Friday, August 22, 2008

the games of my life

So I was lucky enough to find good friends in Beijing who gave me free tickets (some British dudes at the hotel were selling theirs for 500 dollars!) to the Athletics Finals on the 21st. This was supposed to be a big game for China because their national sports hero Liu Xiang, was suppose to compete for this event, but since he was injured, this was totally unpredictable.


My Beijing friends Jessie (from Adidas- Beijing, who gave us the tickets!) and Lan (Coordinator for International Students at the Peking University)


The stadium was packed to the brim but we got good seats on the 1st tier.


The only problem was, I only had a 70-210 mm Nikkor lens which was pretty useless even with its range considering how massive the stadium was


The finals of the women’s 400 m relay


Finals of the men’s triple jump




The men’s 400 meter run where USA swept all three medals


And the much anticipated event of the entire games – Liu Xiang’s 110 meter steeplechase (sorry but the event was on the other side of the oval! Grrrr!)


Dayton Robles of Cuba was eventually crowned winner but didn’t break the world record.


The Bird’s Nest on spotlight


Spectators going out after the event


Even the lights around were inspired by the stadium!


And from afar (this was shot almost at midnight already, but the crowds just refused to go


And of course, the Water Cube


Michael Phelps and the water cube were like coffee and cream


The lit Teflon surfaces up close


The spectacular media center which was also an astonishing structure unto itelf.


The Olympic line subway station. You can only ride this subway if you’re a ticket holder!

Now if only we can get tickets too for the Closing Ceremonies! Last time I checked, the cheapest one was resold at $1,500!!!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Palanga, can I kindly ask you to buy for me the following magazines: Vacations and Travel & CNN Traveller in addition to all my tugons to you? Urgently needed it for my presentation on the 30th Senkyus! you know you love me.. choz, your wife

pusangkalye said...

Kuya Joven, you are one luicky. I just wonder kung ilang PINOY lahat na gaya mo ang nakapunta and nakanuod sa Beijing this year. Maybe only a few.
The Olympics is an event that not so many people have the chance to watch personally in their lifetime. LUCKY to be there in China. Baka saka nako makanuod if ever there will be a chance that the Philippines would host the event. Even then, the probability for that scenario is very remote.....

lucas said...

WHHOOOAAAHHH! GRABE! sobrang ininggit moko! huhu! so mapapanood mo pa yung closing ceremonies bukas? astiiiiiiiiiig! huhuhu! ang ganda pala talaga ng birds nest pati ng water cube noh? hays..wala akong masabi.. so pinoy ka pala.. akala ko cambodian ka eh! aheheh
ang swerte mo at may nabili kang tikets!

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laking national ka din pla! hehe! gawin mo na yung tag..magtatampo yung nagtag sau..hehe! ciao!

The Dork One said...

ahhhh kainggit!!!

i just photograbbed from yahoo sports eh

i bet it's a thousand times better watching it live

Jake said...

Dude! Supeeerb photos! I like the shots.

Salingpusa, Manila is being pushed to hold the 2027 Olympics. Buhay pa tayo that time. Search google. Hehehe.

the spool artist said...

@salingpusa: you're right, i didn't see much Pinoys in Beijing who watched the games. In the closing ceremonies, the Filipino delegation was even skimmed more form the original group!

@roneiluke: yup, i was at the closing ceremonies! will post more photos soon... hahaha, yup, ive always been Filipino, but have been based here in Cambodia for a couple of years na. Mabuhay ka, kababayan!

@leviusque: yup, there is truly no experience greater and bigger than watching the human spirit triumph at the olympic games! really wished at we won something though for team philippines!

@jaketornado: really? wow, that will be interesting! kahit at least sa bidding, we can make it sa top 5! I heard manila did bid for the 1968 olympics which mexico won, but we didnt make it yata sa top 5 ng bidding process...