From: huangzh@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu (Andy Huang)
Subject: Just some thoughts
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 92 15:31:58 GMT

Just some thoughts that I had when I was watching the Olympics. You don't 
have to agree, please feel free to press "n" to go to the next article.

--I was proud of Tan LiangDe for his courage to compete for his third
Olympics. Although he again didn't bring back a gold, I am very much 
impressed by the great career that he had, he really got the best that he 
could possibly be, that is what matters the most for an athlete.  I really
hoped that he could end his career with a gold here at Barcelona, but 
somebody else just happened to have a better day than he did at this 
particular time and there was not much he could do..., he might not be 
remembered as a legend like Louganis, but he should be proud of the
fact that he competed with (and only lost to) the legend.   (A mixed
feeling here for the new champ Mark Lenzi who trained and just graduated
from here (Indiana U), he had the courage to start diving only six years
ago when many thought he was already too old, I respect the courage very
much.)

--Based on the knowledge about how they got here, I was not suprised when 
I saw the Chinese women's swimming team got medals one after another. 
Before the games I was a little concerned about how they could manage
to condition their muscle strength at each of the meets they participated
all year long, especially between the Perth games and the Olympics. But
now it turned out that they managed the training/conditioning/competing
circles just right and now they are at their top levels. I am impressed by
what the team doctors/trainers have done. (On the other hand, the guys in
the US team did a very bad job in this area, especially between the trials
and the Olympics)...  I wish these girls would keep healthy, because I
know Chinese training/conditioning system tends to go a little too much
on muscle strength, but since they did such a good job here now I guess
I don't have to worry.

--It is too bad to see those losing athletes accusing the winners of using
illegal substance, (since the Lewis vs Johnson battle in '88 it has gone to
a rediculus level),  I understand how frastrated when one loses the game
especially after being called by the media "the favorite" for months, but
accusation like that only make the accuser look worse than the accusee.

--I agree with the statement that a large number of the athletes from the
major sports powerhouse countries use performance enhance substances 
anyway, and it is, as a fact, becoming part of the competition although
few bothered to admitt it.  I have no problem with it if (a) the athlete
is aware of the consequancies, (b) under strict supervision, and of
course (c) don't ever get caught (d)...  As for how Chinese teams do, as
far as I know of, they are much smarter than anyone in the world. 

--NBC's presentation of the Olympiad do try very hard to please *what they
thought to be their target audience, but only to find themselves totally
lost.  The "TripleCast" could became one of the textbook-bound marketing
innovation practice if they could have done a little more marketing 
research but they failed to do. I have to say that most of the sports
commentators that they hired did their homework before they talk but 
unfortunately overall the whole network just misunderstood the interests
of the audience.  It should be sad to see the hard work they do only
pay off a little. By the way, now I can understand why CBS took the 
NCAA basketball broadcasting rights from NBC,  and I can sense TBS would
get the rights for the Atlanta '96 games (remember how the GoodWill games
was broadcasted?)

--Andy


-- 
=============================== Andy Huang <huangzh@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu>
P.S. Thank you for reading my article. We may not share the same idea but I 
respect whatever thoughts you may have. Please feel free to agree/disagree, 
to laugh/criticize/protest. Or to use "kill", s'il vous plait.