Happy Dancing

Recently Edward Li sent me a video-link https://www.youtube.com/embed/Pwe-pA6TaZk?rel=0 which goes to a video showing happy people, young and old, dancing in various places of the world. May this video bring love to mankind to do away with hatred, conflicts and wars.

I saw an advertisement (see the photos) showing people dancing and singing in similar manners, but it is a commercial one.

Men’s BMX race London Olympics

The start list of athletes in Men’s BMX race London Olympics
by countries was:
1.    USA
2.    The Netherlands
3.    Latvia
4.    Columbia
5.    Australia
6.    Great Britain
7.    Columbia
8.    The Netherlands
Guess which countries win the gold, silver and bronze medals in this race?

Women's BMX race (Final) London Olympics

The start list (final) of the Women BMX race in London Olympics was:
1 Great Britain Shanaze READE
2 France Laetitia le CORGUILLE
3 Australia Caroline BUCHANAN
4 Columbia Mariana PAJON
5 France Magalie POTTIER
6 New Zealand Sarah WALKER
7 USA Brooke CRAIN
8 The Netherlands Laura SMULDERS

By judging the colours of the track suits, you can easily trace the order of the athletes during the race. Well in this race, M. Pajon took the lead all the way and became the champion. S. Walker came second and L. Smulders third.

The winners of Gold, Silver and Bronze by countries were Columbia, New Zealand and the Netherlands. I find these lady medalists particularly very young and beautiful and am greatly impressed by their courage, strength and skill in the race.

BMX race course, London Olympics

BMX races are expected to be thrilling, dangerous and full of excitement at London Olympics. The race course starts with a sharp slope, at the top of which the athletes begin to descend and accelerate and it extends with wavy, up-and-down dunes on which the athletes jump up, land and accelerate. In addition, sharp bends like woks and a tunnel have added much interest to the race course.

Accidents may occur at moments when the athletes cannot balance themselves well when landing on those wavy curves or at the bends. The bottom photo shows the dangers of athletes falling down or colliding along the course.

Asparagus

Asparagus is a very nice kind of vegetables. Let us look at it from Wikipedia:

蘆筍(即露筍)的嫩莖可作蔬菜食用。

西方人一般將其削皮蒸熟或煮熟後，再佐以融化的黃油或奶酪食用。
東方人也喜歡用蘆筍配肉類炒菜。綠蘆筍維生素A含量豐富，滋味青脆爽口；白蘆筍則含有 大量的水分，具有甜嫩多汁的口感。好的綠蘆筍，全株形狀正直，筍尖鱗片應為緊密，不長腋芽，沒有水傷、腐臭味，光澤油亮，細嫩粗大者為佳；而白蘆筍，最好挑選20公分以內的長度，筍尖緊密，色澤白，未長腋芽、水傷或病蟲害者為佳，若發現白蘆筍有由乳白轉紅的現象，表示品質已惡化，選購時應特別注意。

蘆筍在購買後最好能新鮮立即食用，但不宜生吃，也不宜過度烹煮，過度烹煮營養素易流失，其做法除包括清燙後淋上醬汁即食的簡單吃法外、舉凡蒸、煮、炒及焗等樣樣皆可。汆燙處理後的蘆筍，最好淋上沙律醬或少許的植物油，其油脂的成分，能有利維生素A的吸收。如果真的不能馬上食用，可用紙巾或報紙 將其包住，置於冰箱儲存，但也不宜擱置超過3、4天。

每年的三月到六月是蘆筍的最佳產季，其營養非常豐富，不僅不含膽固醇，更是蛋白質、葉酸、維生素C和B、膳食纖維及鉀、硒、磷、鋅等微量元素的豐富來源，是很好的抗氧化、防癌的食品，同時具有降血壓、利尿、治水腫、消除疲勞的功效。

蘆筍的熱量不高，但是保護性的營養素含量豐富。每100公克只有20大卡左右，主要的熱量營養素是碳水化合物，與市面上流行的番茄汁相似。生鮮的蘆 筍含鉀豐富，每100公克可以提供200毫克以上，而且鈉的含量極少，天然生鮮的蔬果一般都有這種特質。經過加工的產品通常鈉的含量會大幅增加，綠蘆筍罐 頭的鈉含量超過鉀，番茄汁的鈉含量也比生鮮番茄為高，因此蔬果類食物不宜完全以加工產品取代生鮮食物。除了鉀之外，綠蘆筍還有適量的鈣與鎂，這三種礦物質有益於心血管健康和預防癌症。

蘆筍有良好的抗氧化能力，在一系列常用的蔬菜之中排名第十，比多種知名的保健蔬菜如洋蔥、青蒜、綠花菜、番茄、大蒜等都高，只有甜椒、紅高麗菜、芽 甘藍與菠菜比蘆筍高。因為綠蘆筍有豐富的β胡蘿蔔素，如果代謝生成維生素A，每100公克可以提供318 微克﹔豐富的葉酸，每100公克可以提供85-120微克﹔還有維生素C的含量也很豐富，約為大白菜的1.5倍左右。

香港之奧運新星

在場地單車女子凱琳(Keirin)賽，香港的單車選手李慧詩(Sarah LEE Wai Sze)是決賽六名參賽者之一，她的對手來自中國 、英國、法國、澳洲及加拿大，要摘取一面獎牌的機會只是二分之一。

開賽前，大家排列在同一起步綫，由內至外分別是法國、香港、中國、加拿大、澳洲和英國。一開始，郭爽(中國)領先，李慧詩隨後，英國和法國選手分別在第三、四位。比賽全程是繞八個圈，一眾選手踏著單車排成一條長蛇陣緊隨領航電單車加速至最後三個圈才展開衝刺。

緊湊的時候隨即開始，後面的車手要把握時機突圍而上，那麼就是加速從外圍(鑊形車道較高位置)追趕。當時澳洲車手首先發力突圍而上領先。其間，英國車手老實不客氣也衝上來。

鏡頭一轉，澳洲選手不知去向，相信是否突然墮後，反而英國的選手後上領先，隨後是郭爽及李慧詩。最後，英國名將彭妮頓以短距離過終點勝出奪金。中國郭爽屈居亞軍得銀牌，而我們的李慧詩得銅牌，為香港奪取奧運史上第三面獎牌。
`
今次摘銅，李慧詩遇上不少波折。Sarah於初賽僅第四位衝線，要參戰復活賽。她吸取首場教訓，復活賽開賽不久便搶入第三名位置，最後首名衝線躋身複賽。她在複賽搶佔領頭車位置，但後來被夾擊下一度跌落第四位，眼看出局之際發力狂衝刺，終以第三位衝線殺入決賽，最後一舉贏得銅牌。

李慧詩在牛頭角長大，小學讀柏德學校，中學是梁式芝書院，後者體育科主任高麗珊形容慧詩是一名活潑開朗及拼勁十足的女孩。李慧詩就讀中三時，學校推薦她參加體育學院的「明日之星」計劃，完成體能測試後，獲單車總會挑選參與運動員訓練，直至中五會考後，便決定做全職運動員。

李慧詩自幼患有貧血症，一般而言會因體內紅血球數目不足，降低運動能力或增加身體疲勞及肌肉疼痛感覺。不過，個性硬朗的她卻甘願向難度挑戰，投身以運動量極高而聞名的香港單車隊，更隨隊長年於昆明作高原訓練，以增強體內的帶氧能力。

獎牌路上波折重重，李慧詩於零六年在內地進行公路訓練期間，為閃避狗隻而「炒車」造成左手骨折，一年內先後進行三次手術，教練沈金康見狀亦覺心痛，曾幾次勸喻愛徒退役。

手部力量對單車運動員攸關重要，李慧詩卻能力抗傷患為港爭光。港隊隊醫郭志堅坦言：很少運動員進行過三次手術後，仍能重返運動場，認為若非有很大決心，絕對難以登上奧運這世界級舞台。

A Short Comedy at the Opening Ceremony of London Olympics

Mr. Bean (acted by Rowan Atkinson) appeared as one of the musicians at the performance of the philharmonic orchestra during the London Olympics 2012 Opening Ceremony. His loose ways of playing the musical instrument, such as using a mobile phone, sneezing, taking something from a chair behind him, had created some elements of a comedy.

It followed that Mr. Bean fell asleep and dreamed that he was one of the runners in the 1981 British film called “Chariots of Fire”, which tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics. Mr. Bean was at first among the team of runners and soon he fell far behind because he ran too slowly. The next shot showed that he mounted on a beach jeep and a few moments later he was heading the team and finally dashed across the finishing line.

Mr. Bean woke up, finished his playing the piece of music and stood up to receive the applause from the audience.

Olympic 48 kg class Weight-lifting (Women)

In the 48 kg (body-weight) class (Women) weight-lifting, WANG Ming Juan lifted a weight of 91 kg in Snatch and that of 114 kg in Clean & Jerk with a total score of 205. She won the first Gold medal in weight-lifting for China. MIYAKE of Japan and RYANG of Peoples’ Republic of Korea came second and third respectively. All the finalists in this event come from Asia, namely China, Japan, Peoples’ Republic of Korea, Thailand, Turkey, Japan and India (in order of merit).

The First Gold medal to China

YI Si Ling (易思玲), being young and sweet, won the first Gold medal to China in Women’s 10 m Air rifle with 502.9 points on July 27. She joined the athletic team in 2008, won in the world champion competition in 2010. Her team mate, YU Dan (喻丹) came third after Sylwia BOGACKA of Poland.

Shooting needs steady hands, a calm mind, slow breathing rhythms, good eye-sight and skill. It is very difficult indeed to shoot at the designated small target within 10 metres. Any shaking hands or disturbances in the mind would have ruined a shot.

Congratulations to these two young girls of China. Hope that they will also get very  good results in the next Olympics.