 Lucky Number Eight
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-19 08:34  A flamingo at Munich's Hellabrunn Zoo twists its neck into a sideways eight on the same day the Olympics opened in Beijing: 8/8/08. Six baby flamingoes have been born at the German zoo in the past two months. The wading birds use their flexible necks to grab food from the mud. The number eight symbolizes wealth, fortune, and luck for the Chinese. At least 314,224 couples in China married on Aug 8.  Tree's rings for celebration A man in Hebei province has grown an "Olympic Five Rings Tree" to celebrate the Beijing Games (pictured below). The 72-year-old Sun Zhijie planted seeds of the winterberry plant Euonymus bungeanus five years ago and has painstakingly worked the branches into the Five Rings. Every three days he had to trim and tie the branches, according to People.com.cn. Peace reigns Wide-screen TVs are still selling well - even though the Olympics has passed the halfway mark. An assistant at the Gome appliance store in Shenzhen said sales of wide-screen TVs had gone up 400 to 500 percent from the previous year. Sales have slowed recently, but were still 60 percent higher last week than last year, according to a Shenzhen News story. The sales assistant, surnamed Li, said TV sales had "blown up" over the Olympic period as many families bought an extra TV to avoid squabbles over which channel to watch.
Olympians cool off High temperatures and stifling humidity could make the men's triathlon today even more grueling. So, the British have prepared for the race around the Ming Tomb Reservoir by pounding treadmills in heat chambers and the Australians have brought crushed-ice drinks and cooling vests. "I'm actually hoping it's hot and humid because that's what we've been preparing for," Britain's triathlete Helen Tucker said. The 'Ingrid' effect New research has found that more mothers are becoming Olympians. Norway's marathon runner Ingrid Kristiansen won the 1983 Houston marathon just five months after having a baby and she appears to have led the way. At this Olympics there are 20 mothers out of the 286 female American athletes. Chinese Judo champion Xian Dongmei was the first mother to win a gold medal in Beijing. Massey University's findings showed the number of high level athletes who are mothers has increased every decade since the 1980s, according to Sports.QQ.com. Who's this guy?
Kobe Bryant was nearly thrown out of the Wukesong basketball gymnasium when he went to watch the United States women basketball team against Spain. According to a story on the Sports.qq.com website one of the security guards thought Bryant did not have a ticket and shouted: "Get this big guy out of here!" Fortunately for Bryant the security detail came to its senses when they realized he had athlete's accreditation, but even so he was frisked and scanned before he could go in. (China Daily 08/19/2008 page28) |
