Yang Wei has won the Olympic gold medal for Men's All-Around Gymnastics. The 28-year-old athlete who has been so focussed and stoic throughout the competition let his warmth and playful side peek thru after his gold was assured. Read about his long march to the top of the podium here.
All the years of constant practice, painful injuries and punishing competition paid off for Yang Wei as China celebrated him as a national hero. My Wei says that at 28, Yang Wei is considered "old" by Chinese athletic standards. Yang Wei had originally thought 2004 would be his last Olympics but when Beijing got the nod for the 2008 Games he knew he would have to be there to participate and hopefully to win. After carrying the men's team to gold earlier in the week, Yang Wei basked in the acclaim of the huge crowd as he received the individual medal. I believe he now plans to retire and get married.
Anyone who know my Wei knows how reserved he is. So it is so much fun for me to be watching the Olympics with him and hearing his enormous yells of "Come on, China!!!" during each event. We were both excited when the Chinese women medaled gold and silver in the Women's 200m Butterfly. Above, gold medalist Liu Zige. Jiao Liuyang took the silver.
Of course we are at the mercy of whatever NBC chooses to show - we don't have cable - and while the Michael Phelps story is surely thrilling, I must say beach volleyball is getting really tired. But we did finally get to see the Men's Synchronized Springboard diving competition in which the Chinese boys delivered one astonishing dive after another. Here they are, en route to gold - Qin Kai and Wang Feng: