Julia Lipnitskaya became the youngest Gold medal winner ever, at just 15 years old.
Tatyana Volosozhar and Maksim Trankov win gold for Russia in the pairs skating event.
Malaysia just like Vanessa Mae. An inspiring possibility? Who knew she could ski as well as she plays the violin, but she has qualified to participate. To have a Tai contender at the Winter Games is reminiscent of the Jamaican bob-sledding team at the 1988 Winter Olympics of Calgary, Alberta, which inspired a box-office smash hit Hollywood movie. You do not get to go to the Olympics just because you are your country’s only representative in the sport; you need to qualify. And Vanessa Mae did just that. Te incredulous thing of course is that she only started her Olympic training in earnest six months prior, qualifying inside the time required at the last possible qualifying event before the Games. But Vanessa Mae is a Horse-born, and gives further testimony to what Horse-born people have in store this year, success in the public eye. She has been skiing since she was 4-years-old, but you don’t typically expect sporting excellence from a
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music maestro. It is a heart-warming reminder that when the spirit and will is there, one can achieve some unbelievable and unexpected things. The Opening Ceremony to the
Games was a wondrous showcase of Russia’s history and culture, featuring the arts, the ballet, the music and Russia’s achievements in the Space Race. Tey called on their tennis star Maria Sharapova for torch relaying duties, and she cut a sensational figure running with the flame symbolic of so much. Retired Russian Olympians Irina Rodnina and Vladislav Tretiak were given the honors of lighting the Olympic Cauldron. And while there were glitches in the ceremony – most noticeably the last of the five Olympic Rings failing to light up – the Russian television networks did their best at a repair job, filling in the airtime with footage of the Rings properly lit from a dress rehearsal. And to be honest, this was a small glitch followed by a wonderful showcase of fabulous
It’s gold and silver for sisters Justine and Chloe Dufour-Lapointe of Canada in the women’s moguls event.
performance after performance that did not lose to ceremonies from any previous Olympic Games. One particularly beautiful routine featured a dance to the famous Swan Lake composed by Russia’s Tchaikovsky, a reminder of Russia’s great historical talents in the arts. Indeed, these Olympics make for beautiful television. It gives all of us something good to watch over two fabulous weeks. We get to see new records being set, new history being made, new feats and new firsts… away from the politics of the Games, and apart from the humour making the social media rounds on the failings of the Games. Hosting the Olympics may not be right for every country, but it certainly does put the spotlight on the host country; whether this leads to longer term benefits is dependent a huge number of factors, but for now, let us enjoy this fabulous celebration of nations and be inspired by what the Olympics should really be about – a quest for sporting perfection and a triumph of the human spirit.
MARCH 2014 | F ENGSHUIWORLD 23
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