Back again, this time in Rio, is the Olympics. Many of us have surely been glued to our seats watching as the fittest and most skilled compete in all manner of sports, ranging anywhere from dressage to diving and rowing to wrestling. If you haven’t been watching the events however, maybe this will convince you.
Photo credit: Today Online
A lot of local attention has been on Singapore swimmer Joseph Schooling. Despite beating Michael Phelps at the Longhorn Elite Aquatic Invite and also demolishing the national record, his showing at Rio has not been as good as hoped thus far. He recently finished 16th overall for the men’s 100m freestyle event. However, he still has Friday’s men’s 100m butterfly event, where he’ll swim against Phelps again. The butterfly event is Schooling’s specialty, so keep your fingers crossed.
Singapore may not have any medals yet, but not all of Southeast Asia is falling short. Malaysia won a silver medal in diving for the women’s synchronized 10m platform event, and Indonesia already has two silvers in weightlifting – one in men’s 62kg and one in women’s 48kg.
But even if you’re not watching the Olympics for national pride, there are plenty of other reasons to be watching. For example, the diving pool turned green just last night due to as yet unexplained reasons.
Other things that have caught the attention of social media are a screenshot of Phelps shooting daggers at South African swimmer Chad le Clos, which has been turned into a meme with the tag #PhelpsFace, and China’s collective fury at Australian swimmer Mack Horton over calling Chinese swimmer Sun Yang a “drug cheat”.
For those who take the Olympics a little more seriously, some less funny notable moments have also occurred, such as French gymnast Samir Ait Said breaking his leg during the qualifying rounds. It is the second time Said has had to pull out of the Olympics because of a broken leg, although this year’s break was significantly worse than 2012’s.
This is all after four days of events. With 10 more days to go, you’ll have to cut out sleep to keep up with everything happening.