News Links - 3/11/08

[dleedlee]

Tang Wei blacklisted for 'glorifying traitors'
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 524647.ece
Ang Lee's protege due at Asian Film Awards despite reported ban
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/00 ... 111550.htm

Stephen Chow on DragonballZ and Kung Fu Hustle 2
http://www.canmag.com/nw/10654-stephen- ... ragonballz

Chinese "Ugly Betty" to debut
http://english.cri.cn/3086/2008/03/11/1261@332514.htm

SF Asian festival picks
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... ype=movies

Wal-Mart and Eros sign deal
http://www.varietyasiaonline.com/content/view/5654/1/

ASIAN POP Food is love
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 1/apop.DTL

South Korea changes first astronaut in space for violating Russian rules
Woman now to be first in space
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080310/ap_ ... i_MMas0NUE

Air pollution forces star to pull out of Olympic marathon
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 93993.html

[Brian Thibodeau]

Air pollution forces star to pull out of Olympic marathon
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 93993.html

Gotta love the government's initial response to this . . .

The decision by such a high-profile athlete not to participate in an event because of pollution clearly hit a raw nerve with the Chinese authorities who briefly suspended transmissions from BBC World yesterday when the station relayed the story to its domestic listeners.

[ewaffle]

Air pollution forces star to pull out of Olympic marathon
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 93993.html

The small world of track and field fans greatly expands during the Olympic Games but for those who follow the sport this is a huge announcement. Haile Gebrselassie is as big a star in distance running as Tiger Woods is in golf and has been dominant on the track--five and 10 thousand meters--and the road--marathons and half-marathons--for over a decade. He is universally respected in the sport and loved in Ethiopia where he continues to live. He has founded schools and orphanages there and continues to fund them.

He is a classic rags to riches story, going from rural African poverty, although with a strong family and access to schools to one of the most popular people in East Africa.

He wasn't expected to medal in the marathon, having just set a new world's fastest time in Berlin and wanting to concentrate on the ten thousand meters where her and his friend and former main rival, Paul Tergat of Kenya, had some incredibly exciting duels, but an Olympic marathon without him (and he would probably finish in the top ten) will seem very strange.

Distance runners and fans take everything Gebrselassie says seriously since he doesn't say much regarding the sport, saving his public comments for issues like education, poverty and clean water projects in his home country. Deciding not to the 26.2 mile distance is as telling a comment on how polluted Beijing is as anything anyone could say.

By the way and in track geek mode, there is no world record in the marathon. While the distance for each race is identical--26 miles, 385 yards--the courses are not. Some are flat and fast while some are hilly with slower times. So there isn't a world record as such but there is a fastest time over the distance which Haile Gebrselassie holds.

[JohnR]

Thanks for the info on Haile G. and track in general; very helpful. I had been wondering whether the guy was a prima donna or a cry baby; now I know his is a serious complaint.

I'm not surprised by his decision. My wife was in Hunan Provence a year and a half ago and said the pollution was unbelievably bad. (As were the manners of the people. ) She's lived in polluted cities before (e.g. Taipei), but nothing like she experienced there. She says she'll never go back again.