Michael Phelps won his record eighth gold medal at the Beijing Olympics 2008 breaking a tie with Mark Spitz for most golds in a single games. In 1972, Spitz entered four individual events and three relays and set world records in all seven events – 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 200m butterfly, 4×100m freestyle, 4×200m freestyle relay and 4×100m medley relay. American retired swimmer Spitz, now 58, hail Phelps as “the best Olympian of all time”. That’s for the U.S. but to the entire nation of Malaysia all eyes are looking at Lee Chong Wei to bring back the first-ever gold medal in the history of Malaysian sports.
Tonight Lee Chong Wei will play against world number one Lin Dan of China. With silver medal in his bag the RM300,000 is secured but compared to RM1 million (gold medal), Chong Wei would rather have the gold medal for the nation. The pressure is definitely on Lin Dan and not Chong Wei. If this game were to be played in Malaysia, my money would be on Lin Dan but with the local crowds chanting for nothing more than gold medal from Lin Dan, I think Chong Wei stand a 50:50 chance. He has beaten Lin Dan before and as long as he can stay focus and not get distracted, Chong Wei could deliver the points. Super Dan’s bad temper could be his weakness and it would be fun if Chong Wei could force him to lose it and start whacking everyone on sight with his racket *grin*.
Talking about number, it is seventh lunar month according to the Chinese calendar and the wandering spirits and hungry ghosts are roaming every corner of the streets after the gates of the afterworld were opened. Ghost or not the temperature is surely getting hotter with P44 Permatang Pauh by-election gaining steam. Anwar needs to win big and anything but a reduced majority would be a victory for the ruling government. It’s a litmus test for de-facto opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim if the people are still thirsty for a new government either by middle of Sept 2008 or the next general election. But things are getting freaking dirty.
Thousands of police were mobilized to control the situation. Already supporters from ruling government were yelling “Sodomy! Sodomy!” while Anwar’s supporters were having fun singing “Altantuya! Altantuya!” But with police’s accusation that out of 8 ceramahs only 5 has police permits and all of these belong to UMNO, fingers were pointed at the police who took sides. Anwar was not taking this election lightly and he prepared the people (mentally) who attended his talks to take the RM500 offered by ruling government but voted for him (Anwar) instead. It would be interesting to see if Samy Vellu could help to swing the Indian votes or to deliver more damages instead.
Anyway, should Lee Chong Wei succeeded in securing a gold medal tonight I hope the PM Abdullah Badawi could move his heavy buttock to the airport to greet and congratulate the national hero. Nothing less is acceptable lest he wish to be seen as practicing double-standard and a racist *grin*. Lee Chong Wei also should deserve a Datukship for that matter, not that it’s a privilege nowadays. The PM would have nothing to lose but everything to gain by doing so as he could claim credit for the country’s first-ever Olympic gold medal – at least his predecessor Mahathir didn’t manage to do so during his 22-year dictatorship.
Other Articles That May Interest You …
- Brother of RM24 billion vessel scandal to unseat Anwar?
- Races are on for Gold Medals, Black Gold and the Throne
August 17th, 2008 by financetwitter
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