Disclaimer: All the following did not happen
At a press conference:
Reporter: What are your feelings now that 1.3 billion are sad that you could not compete the other day?
Mr Liu: You see, I do this stuff because I like it, I enjoy it, not because 1.3 billion people want me to do it. Make this fact clear, will you?
Tomorrow, if I decide to be a marathon runner, that is what I will do, and I won't do what people want me or expect me to do, or even what my country wants me to do, have I made myself crystal clear?
Reporter: Will you compete again in four years?
Will you marry in four years, who knows? And who would plan that far anyway. Again I might decide to compete in the marathon event in 2012.
Reporter: What is your future plan then?
No, I do not have a plan, the government has a plan, the police has a plan, I DON'T.
Next question please...
4 comments:
It is interesting. But if that's the case. That Mr. Liu would as well choose whatever outfit he likes to wear, not necessarily a uniform representing China. He would represent himself and himself only. If that's the case, it follows that the whole Olympic Games is misplaced. There wouldn't be any national team, but only teams whichever way individual athletes like to form. Isn't that it? That seems to be a different Olympics than the one people understand. Am i pushing too far?
Dear Tea Freak:
Thanks for reading my silly words.
I do not know the history of the Olympics well...but I have to guess, I would imagine that at the start of it all, there did not exist a rule where it said: if you were not representing a country or for that matter a special administrative region or something equally fancy or stupid, depending on your taste, then you could not participate in any event. Wrong?
See, the national athletics are signed onto a long-term contract with their governments. You pay me for my training since childhood, and when I win, the credit will go to you (the government). So it is obvious why the athletics will sign on to such contract because he gets funding for doing stuff he likes. On the other hand, it is equally obvious why a government wants to invest in them...just in case someone breaks a world record, a gold medal, it's simply good PR. Bang, both sides benefit from the exchange.
If you ask me whether I would mind having an Olympics where sport teams representing different brands like a team representing Addidas, another team representing Nike and a third one representing New Balance instead of a political entity, and with each team having many athletics participating in different events. My answer is: Hell no.
My sense is this is done in some sports like formula one racing, but why this model cannot be applied to all sports is a topic worth investigation.
Man, I guess you think too simple of Mr Liu and this event. A sophisticated athlete surely consider more than pure joy, say, earnings from ads. And for god's sake, Olympics is always hand-in-hand with politics,and patriotism and money is inevitably involved .
Very funny, I like it. I hope one day Chinese people would feel comfortable to speak that way.
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