Thursday, April 10, 2008

Belated Thoughts on Doha Day 1

...quite belated, actually.

Day 1 of the Doha World Cup was broadcast on cable today. At a timeslot before midnight, would you believe! Day 2 is on tomorrow, 3pm I think? Check your Foxtel/Austar guides for details.

1. In a turbulent time of cyclists abusing steroids, track-and-field athletes catfighting, swimmers falling from grace and AFL players peeing over everything (including, but not limited to, police stations) it's so nice to see someone like Prashanth Sellathurai plugging along quietly. He's a short old thing but he's got a heart of gold. He had a lovely performance on pommel that we all now know won him gold. But he was so gracious in victory, and, as I have said in the past, very 'aw, shucks!' about the whole business. It is just a shame he won't be in Beijing.

Dis mah sirius face. Grrr.

2. Anna Pavlova had some bobbles but is still a gorgeous, stoic diva. She's rocking some long hair at the moment.

3. How cool was He Kexin!? Seriously. Nastia, Beth, Ksenia and Daria Z better watch their backs.

4. Anybody else notice our beloved Staffan sounded like he had the sniffles?

5. It's nice to see some Hungarian girls getting out there on the scene again.

6. Sleeveless leotards in finals. Australia says no.

7. All hail Oksana Chusovitina. A role model for gymnasts everywhere, and testament to the fact that old dogs can still do some hot tricks (she got her double-layout-with-full-twist, the trick named after her, back into her floor routine at the European Championships a few days ago, yeeha). She's the one whose face needs to be flashed in front of those ill-informed journalists who think a gymnast's competitive career only spans somewhere between foetus and freshman.

8. Our feed must come from Eurosport or something along those lines, because the broadcast quality was *amazing* and so crisp. Bring on Day 2!

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