I snapped ...

I have watched a few minutes of Olympics. The equestrian broke my resolve. I am telling myself that it's in Hong Kong, so it's not really breaking my China boycott, but I know this is a lie.

But.

The oldest debuting Australian Olympian this year is a 60-year-old named Laurie Lever. He is a showjumper. I just watched him jump a beautiful clear round, with just one time penalty. And it was a beautiful thing. At work today, my friend and I were in the cafe when the repeats of the German teams dressage came on. We watched Isabell Werth on Satchmo, and it was astonishing. I have heard people say that they don't 'get' dressage, but I defy anyone to watch a performance like that and not see the beauty in it.

To balance out my snapping, I have been watching more of the coverage of journalists hammering the IOC. Last night a British journalist asked a senior IOC official a question along the lines of "Is the IOC embarrassed by the fact that China has met none of its promises, either with regards to human rights or to press freedom?"

She replied along the lines of "The athletes and the visitors are all having a wonderful Olympics and we are very pleased with the way the Games are going."

He repeated his question. She repeated her answer. He tried again, same response. He tried one last time. She replied: "I think that some of the other journalists here would like a chance to ask some questions." and pointed into the press pack.

An American voice rang out. "Actually, I'd very much like to hear you address the previous question."

I do wholly love Americans some days.

I snapped ...

I have watched a few minutes of Olympics. The equestrian broke my resolve. I am telling myself that it's in Hong Kong, so it's not really breaking my China boycott, but I know this is a lie.

But.

The oldest debuting Australian Olympian this year is a 60-year-old named Laurie Lever. He is a showjumper. I just watched him jump a beautiful clear round, with just one time penalty. And it was a beautiful thing. At work today, my friend and I were in the cafe when the repeats of the German teams dressage came on. We watched Isabell Werth on Satchmo, and it was astonishing. I have heard people say that they don't 'get' dressage, but I defy anyone to watch a performance like that and not see the beauty in it.

To balance out my snapping, I have been watching more of the coverage of journalists hammering the IOC. Last night a British journalist asked a senior IOC official a question along the lines of "Is the IOC embarrassed by the fact that China has met none of its promises, either with regards to human rights or to press freedom?"

She replied along the lines of "The athletes and the visitors are all having a wonderful Olympics and we are very pleased with the way the Games are going."

He repeated his question. She repeated her answer. He tried again, same response. He tried one last time. She replied: "I think that some of the other journalists here would like a chance to ask some questions." and pointed into the press pack.

An American voice rang out. "Actually, I'd very much like to hear you address the previous question."

I do wholly love Americans some days.