Category: Sports

Carol Huynh wins first olympic gold for Canada

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Photo: Jeyhun Abdulla/Associated Press. Eh bien, finalement une médaille pour le Canada! Et je me demandais bien si elle était d’origine chinoise: selon un article dans le Vancouver Sun, son père Viem est effectivement un Chinois du Vietnam. “Huynh”, ça donne “Huang” en mandarin ou “Wong” en cantonnais (黃, c’est le caractère pour “jaune”) – … Continue reading “Carol Huynh wins first olympic gold for Canada”


Photo: Jeyhun Abdulla/Associated Press.

Eh bien, finalement une médaille pour le Canada! Et je me demandais bien si elle était d’origine chinoise: selon un article dans le Vancouver Sun, son père Viem est effectivement un Chinois du Vietnam. “Huynh”, ça donne “Huang” en mandarin ou “Wong” en cantonnais (黃, c’est le caractère pour “jaune”) – le même nom de famille que ma mère.

Mise à jour: En me réveillant le matin, j’apprends qu’elle a gagné l’or en battant la championne du monde Icho! L’or, en chinois, ça s’écrit 黃金 (huáng jīn), ou “jaune métal”!

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Finally a medal for Canada! And I was wondering whether she was of Chinese origin, and according to a Vancouver Sun article, her dad Viem is indeed Chinese from Vietnam. “Huynh” gives “Huang” in mandarin, and “Wong” in Cantonese (黃 is the character for “yellow”) – my mother’s maiden name.

Update: As I woke up this morning, I find out that she wins gold by beating the wold champion Icho! Gold, in Chinese, is written 黃金 (huáng jīn), or “golden metal”!

Hats Off to Jujie

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Nope, Canada hasn’t won a single gold medal yet. One of the feel-good stories for Canada prior to the Games has been Luan Jujie, the Chinese-Canadian fencer who won Olympic gold in Los Angeles in 1984, while defending China’s colours (see article and video on Radio-Canada.ca). My friend Rob Parungao used to fence, and his … Continue reading “Hats Off to Jujie”

Luan Jujie

Nope, Canada hasn’t won a single gold medal yet. One of the feel-good stories for Canada prior to the Games has been Luan Jujie, the Chinese-Canadian fencer who won Olympic gold in Los Angeles in 1984, while defending China’s colours (see article and video on Radio-Canada.ca).

My friend Rob Parungao used to fence, and his coach in Vancouver is a good friend of Luan, who now resides in Edmonton. He met her when she came to town for workshops. Rob has a new blog called When we see the Ocean, and he wrote about his encounter(s) with the fencer:

As I’m pretty good with kids I remember playing with her two daughters and son a lot back when they were kids since Paul, Mike and Jeremy were pretty much content hanging out in her basement listening to music and chatting. I remember her six year old Jerrica was rally outgoing had a crush on me which was kind of cute and her other daughter Jessica had Down’s syndrome. Her son was kind of quiet, but I won him over by giving him most of my Halloween candy which made him open up to me a bit.

Here, go check out the entire article.

The Olympic torch relay in Hong Kong through the eyes of an Overseas Chinese

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This is the photo of a crowd surrounding a reporter from TVB, Hong Kong’s top television channel, during the Wan Chai portion of the torch relay in Hong Kong. A very happy crowd assembled along Hennessy Road, the main artery passing through the centrally-located district of Wan Chai, nearby which are several Hong Kong landmarks, … Continue reading “The Olympic torch relay in Hong Kong through the eyes of an Overseas Chinese”

Olympic torch in Hong Kong - May 2, 2008

This is the photo of a crowd surrounding a reporter from TVB, Hong Kong’s top television channel, during the Wan Chai portion of the torch relay in Hong Kong.

A very happy crowd assembled along Hennessy Road, the main artery passing through the centrally-located district of Wan Chai, nearby which are several Hong Kong landmarks, like the Convention Centre. Flags of China were flying or drapped around bodies and umbrellas, among Samsung flags.

I was semi-expecting protesters, because of my exposure to Western press, but coming from a regular proudly-Chinese family, I should’ve known better, that it wasn’t in Hong Kong that you would see dissent.

There was a single occurrence of disruption, fifteen to thirty minutes before the torch’s passing, on Luard Street (perpendicular to Hennessy), at least 15 to 20 meters behind the crowd: a young blond-haired Caucasian male in a yellow t-shirt made a ruckus with the crowd. I never figured out what happened, and it was quickly suppressed by the crowd within a minute. Ten minutes after the torch passage, and after the crowd more or less dispersed, there was a police van barging in on Luard Street, with photographers snapping whatever they could through the van’s fenced windows.

Olympic torch in Hong Kong - May 2, 2008

Ironically, of the 300 pictures snapped yesterday, this previous pic is the only of two good ones that I managed to get. The carrier looked like some big business person or local politician. Only 40-something percent (approx number from memory) of the runners in Hong Kong were sportsmen, lower than at relays in St Petersburg and San Francisco.

Other than that, there was nothing worth mentioning. The best is to look at this Flickr set of pictures of the event, or check at these chosen pics below.

Continue reading “The Olympic torch relay in Hong Kong through the eyes of an Overseas Chinese”

Looking for the Habs in Beijing (Part 1)

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There may not be a part two to this post… I have been following hockey from Beijing as well. On Sunday morning, I watched Game 6, with a distant relative, also a Canadian-born Chinese from Montreal, and another Quebecer expat. It was pretty awesome, even though it was slo-mo at times, and even sound-less in … Continue reading “Looking for the Habs in Beijing (Part 1)”

There may not be a part two to this post… I have been following hockey from Beijing as well. On Sunday morning, I watched Game 6, with a distant relative, also a Canadian-born Chinese from Montreal, and another Quebecer expat. It was pretty awesome, even though it was slo-mo at times, and even sound-less in the last part of the third period, when the Canadiens lost their grip on the game.

Tomorrow morning, I will be watching Game 7 of the Bruins-Canadiens series.

I was told that the Rickshaw bar is open 24/7 and might be willing to switch you to a channel showing hockey. But, unverified info, and I am not going to verify it tomorrow morning.

The Beijing Olympics in Hong Kong

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While my hometown is hockey, my temporary one is Olympics. While not overly in-your-face to the point of seeing only that, the Beijing Olympics are quite noticeable in Hong Kong. It is a lot more than it is in Canada (more so because of the volume of advertisement here, I think) and the ads are … Continue reading “The Beijing Olympics in Hong Kong”

Hong Kong Tramway colored Olympics 2008

While my hometown is hockey, my temporary one is Olympics. While not overly in-your-face to the point of seeing only that, the Beijing Olympics are quite noticeable in Hong Kong. It is a lot more than it is in Canada (more so because of the volume of advertisement here, I think) and the ads are not necessarily associated with commercial partnerships, as demonstrated in the previous picture of a Hong Kong tramway. Hong Kong people strongly support the Olympics (see opinion poll), and the feeling about the Olympics here is a far cry from the sentiment felt in Western countries.

Moreover, equestrian competitions for the 2008 Olympics are to be held in Hong Kong, for hygiene reasons, and probably also because of the territory’s long horse racing tradition.

I was in Taiwan last week for a week, and any Olympics-related advertisement was nowhere to be seen (but I did not go look for it).

I am about to board my flight for Beijing, so I might be able to tell you in a week how it compares!

Looking for the Habs in Hong Kong (Part 2)

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Yesterday morning, for Game 2 of the Montreal-Boston NHL playoffs series, I again went to Lan Kwai Fong to see whether I could find a bar that was open, and showed ice hockey live… The answer was a simple no. The bar most often cited as showing hockey, often taped in advance, but sometimes live, … Continue reading “Looking for the Habs in Hong Kong (Part 2)”

The Keg, Lan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong

Yesterday morning, for Game 2 of the Montreal-Boston NHL playoffs series, I again went to Lan Kwai Fong to see whether I could find a bar that was open, and showed ice hockey live… The answer was a simple no. The bar most often cited as showing hockey, often taped in advance, but sometimes live, if the game’s in afternoon, was The Keg, located up the slope on the LKF block. Unfortunately, just like most of the other establishment at this hour (8AM), its doors were closed shut, and noone was to be seen.

I left a message under the door, and the lady managing The Keg called me back. She said that the bar, of Canadian ownership, only opened for business at 5:30PM, and closed at 4AM. If there are games in the afternoon in North America, it was possible that they can be shown live… This is how it goes here for hockey! So, either receive it on some special satellite channel (don’t know how) or watch it illegally on the web!

I am flying to Beijing tomorrow, and will be looking there again. A few names have been mentioned, but who knows…

Hockey Day In Canada sur CBC.ca en chinois et indien

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Hockey Day In Canada est une présentation spéciale annuelle de Hockey Night In Canada, avec Ron McLean dans une petite ville quelconque (Winkler, MB, cette année), et de trois matchs incluant des équipes canadiennes. Ce qu’il y aura de spécial pour cette édition, c’est la diffusion sur le web d’une description alternative des matchs en … Continue reading “Hockey Day In Canada sur CBC.ca en chinois et indien”

Hockey Day In Canada

Hockey Day In Canada est une présentation spéciale annuelle de Hockey Night In Canada, avec Ron McLean dans une petite ville quelconque (Winkler, MB, cette année), et de trois matchs incluant des équipes canadiennes. Ce qu’il y aura de spécial pour cette édition, c’est la diffusion sur le web d’une description alternative des matchs en mandarin et cantonais, deux dialectes du chinois, et en hindi, la plus parlée des langues en Inde (voir article).

Detroit vs Toronto @ 15 h (Mandarin)
Montréal vs Ottawa @ 19 h (Hindi)
Colorado vs Vancouver @ 22 h (Cantonais)

Les liens vers les streams en direct seront disponible sur le site de Hockey Day In Canada 2008 dès le début des matchs.