so much in their life, just for that 15-25 years old time of glory. It's a short career, but it's the price to pay for being the best in the world in swimming. Many swimmers who have yet to reached their peak managed to produce such stellar results. I look forward to seeing them in 2016. :))

And to the real olympic fish Michael Phelps. You are truly the greatest olympian alive. Your story will live for generations to come and I am glad I have stood by to witness it all happen. I'm glad to be in this generation that is basking in your hype. Have a good rest and continue to spread your love to the rest of the world, truly living up to the London 2012 motto - inspiring a generation.

xoxo

End of Day 7: Goodnight!

swim events coming to an end - athletics starting :D

Hello Day 7. It's been a week. And like I've said earlier, I have been lazy. And distracted. And maybe just impatient. Watched a very satisfying Tennis Men's Singles Semifinals; and I really feel like learning the sport. What's cute about it are the audience and ball girls. They run almost in cubified anime version to the fallen tennis ball only to crouch down by the sides, or stand as still as a stone behind. And the 4:30hr match, claimed to be Federer's longest ever match, attracted Kobe Bryant as well. The NBA legend signs a couple of autographs while chatting with fans, shot being cut to during small intervals. Also happening during those intervals, are every other spectator that shot up. Some stretched, others just stand and stone. I'm guessing their butt hurts from all that sitting down. As soon as the game begin, the cooperative bunch sat back down. 

The fish legend is swimming in a while but I really feel like hitting the sacks. For the first time ever, the yoggroupie has lost a little bit of steam and is going to retreat for the night. Is it that the swim event s had grew...uninteresting? Its as if I'm treating it as world-class entertainment and when that is over - really less people will be interested. Ok I don't really know what I'm yapping about. Oh man I am ashamed. It's 2am. Goodnight everyone. We'll see each other tomorrow.

x0x0

End of Day 6: Revitalized

google icon. you're forever in the wrong sports aren't you! all i want to see is swimming! *biased much*

I'm typing this as the 100m semifinals is going on; not sure whether to stay on for Lochte's birthday song or not. :p  2 hours ago, I actually got ready for my goodnight post:


Hello. It's Day 6 and its not 4.30am or 5am. It's just 2, I'm not that tired, the coffee in the afternoon work wonders. The yoggroupie/olympic fish has decided to hit the sacks early for a change. Here's her big face and there's Gabrielle Douglas beating Viktoria Komova to win gold in Women's All-Round Artistic Gymnastics. :)))


 [insert picture here ]


[which i will not do because it doesn't make sense anymore]


So! Today is another historical day. I thought I would be less excited about swimming, but still hoping for that Phelps miracle, I stayed up for a bit. Here's what happened:


1. Rebecca Soni is the first person to successfully defend a title. Took her breaking 2 world records to do so. But at the next match, another American did so too...
2. Phelps won his gold. First man to ever successfully defend an olympic title 3 times in a row. Phelps is back and I'm glad. And then a few minutes later...
3. He finished first in the 100m semifinals. Looks like he performs best when he's tired/stressed.
4. First silver for a Japanese swimmer in this games! Satomi Suzuki got a little cheer when she received her medal today. :)
5. First Belarus swimmer to ever win a medal.


That's really all. I need to go to bed now. :) 


xoxo

Sculls!

Sculls! Sculls! Sculls!

What can I say about this one? 

I have never seen these things before. I have never seen such narrow....boats. The water is so calm, the river so narrow, the grass so flowy and green. The spectators so cute, some of them running. And the press (I suppose) on their bikes, keeping up with the rowers. I want to row a scull too!

End of Day 5: Fish finishes last...

le - you know what it is

Hello Day 5. I actually felt quite refreshed today and didn't feel sleepy at all...until now that is. I haven't covered any events due to a project that's due tomorrow. But for the first time I sat on the couch and really did nothing but enjoy the ride. I couldn't let go of not rushing back and typing the details down but I guess I was too tired to move. Oh well. The story will go like this:

on day 5, the Olympic fish finally call it quits! For the first time ever I have decided to go to bed instead of battling it out filling up the games coverage. 

-fast forward 5 hours -

This is by far the day with the lowest efficiency. It's Thursday and I have never been this late to go to work. What's this? Without coverage and being late for work? I am a double loser! Oh my...delirious text alert. So far, no one had successfully defended their title, Rebecca Soni looks set to be the first one to do so after breaking the world record with the semifinals. Feng Tian Wei, representing Singapore in the Table Tennis events won our first individual medal after 52 years. During the Bronze medal match, it's Singapore versus Japan right, and beside a couple Singaporean supporters, there's a chinese waving a china flag. :/

I feel quite sad for the Japanese because halfway through maybe the second round, she's already defeated. She and her coach had tears in their eyes, I know at any other occasion this young Japanese would have cried out loud. But she's so strong to keep going, her heart already elsewhere. :( But she's really young, and she's already the world no. 4. There's at least 2 more olympics for her to get that gold and I'm sure she'll get it. Go girl!

xoxo

fish is very late

End of Day 4: Most Emotional by Far

I really need to do this fast because I really want to hit the sacks before 4.30am. Dozed off on the bus rides, dozed off during work. That's epic unprofessional. But Olympics - it's truly larger than life. Anywho -

icon of le day 4

The focus today is definitely on Michael Phelps. His most earth-shattering defeat, and him being the greatest olympian of all time with 19 olympic medals. And within that, so many world records and other glorious statistics in whichever ways you want to group it. Remember how I was so in love with the real olympic fish back in 2008? He will forever be a hero in my, and alot of many people's heart. I had the below typed out, because deep inside me, I was really anticipating a miracle:

At 15 years of age back in 2001, Phelps broke the world record for the 200m Butterfly which put him on the map. Ever since then, the 200m Butterfly is like a battle between he himself because only he can beat his own timing. He is still the current world record holder since 2009. It is undoubtedly the event that matters to him the most.

No man has ever successfully defended a swimming title 3 times in a row.

That's 12 years of being the fastest in the world.

I thought I had missed the shot at at least inspiring just one soul out there. But there's still the 100m butterfly in which he could still be the only man to defend a title 3 times. This will be Phelp's last olympics, for sure. In his last events, you can expect the whole stadium to give a standing ovation for the greatest olympian of all time. He is definitely the hero of alot of young swimmers, including Chad le Clos, who beat him in his favourite event. He definitely inspired me, made me discover the beauty of swimming and fall so crazily in love with it. That I'm here doing this now. Not anything huge, but I have a huge fire in me that's burning wildly!

What impressed me the most is how gracious Phelps is. Even though le Clos beat him to a beautiful swansong, he took the results with a big heart, and congratulated le Clos genuinely. You can tell by the way they're interacting, Phelps is kind of like a mentor looking out for him. Imagine 5 year old le Clos watching 15 year old Phelps breaking the world record, helping him to believe that he could do it too. Imagine the 10 year old le Clos watching the 20 year old Phelps at Athens, sweeping the golds, least to say at Beijing when le Clos is slowly breaking into the scene. Phelps is his hero. Take a look a le Clos's facebook and there's only one picture, and it's of him and Phelps. I really love what Phelps said to le Clos. It's so epicly gracious. "I really enjoyed swimming with you these few years ... " Unless I remember it wrongly... you really got to start having the best heart to become one of the best person. :)))

And now to le Clos, the boy whom I have been rooting for since seeing him shine ever so brightly at the YOG. He was leading at first, and the local commentator said something about how youngsters would always start fast. Phelps led after the first 100m and le Clos chased fiercely behind. It looks like Phelps is going to make history even sweeter, but in the last 5m, le Clos and Phelps is head to head and le Clos took the extra stroke to finish first. How he roared in the pool. That's some pure, innocent, uncensored joy that I've yet to seen for sometime. Shortly after his out burst, he realized what he had achieved and broke down. Lips shaking, tears streaming, trying his best to keep the tears to himself but he can't. The only person to ever beat Phelps in the 200m Butterfly since 2000.

What a night.

xoxo

End of Day 3: Justifications

le icon of le night. good night. *yawns*

Hello, today I am faster, because I wasn't glued to the tv. I'm 2 couch lengths away, half typing, just so I could sleep before 5 for a change. I went to work tapping away on my ipad, searching for pictures to match my game coverages. I woke up a little earlier than 9am today, my head and my heart totally immersed in the swimming events. Dear blog, is this right? This is me, excited me, the me that is totally in love with the swim events and can't let go of it until I exhausted every strength I have to devour it whole. The blog's a perfect platform for that. 

Every mention of the word 'Olympic', every mention of the world 'swimming', every mention of any swimmers I know of at all, stirs me up. When I hear crowd cheering noises from someone's laptop I suppose they're watching the Olympics. It's a crazy kind of obsession. I don't even know where I get all these energy from. I haven't been sleeping much since the opening. 

BUT I AM JUST SO FREAKISHLY EXCITED!

But is it really worth it to be so mentally and physically exhausted? Is it really worth it to burn out my organs and feel the veins in my head pulsating every now and then? Is it worth it to wrinkly and be ugly for a week because of the inability to replenish skin cells (along with other organs of course, but I'm talking about surface value here). For a little moment at about 1:30am, I do feel like going to bed. I have assignments from le mum and le sis to deliver. Is the Olympics more important than my family? I did manage to proceed with these assignments, if you're wondering. It'll end by tomorrow. 

But the butterflies I get during this period is undesirable. It's like the 13 year old me when reading Harry Potter. It's like the 15 year old me, when watching So You Think You Can Dance and secretly locking myself up almost everyday just to, well, dance. It's pure love, that's the closest explaination I can arrive to. 4.45am, I do hope to reduce some of that throbbing migraine. 

Adios my friend, until tomorrow. 

xoxo

I was at work...

...editing on steroids in the office (didn't know lack of sleep will double up my efficiency in the most eerie/health-threatening sort of way) when the heats and semifinals happen in the morning (London time) when it's 5pm here. Hence the following updates will infact not be live; but from internet results. :))

End of Day 2: Calm Me Down!

le google cartoon of the day

Hello Swimfans and friends, if you so happen to pop by. It's 5.30am here in small little Singapore. Unlike yesterday, it matters now because in 3 hrs time I have to get up and go to work (summer job). Nevertheless, the fire in me is igniting too fiercely to be able go to sleep now! 

There's a few things I would like to talk about. 

First, A-Teams and B-Teams. If you would qualify swimmers just for the timings, I'm sure you'll just see the Americans, Aussies, French, one or two unbeatable banzukis from some countries like Germany (Paul Beidermann) or South Africa (Cameron Van der Burgh). That'll be the world championships, right? But this is not the world championships, its the Olympics, it focuses on bringing the world together, focuses on friendship between nations. There must be some limit as to how many athletes a country can bring per event. Even though Australia have, lets say, 100 swimmers under A-team time, they could only bring 20. That's why you don't see the kids at the Youth Olympic Games that are from Aus or Usa here. You do see the others, but just not from the powerhouse countries. There's just too many celebrity-status veteran swimmers. And when they do finally appear, they'll be like Dana Vollmer or Missy Franklin (too young for an example, but that's the name at the back of my head). And I see alot of past B-Team swimmers who rose up to become A-Team and are making into the finals. How cool is that!

Next, I must really calm myself down. Records are broken everyday. Everyday minute. Every sec...that's too exaggerated (drama queen much). I know I like to weep over how the world record holders, the young hopefuls, the consistent racers are all in the same pool. How old medalist fail to make it and young out-of-nowhere rising stars bag to gold. But time passes. People get old. Records can never stand for long. Even if they are record holders, they might never match their own record timings ever again. And the young have the energy, have the physical prowess, have the hunger for their first ever medal chance in the world's stage. What excellent emotional balancing skills they must possess. Witnessing their inability to perform as well as their 4 years younger self, witnessing their 2 times defended gold title being taken by another young swimmer...they are real athletes. They respect the sport, love it to death, together with all the cruelty it brings upon. 

Yes time passes. Peaks passed, new peaks reached. This is the time to shine for the 15-20 year old ladies and the 20-25 year old lads. Cameron Van der Burgh slogged for the past 4 years just to get a taste of his long waited gold. Dana Vollmer, Camille Muffat, two first time event finalist and gold medalist swam way ahead of their competitors and they didn't even make it to the last Olympic games. It's their time. There's too many talented swimmers but they just show up or happen to be in the wrong time. Get what I mean? It's like they are at the right age, the right stage of life, just the right amount failures and experience to get them to the top. They might never get to defend their title because their time has passed. Therefore I say: the real test comes in between the Olympics. How you keep up. How you become better. Vollmer actually said that she knew she could go faster. Note that no women in the history of swimming has got under 56s and she did! 

Ahh the Olympics. It's pure art. 

End of Day 1

*Yawns* It's end of day 1 and it's 4:45am here in sunny Singapore. No worries, it's a sunday and I only need to be up at about...11am. Abit delusional here but would like to get some of my feelings out.

le google icon of le day

I still am awestruck by Olympics and especially swimming. I am amazed by the resilience of the swimmers, and how some could shine under pressure and deliver such incredible results. These people meet each other about twice every year, and they better themselves each year, train while thinking about their fiercest opponent on the other side of the world. Don't you think its just amazing? I was checking their track record but then I got tired of it. Almost all of the athletes you see at the pool held the world record some point in their career. Some are current holders. Some are new, fresh holders. I love how the commentator say "...and the world record holder in right there in the pool in lane..." He or she maybe the idol of his/her competitors in the other lanes, trained against his/her timing for years. It's all about the split seconds, +0.18, +0.02...it could make or break a swimmer. It could cause you your chance in the finals, it will make you lose your gold. 


Yup, the best in the world; they are compatriots, rivals, maybe friends. Without each other they won't be spurred on to swim their best.Sports is beautiful.  Sports is life! Can't live without it. Can't live without sleep, either. Adios my dear friends. Until tomorrow! 


xoxo,
olympic fish

Danny, Get Some Sleep

This was Danny in 2008, back when he was centre of the world's attention.

And this is Danny 24 hours ago, at 55 years of age. I wonder how many nights had he gone without sleeping, how many meals had he skipped. How many brain cells had he over-excercised throughout these 4 years, slogging hard just for this day. I remember seeing Zhang Yimou in 2008 and my sister said he looked like he hadn't sleep for months.

Danny, it's fantastic. Now get some sleep!

Women's 100m Butterfly Heats

Volmer (USA) broke the Olympic Record during the heats! She's definitely one to watch...I predict it will be a fight between her and Halsall. But to be fair, I was genuinely proud when fellow countrymen Tao Li emerges out of nowhere to qualify for the semi-finals. 

Men's 400m Individual Medley Heats

Kosuke Hagino breaks Asian Record & won heat 3!

[photo credits: london 2012 official website]

Men's 400m Individual Medley Heats

I got home late because I wasn't well informed on what exactly they're broadcasting in the afternoon. (Shame on me!) But as soon as I turned on the TV, imagine my joy when Phelps is on screen, ready to set off for his 400m IM. I knew my current favourite athlete Chad le Clos will be in the same event and was waiting for him...and wish granted - he finished first in heat 5, ahead of Lochte. More familiar faces are Lazslo and Pereira. Feels like home when I see them (drama queen).

Ryan chilling with a Kenrick Monk below during training...I have no recollection of him but he has won World Championships and participated in Beijing. Have I not written about him? Didn't want to go back and check...

Olympic Fish: Then & Now

Phelps training before Opening I suppose; judging by that mane..

[photo credit: official london 2012 website]

Anywho, as I'm waiting for the live telecast for the swimming finals/semis, (and battling my tired eyelids at 1:46am) I was setting up my 2012 olympic blog. And then I wondered who took my desired url. I went and saw none other than my 18 year old self, blogging and fangirl-ling, hot blooded and on a high about Beijing 2008. Extensive reviews and commentaries. I even made banners for Phelps. I'm definitely crazier then. No, I think I was in love then. Uh-huh no doubt. 

Older and wiser now ( I hope ), I want to continue my crazy tradition. Of course there's alot of things I would like to complain and compare about (how I was better with words then, more creative, more passionate etc.), but I won't do them here. At least for now. 

Phelps isn't that heavenly figure that I perceive him then. He's more down to earth. Probably because part of his image went down with news of his drugs usage. And the swim suit thing...swimmers are now banned from using that long suit.  He's still a legend though, and me, together with the world, will be forever admiring his extraordinary story and success. 

Oh yea, you can check out my 2008 blog here. Or at the sidebars --> ; you'll find my 2010 YOG swimming blog too. Whoever you are, dear stranger. Let's get inspired by the games together! :D

good luck fish

Le Opening Ceremony

Unlike Beijing's which feels grand because of the enormous amount of performers in sync; London offers the beauty of being individualistic. I was ming blown by the gazillion drummers counting down to the opening back in 2008; London's countdown feels so calm, relaxed, like the whole opening. They aren't as eager to impress as the Chinese because they are known to be extremely modern (30 years ahead of Singapore). I really liked the grass fields; its something unseen of in a stadium. Behind every Jacques, behind every oath taker etc. its always an endless sea of spotlights and camera flashes. Now we have green grass for a change! How splendid! My eyes are thankful! And I really appreciate the camera angles, although abit fail at times (e.g. inability to take the flag-bearers), those are solid narrative camera angles that wants to tell a story. 

Top 3 things I really enjoyed. Dance! Give me more dance, baby, because I love them dance! The imagery is really good; seems that everything is framed just right. The next would be having the people who built the olympic village to line up and cheer for the torch bearer. And they are in cute construction hats! I don't think I have ever seen this before, and it certainly made the ceremony more meaningful. And the last; adding even more depth to the games, is having retired Team GB Olympians, wearing their medals, looking on at the final torch bearers, passing on the olympic spirit, passing on a little good luck to them. :))

I have always enjoyed the march-in ('parade of the nations' to be exact), no matter how draggy it is. Thing is, I can never remember all the countries in the world. And I love seeing how everyone from everywhere looked like. And hearing the commentators talk about the athletes' background as the production team give them a nice juicy close up - is just one of the best feelings in the world. A little glimpse into their life, their extraordinary story that brought them to the worlds' stage. Like how they said that the population in Bermuda is probably lesser than the people in the stadium and that they are good enough to participate...it's just amazing. My friend ( I was whatsapping with her as I watched the opening slouched on my couch - alone at home ) wonders why some countries have such few athletes. My guess is that - these are poorer countries that have problem feeding their people, least to invest in an olympic training program for their countrymen. :( 

I love how everyone became one, became equal. The wealthy celebrity-sports megastars are one with other athletes. They are awesome like the rest, they are top-notch world-class like the rest, just that their sport have too much commercial value. Kobe! Usain! Torres! The list is endless. But the camera did catch some athletes going crazy over them. I would push through the crowd to get a picture with Kobe if I'm there too! In any given day, you might need to pay who knows how much $ for a ticket to their games just to catch them in their glory. And athletes marching in who are holding their personal camcorders/mobile phones/digital cameras up high to take the crowd...never fails to crack me up. Cute! 

The juicy close ups and little stories that I was referring about include: the Rwandan flag-bearer Niyonshuti, a 25-year old who survived a genocide that killed 6 of his family members. Considered a national hero in his country. And Saori Yoshida, the Japanese flag-bearer, who from 2002 has won every world and international level tournament she has entered. And then there's Russia. Nobody won in synchronized swimming in the history of Olympics except Russia. What kept them going?! There goes another inspiring story. Mmmm-mmm. I would like to get to the end of it. That or I can imagine and weave up my own. :)

And lastly. The faces. The faces that tell a thousand stories! Looking at some of the proud athlete's faces brings a tear to my eye. The pride they feel for their country, and a voice in their head - 'wow, this is it. I'm finally here.' 

It's Here!!!

Hello, I am the Olympic Fish, a swimming fan from Singapore who is just crazy passionate about the Olympics!

There's abit of a disadvantage here with alot of the games happening in the wee mornings and I have to work...but no worries! Olympic Fish shall try her best to report as if it's even necessary with the Internet...:D Commemorated this day by swimming at a nearby sports complex. Hey, I smell of chlorine like the swimmers!! ;)