Archive for Seine
Ocean’s tri [blue wave#4]
Posted in pictures, Running with tags France, Paris, Paris 2024 Paralympics, PTS2 men Paralympics triathlon, Seine, triathlon on September 3, 2024 by xi'an
Paralympiques au Grand Palais
Posted in pictures, Running, Travel with tags air conditioning, bronze, Champs-Elysées, Communist Party of China, gold medal, Grand Palais, gwenn ha du, K44, obscurantism, Paris, Paris 2024 Olympics, Paris 2024 Paralympics, Péru, PRC, refugees, Refugees Team, repêchage, Rio 2016, Seine, taekwondo, Taipei, Taiwan, taliban, theocracy, Tokyo 2021 Olympics, Zakia Khudadadi on September 1, 2024 by xi'an
While we did not try to attend any of the Paris 2024 Olympics events, primarily for being in the Pacific Northwest during the Olympics (in not in Olympic National Park!), being back in Paris and tickets being widely available and looking forward attending an event in the Grand Palais, we found tickets for the taekwondo K44 finals, in the light(er than me) categories. With no prior exposure to taekwondo.
The location was fabulous, indeed, with a full stadium built inside and surprisingly good views from the back seats. (And too much air conditioning!) The rounds were also most interesting, with a wide range of fighting styles, if not always exciting as some ended up with very few points and a lot of referees’ paste&cuts of glued opponents. As in fencing, it was also difficult to understand why some punches scored and others did not. Two games ended up with the judges’ ruling, one rather clearly picking the dominant fighter (but with the looser refusing to shake hands with the winner!), and the other much less so. The only remaining French athlete was badly injured and got eliminated in the first round.
Another great moment was the bronze medal of Zakia Khudadadi, part of the Refugee Paralympics Team, who is an Afghan athlete evacuated to France when the Taliban took power in 2021. She had already competed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, a week after her escape from Hell. (Her coach seen carrying her on the picture is Rio 2016 silver medallist Haby Niare from France.) She joins female boxer Cindy Ngamba who won the first-ever medal for the Olympic Refugee Team a few weeks earlier.
The medal ceremony was somewhat low key (esp. from the back seats) but I discovered there taekwondo rules produce two bronze medals, one coming from repêchages. And heard the Peruvian anthem for the first time, thanks to the victory of (Tokyo gold medallist) Leonor Angelica Espinoza Carranza. All in all, this was a great afternoon at the Paralympics, with an unexpectedly efficient organisation, no queues!, cheerful volunteers all over and rather laid-back police officers (in large numbers).
Ocean’s three [blue wave#6]
Posted in pictures, Running with tags bacteria, climate change, France, gold medal, Invalides, Lago Llanquihue, Olympics, Paris, Paris 2024 Olympics, pollution, pont Alexandre III, Puerto Montt, rain, Seine, triathlon, women's Olympic triathlon on August 3, 2024 by xi'an
bigots of the World, unite! [in confusing Seine or scène with Cène]
Posted in Books, pictures with tags Cène, controversies, Dionysus, Donald Trump, end blasphemy laws, France, French Bishops' Conference, Greek mythology, Jan van Bijlert, Last Supper, Le Festin des Dieux, Leonardo Da Vinci, Olympus, opening ceremony, Paris, Paris 2024 Olympics, religious right, secularism, Sein, Seine, Tayyip Erdogan, Victor Orban on August 1, 2024 by xi'an
“Disgraceful scene in Paris offended not only the Catholic world, not only the Christian world, but also us as much as them. Immorality displayed at the opening of the Paris Olympics once again highlighted the scale of the threat we face. An international sporting event that is supposed to unite people unfortunately opened with hostility to humanity and the values that make human beings human.” Tayyip Erdogan
“Westerners believe that nation-states no longer exists. They deny that there is a common culture and a public morality based on it. There is no morality, if you watched the Olympics opening yesterday, you saw this” Victor Orban
“We won’t be having a Last Supper as portrayed the way they portrayed it the other night. I mean, they can do certain things. I thought it was terrible. Look, I’m for everybody. I’m very open-minded… but I thought what they did was a disgrace.” Donald Trump
“We are thinking of all Christians on every continent who have been hurt by the outrageousness and provocation of certain scenes. We want them to understand that the Olympic celebration goes far beyond the ideological biases of a few artists.” French Bishops’ Conference
Boulogne half-marathon [1:25:23, 1078/10000, 7/178M5M, 3⁰]
Posted in Running with tags Boulogne-Billancourt, France, Grand Master, half-marathon, Hauts de Seine, M5M, road race, Seine on December 2, 2023 by xi'an
