Olympics Wrap-up

The last couple of days were been very eventful. Particularly in the Taekwondo competition.
First of all, there was the quarter-final between Britain's Sarah Stevenson and Chen Zhong who was a former 2-time Olympic champion. The Chinese appeared to have nicked the match 1-0. However, there was an incident where Sarah clearly kicked the Chen in the face and it wasn't picked up by all the judges. In fact, at the end of the bout, there was a little meeting of 4 the corner judges, there was a little conversation and the initial result stood. 3 of the 4 judges have to have seen the kick. To be fair, the position of the women at the time, made it difficult for 2 of the judges to pick it up. The British protested and for the first time in the sport, the initial decision was reversed. A very brave but correct decision because there were jeers from the partisan crowd. Sarah Stevenson went on to win bronze. Here's how the Chinese viewed it

Talking of shots to head, have a look at the controversial finish to the men's 80kg bronze medal match between Cuba's Angel Valodia Matos and Kazakhstan's Arman Chilmanov, which ended up the Cuban being disqualified and giving kick to the referee's head. Absolutely shocking behaviour and surprising considering the Cuban was a former Olympic champion!
The reason for his disqualification was a bit harsh. He picked up a knock on his foot and required some medical attention, which to me appears to slow in arrival. He was given a 10 second warning and he was counted out. It seems a bit harsh if you compare to other sports like football where you would get a yellow card/warning for time wasting. However, reading the WTF rules, it does state in article 19, "The contestant who does not demonstrate the will to continue the contest after one minute, even in the case of a slight injury, shall be declared loser by the referee." By the letter of the law, it would appear the ref was right to award the match to his opponent. However, "the will" makes this rule not a hard and fast rule. Considering the Cuban was 3-2 up at the time and the medical assistance didn't come until late in the minute period, it does seem a little unfair. That said, he should have the experience to realise to get up before the minute expired and also not to lose his cool. This quote sums it up really... "You are allowed to kick your opponent in the head, that's part of the game... You're not allowed to kick the referee in the head"

I have to say all respect to the newest sport in the Olympics, BMX racing. There were thrills and spills in all the races! It looks very dangerous if you come off your bike. Great Britain's own Shanaze Reade found this out twice during the Olympics. Crucially the second time was unfortunately in the final where she clipped the wheel of Gold medalist Anne-Caroline Chausson. The contrast of glory and failure could be seen in the video with Chausson crossing the winning line arms aloft and poor Shanaze sprawled out on ground defeated. At the two-time world champion has youth on her side and She will probably have a crack at London 2012 Olympics

Blah... Try September...

I couldn't do the whole month... Busy and probably too lazy... And mostly because I shelled out 420 quid for two pair of glasses, which would have skewed the results...
It's already the 9th...

Now last week, most of my spending came from working onsite. Fortunately, most of it went on expenses so that makes things very easy to remember.

September 1-5
Work Expenses - £135
Shopping (2nd) - £20.30 (Asda)
Dinner (4th) - £13

September 6-7
Oystercard - £10
Shopping - £12.90 (Asda); £2.29 (Wilkinsons); £3.09 (Aldi); £2.35 (M&S);

September 8-12
Lunch (for two) - £13
Shopping Morrisons (8th) - £20.90
Lunch Chinese Buffet (10th) - £6.50
Lunch Cafe (11th) - £3.50
Lunch Pizza hut (12th) = £10.00
Train (x5) - £34

September 13-14
Train - £3.80
Breakfast - £3.50
Shopping - £10.90