Big in Japan: Japan will send 66-yo Olympian to Beijing

by Matthew Firestone on

With the 2008 Beijing Summer Games right around the corner, I think I can safely say that Olympic fever is in the air…

Then again, with China hosting the event for the first time in the history of the games, maybe it’s safe to say that this year’s Olympic fever may be of the viral kind.

Indeed, it’s hard to turn on the news today without hearing about the impending implications of China’s economic and political coming out party.

But then again, it’s not hard to see why, considering that the Chinese government’s efforts to modernize Beijing haven’t exactly been, um, ethical.

Of course, if you consider massive relocation of the poor, strict media censorship and forced labor to be acceptable practices in the Olympic rulebook, then I guess it’s alright!

(There I said it – looks like Gadling will now be banned in China!)

Anyway, with the increased politicization of this year’s Olympic Games, it’s fairly likely that more and more news stories will slip past the Chinese filters.

Even Steven Spielberg jumped on the bandwagon this week, saying that he was boycotting the games in response to the Chinese government’s alliance with Sudan in light of the genocide in Darfur.

Of course, as this is Gadling and not Human Rights Watch, today I will bring you a decidedly happier news story about one of the world’s oldest Olympians.

This week in Tokyo, news agencies announced that Hiroshi Hoketsu, a 66-year-old equestrian rider, will be Japan’s oldest ever Olympic athlete.

Hoketsu, who will actually be turning the young and sprightly age of 67 next month, and will be competing in the team dressage event after a 44-year break from the Games.

(In case you were wondering, dressage, a French term meaning ‘training,’ is a form of equestrian competition that is centered on standardized progressive training methods to develop a horse’s natural athletic ability.)

Back to the story at hand…

Hoketsu was actually a member of Japan’s equestrian team at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, where he finished 40th in show jumping.

(As you’d imagine, dressage is slightly less potentially damaging to the body than show jumping, especially when you’re in your late 60s).

According to Hideki Yamauchi, an official with the Japan Equestrian Federation, “We are very happy he has been named to the team. It’s quite an accomplishment to return to the Olympics after 44 years.”

Prior to Hoketsu, the previous age record for Japan was set by 63 year-old Miss Kikuko Inoue, who also participated in an equestrian event at the 1988 Seoul Games.

Surprisingly however, Japan doesn’t hold the Olympic age record as the oldest ever competitive athlete was Swedish shooter Oscar Swahn, who won a gold medal at the age of 64 in the 1912 Stockholm Games, and then returned eight years later, aged 72, to win a silver in Antwerp, Belgium.

I guess that at 27, there is still time for me to win the gold!

(On a side note, today was my 100th posting for Big in Japan, so thanks to everyone out there for checking out my little column here at Gadling!)

** All images are trademarked by the 2008 Beijing Olympic Committee. Illegal use or infringement of these images will result in horrific violations of your human rights that are so depraved and immoral that I’m not permitted by common decency to mention them here **

China bans ghost stories

by Aaron Hotfelder on

There will be no spooky slumber-party tales for Chinese children anymore, at least if the government has its way. As China prepares for the 2008 Olympics, the government is attempting to rid the country of any evidence of vulgarity. Recently, China banned “vulgar” ads for items like brassieres and sex-enhancing drugs (even provocative sounds such as “ooh” and “ahh” were banned from airwaves). Last week, China went one step further and banned ghost stories.

That’s right. Ghost stories.

Any video or audio content containing ghosts or monsters needs to be reported to authorities in the next few weeks. Reuters quotes the administration in saying that offending content includes “wronged spirits and violent ghosts, monsters, demons, and other inhuman portrayals, strange and supernatural storytelling for the sole purpose of seeking terror and horror.”

Reuters suggests that China “is keen to step up its control of the cultural arena ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August, which are widely seen as a coming-out party for the rising political and economic power.”

Photo of the Day (02/18/08)

by Iva Skoch on

I love the reflection in the wet pavement. Shanghai can look like so many different cities, depending on where in the city you take the photo. This one, taken by petetamproductions reminds me of Paris.

With that said, I think this lens has definitely been kind to Shanghai. I have stayed on that street and it wasn’t quite so sophisticated or so shiny.

***To have your photo considered for the Gadling Photo of the Day, go over to the Gadling Flickr site and post it.***

New, tasteful hit in China: Osama bin Laden-shaped candy

by Iva Skoch on

The things people make money on in this world are quite amazing. I especially wonder about the Osama-inspired merchandise that people seem to keep producing for some reason.

A friend sent me a link to Wired’s defense blog. The author, Noah Shachtman, seems to know a thing or two about this topic. Sick of eating “baked scorpion on sticks” and “rat-shaped lollipops” in China, he is marveling over yet another culinary treat of Beijing: sugared Osama Bin Laden-shaped candies.

Shachtman says that in Afghanistan, they sell “Super Osama bin Laden Kulfa Balls“, or coconut candy manufactured in Pakistan and packaged in pink-and-purple boxes covered with images of bin Laden surrounded by tanks, cruise missiles, and jet fighters.” Yum!

While the world likes to get their daily dose of Osama orally, Americans clearly don’t find this intimate enough. Here, you could buy “Al Qaeda condoms” and “bin Laden toilet paper“. People are weird.

Should you bring your own food when visiting China?

by Jerry Guo on

There was a big New York Times story this weekend about the US Olympics delegation’s plan to ship in 25,000 pounds of their own food to Beijing this summer.

Here’s what one caterer for the delegation had to say about an innocent looking piece of chicken he found at an everyday supermarket. “We had it tested and it was so full of steroids that we never could have given it to athletes. They all would have tested positive.” And more:

In recent years, some foods in China have been found to be tainted with insecticides and illegal veterinary drugs, and the standards applied to meat there are lower than those in the United States, raising fears of food-borne illnesses.

If Chinese food isn’t good enough for US athletes, is it good enough for you? I think the surprising answer is no–if you have a sensitive stomach. My girlfriend got deathly sick for a week this past summer from eating a cantaloupe from a street vendor. I had similar problems a couple years back buying octopus from a street vendor. I think it goes to show: stick to actual restaurants.

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