Haven't been blogging lately becoz I've been addicted to the Olympics. Almost literally. Coz I can't stop watching it on TV. I haven't missed a single day without watching The Olympics. I watch Gymnastics Live everyday. And I watch Swimming everyday. And I stay up till 3am just to watch all these. Even my bro asks if I'm addicted. I just smile the creepy smile like, "Help me. I need rehab. But... then again, no, I love being addicted" ;D

I can't explain why this year's Olympics appears so much more exciting and interesting to me. I've never really been so interested in the past Olympic Games. Even when the YOG was here, I felt so-so.
But wait... maybe there IS a reason. I think it's because... I've had time this year to watch the Olympics. It came in the best possible time. This period is the free-est period of my holidays, after OCIP, Work and FOC. BEST TIME. The past few Olympics, I was occupied with academia. 2010 YOG was A's. 2008 Beijing was O's. And 2004 Athens was PSLE. Lol. All the major examinations, who the hell would have time to watch. This year.. 2012 London, all the time in the world and I enjoy watching it so much! The Olympics is so exciting!

And we grow with The Olympics. This year, I find myself thinking back... wow, 4 years really passed so freaking fast? I thought Beijing Olympics was recent. But it was 4 DAMN YEARS. My goodness. I was only Sec 4. And now, I'm in University. A giant leap! What would happen next, 4 years down the road? A mother of 5? I say, it would be MY turn to present The 2016 Olympic games to you from Rio de Janeiro. Hahahaha. After graduating from ntu. It's time for Mark Richmond to rest. I've been listening to his commentary since FOREVERRR. My goddd. But he's good.


I enjoy watching Diving and so many other sports. I can't help but be biased towards Asian Nations. When I see an Asian nation, I root for that country. I don't think I'll make a good judge.


I shout, I gasp and I cheer while watching coz it really is that exciting. When an athlete tumbles or scores, it's exhilarating to watch! My frail heart can't take these things. When I see an athlete win a gold medal, I can actually FEEL the happiness and joy from the tears they shed. Such heartwarming moments, coz you can tell all that hard work put in for so many years finally paid off.


As much as I feel the happiness from athletes who've won the Gold medal, and reached their greatest achievements, I find myself reaching out to those who didn't attain what they wanted.

I used to focus a lot on the winners, then I found myself turning my attention to the... Losers.


My heart reaches out to them so freaking badly. Having watched the Games every single day, I've realised there are 3 types of losers. The ones who didn't win anything, ones who win the silver medal and ones who have won the silver medal 3 consecutive freakin times.


1) The Ones who didn't win anything.

This is the one time when hard work does not equate to reward. You can work for 4 years following up to the Games and come home with Nothing, when you've been working for it for almost your entire life!

It's ok for those who only want to get out of The Olympics with just experience and to actually have the oppotunity to participate in The Olympics. BUT FOR THOSE HAVING TO GO THERE, THINKING OF GETTING A MEDAL AND NOT GETTING ONE, it is just HEART BREAKING. Ones who come in 4th and 5th positions are just... freaking, SAD. There's no other word to describe other than sadness. It's like you were working for something to go home with after 4 DAMN YEARS, yet you return with nothing.

For example, the men's gymnastics team finals. Ukraine initially got a bronze, but because of some issues, Japan was pushed to second and Britain to third. SO UKRAINE WAS ROBBED OF THEIR BRONZE. AND ARE NOW 4th. WTF!? How would you feel if you were given something and then you feel so damn excited and then, hey, wtf, it's gone!

It's like, "Hey, Happy Birthday Tom, this is your present"
Then, a second later, "Hey, Fuck you Tom, I'm gonna take that away from you now. Happy Birthday."

TOM WILL FEEL FREAKIN DAMN SHIT about himself.
And Tom's been working at this thing his whole life to get a Birthday present. But ends up with none!

Sad Tom.

So... 4 years of hard work... sometimes, hard work just doesn't pay off. You just gotta put in even MORE of that hard work than the rest of them. But, really, how much is enough? With China around, it's never gonna be enough. Tom just has to suck his thumb.


2) Silver Medallists.

The silver medallists are also another sad story. We've placed so much emphasis on winning the Gold that a Silver is really just shit without it's colour. You know? Shit is gold, with the colour and all it's glory. But SILVER... what's that?! It's just shit without it's colour. Ok, I'm just being retarded.

I read an article recently.. actually just yesterday in the "Mind Your Body" section of the ST. Research shows that, Gold medallists are happy with their Gold because they have achieved the highest standard, and a Bronze medallist is contented with their Bronze because they're happy they even have a medal, otherwise they'd miss out on a medal all together.

But a Silver medallist, would hit back on himself by telling themselves, that if they had just swum a little faster, stretched a little further, and pushed themselves a little harder, the Gold would've been theirs. They feel that if they had done something a little MORE, they would have gotten First. So there's a constant mental battle with themselves, in their heads. Psychologists call it "Counter-Factual" thinking. They'll end up less happy then the Bronze medallists.

And that is indeed, very very sad.

I saw Viktoria Komova cry buckets after losing the Gold medal to USA and I just felt so sad for the Russian girl who was crying as if something untoward happened to her family. Her fellow compatriot, a Bronze medallist, was hugging and comforting her while she cried like hell coz she couldn't get a Gold medal. In that moment, you'd think, wow, the Bronze medallist isn't even that sad she got a Bronze, as much as that Silver medallist.

But I understood. She was THAT close to getting her Gold medal. Just a point away. Yet, she could only dream of the Gold medal. It belonged to the American Gabby Douglas. I was rooting for Komova though. She was in Singapore for YOG in 2010 and had won Gold then. Ah well. But she's still young, I'm sure she'll be back. : )

Then comes the,


3) Silver Medallist who won 3 times in a row.

As if winning the Silver isn't already bad enough, WHAT ABOUT GETTING THREE SILVER MEDALS CONSECUTIVELY IN A ROW, IN ATHENS, BEIJING AND THEN LONDON.

I say, FML man!

They call the runner up, the Bridesmaid. What about being the bridesmaid for 3 damn times. That's not just 3 years, it's 12 FREAKING YEARS. That's more than a freakin decade. F this shit, I say.

The thirst for Gold.... lasted so long. And my heart TRULY goes out to these athletes, for working so damn hard, yet Number 1 is beyond their reach.

In the Table Tennis Men's Finals match, it was Wang Hao against Ji Ke. I really dislike watching matches with China VS China, coz there's no point in that, but when I found out the one who lost, Wang Hao, was a silver medallist for the past 2 Games, my heart immediately went out to him. An outpour of sympathy. What's more, The Chinese are always so hard-up on the Gold, having to lose it AGAIN, the 3rd time, wow, your life is over.

Hahaha, ok I dramatise. But... WOW, I can totally feel the freaking pain. All those years of hard work, my freaking god..... I am just amazed by these athletes and their tenacity. Really, amazed. Gotta give it to them.



One day, I really hope to represent Singapore in SOMETHING. It's an amazing thing to be able to stand on the World Stage and represent your country in something THIS big. I'd be proud. So damn proud I swear.

As they always say, when there's a winner, there will always be a loser. I hate cliches. Coz they're so painfully true, yet said so many times they've lost their bloody meaning. Just like, Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder and shit like that.

But The Olympics is still an amazing event to watch. It is sporting excellence at such a grand scale. Losing is just part of it. I guess we all have to live with it. Sadly. Yet, we're all still winners, in one way or another. Nobody is a winner in everything.