The Rio 2016 Olympics Games closed on the night of the 21st August . This year, there were 207 National Olympic Committees, including first time entrants Kosovo, South Sudan, and the Refugee Olympic Team, took part. With 206 sets of medals, the games featured 28 Olympic sports, including rugby sevens and golf. The Game was the first to be held in a Portuguese-speaking country.
China won 70 medals in total, including 26 gold, which, comparing with previous games, are substantially less. However, the public and the official media’s attitude towards gold metals are increasingly rational, people no longer just worship those who won gold as heroes; those who didn’t won any medal but played really hard also received encouragements. This, to a country like China that has been for years linking the gold medals closely to national honor and political tasks, is a good thing.
“I’ve used up my primordial energy!”
Chinese swimmer Fu Yuanhui was born in 1996, and won a bronze medal in the 100 metre backstroke in this summer’s Olympics Games. Her straightforward answers and vivid expressions in a short interview video made her get popular in just one night. In that video, when she heard the match result from the journalist, she looked so happy and said: “Wow, I’m very satisfied with the result! It’s my best records ever.” And when asked whether she was looking forward to the next day’s results, she answered: ”No, I’m just VERY satisfied.” The video has been shared with a huge number among social medias. Huffington Post, in one of their comment article, saying that “We can all now agree: This is Fu Yuanhui’s Olympics. We’re just watching it.”
“Wake up, this is Olympic Games!”
In the Men’s Single Quarterfinal Table Tennis Match, Chinese star player Zhang Jike lost his first game to Japanese player Niwa Koki at 5-11. Through the CCTV’s broadcast, audience could clearly hear the loud shouting of the Coach Liu Guoliang: “You must wake up!…This is Olympic Games! It started already! ” Some Chinese reporters later publish a photo on Weibo, saying that the reason why Zhang Jike lost the first one is because he was still asleep some minutes before the game started because of the jet lag. Zhang Jike then returned into the arena awake and this eventually limited the opportunities for the Japanese opponent. He won one gold and one silver in this year’s Game, and became the fourth male player in the history of table tennis to achieve a career Grand Slam.
“It didn't matter where I finished.”
Ethiopian Olympic debutant Robel Kiros Habte earned the crowd’s cheers when he was finishing the last in his 100-meter freestyle heat at the competition, losing by nearly half a lap behind the athletes ahead of him. His entry for Rio was allegedly secured on a special invitation from world body FINA extended to athletes from under-represented countries. Habte told the media afterward that he was happy with the performance. "I wanted to do something different for my country – that's why I chose swimming. Everybody, every day you wake up in Ethiopia, you run. Not swimming. But I didn't want to run, I wanted to be a swimmer. It didn't matter where I finished."
“He’s my greatest nemesis.”
Malaysia Lee Chong Wei is the world's current #1 professional badminton player, while Lin Dan is the first men’s singles player to retain the Olympic gold medal by winning in 2008 and defending his title in 2012. From 2004 to 2016, Lin and Lee have play against each other in total 37 times, and they two have contested the last two Olympic finals – Lee having lost to Lin on both occasions. The match in Rio is likely to be their last Olympics, and this time Lee finally beats Lin. Lee once said, “If there’s no Lin Dan, there won’t be Lee Chong Wei. He’s my greatest nemesis. ” The two huge friends embrace and exchange shirts on the court.
Silver in 3m, Gold in Love
Chinese Diver He Zi didn't get gold in the women's 3-meter springboard diving final on August 14, but she still walked away with a ring. Fellow Chinese diver Qin Kai surprised her just after the medal ceremony when he met her poolside and proposed. The couple received a big cheer from the crowd as they left the pool. There was not only love in the air. A Weibo user commented: “I found the most touching thing is the common human emotion that broke the boundaries of color, language and nationality there. Moments ago those athletes were opponents, but now they’re sharing the happiness like siblings. This is best gift from the Olympic Games.”
Chinese Women’s Volleyball Team Won Their Third Olympic Gold
Chinese women's volleyball team won their third Olympic gold in Rio Olympic Games on August 20th. The outstanding performance has inspired many who watched the game to never give up and keep fighting. The victory was a huge moment for China. On Weibo, “Chinese Volleyball Dream Team” has been hashtagged over 200 million times (now is over 350 million times). Chinese women’s volleyball team had been the best in the world, particularly during its golden age in the 1980s. With China’s victory over Serbia, Coach Lang Ping also became the first person in the sport to win Olympic gold as both a player and a coach.Back in 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, she and her teammates helped China scoop their first Olympics gold.
