They're finally here! Daegu was preparing for these games when we moved here, so we were pretty excited to go to some events. We had fantastic seats. Stadium security was making people throw away their food before they went in the door, which perplexed my Korean coworker. I had to laugh! Koreans get to bring food into amusement parks and concerts, so I guess they're not used to being forced to pay stadium prices for food and drinks. Not that they were really stadium prices. A bottle of water was still less than a dollar.
The highlight of the night was the men's 100 meter finals, when we were supposed to see Usain Bolt show his stuff. Instead, Bolt false started and was disqualified. The other runners were visibly excited about this, but the other Jamaican guy took the gold.
The USA did well. We took the decathalon, the women's long jump, and the 200 meter semifinals. Winning athletes paraded around the stadium wearing their country's flags, and it was nice to see so many American flags. The single Korean athlete competing that day placed 17th in his event, but still walked around the stadium draped in a Korean flag and was met with wild cheers. I was charmed. Everything I know about Koreans tells me that they consider anything less than success mortifying, but this failed with style and was encouraged for it.
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| A Korean drum performance |
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| Not the most PC thing to ask... |
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| See the robot that carries the javelin back to the athletes? |
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| Men's 400M |
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| I really liked her. US long jumper. |
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| Women's 200M |
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| My long jumper doing her victory lap |
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| The star of the evening..shame about the ending! |
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