Miho's favorites

I’ve just read the news about Zurich race ( Switzerland ) that was held on Friday. I’m so happy ! Jeremy won !!!! Yes ! Yes ! Yes ! According to the article, it says that “ Wariner, a former Arlington Lamar and Baylor standout, ran a strong bend to hold at bay Merritt, running lane three inside him, and kicked clear in the final straight to win in 43.82 , his fastest time of the season." “I had Merritt behind me to push me on,” Wariner said. “I ran a season best and I plan to improve on that in Brussels and Stuttgart. I want to end up as world number one at the end of the year. “ And Lashawn Merritt was 44.43 and finished in second. It sounds Jeremy’s easy win ! That’s the Jeremy Wariner I know. I’ve also shocked to read about the article in 4X400 relay in Olympics, Jeremy’s time was 43.23 which was almost same speed as Michael Johnson’s world record. Ray and I re-watched that men’s relay over and over, because Jeremy’s run as anchor in it was soooooo enjoyabl...

It’s always inspiring people who achieved their dream. In this Beijing Olympics, I have no doubt Michael Phelps is the most successful athlete who challenged 5 individual swimming competitions and won all of them and made world records, plus 3 team competitions relay, and received total of 8 gold medals. In the beginning , I was more thinking about my favorite subjects , gymnastics and track & field, and had no interest for swimming competitions. US broadcast showed mainly swimming most of the time and I wasn’t watching Phelps interviews at that time. But later, by chance I watched one of his interviews and found good impression about him seeing his talking. He is a very nice guy, nothing arrogant, snob against anyone, humble and humility. Later, I started checking his records and biography and was shocked to see his amazing success. Analyzing the key of successful people is one of my favorite things to do. There are always common things for successful people. Here ar...

It was so much fun to watch both men & women’s 400M X 4 relay ! After the disappointment from Jeremy’s loss in individual 400M competition, We were waiting for him coming in relay. I don’t know why, but Jeremy’s running is attractive and make me feel power and energy. He also looks cool. I love his sunglasses and shoes that are matching with US uniform. He is very unique for me, almost like an alien.  His body shape is beautiful , not too macho, and his shoulder is small compared with other runners. Many people say he is too skinny as a short distance runner. But I don’t think so. Until I found him, I’ve never recorded all the track & field , just enjoy the moment. Men’s 400m X 4 Final 1. U.S.A. ( 2.55. 39 ) LaShawn Merritt, Angelo Taylor, David Neville, Jeremy Wariner, 2. Bahama ( 2.58.03 ) 3. Russia ( 2.58.06 ) 4. Great Britain (2.58.81) 5. Belgium (2.59.37) 6. Australia (3.00.02) 7. Poland (3.00.32) 8. Jamaica (3.01.45) I was glad to see that Jeremy wa...

Okay, I watched men’s 400 m last night after seeing the result. It was heartbreaking to see Jeremy’s disappointed reaction... I thought he didn’t look like the same runner as in the past, he looked much slower than before in it. I couldn’t believe it.. What was wrong with him ? Just a month ago in Paris, he had crossed the finish line first, in an easy win over his chief rival LaShawn Merrit. But in the Olympics, seems like Jeremy brought his C game, not his A game. He said he did everything he could, and nothing left and was exhausted at the end. LaShawn beat him almost full second. Jeremy was with two other competitors . Usually he was far from any other competitors. I wonder Jeremy might not sleep well and might not eat much the day before the final ? It may be energy influence . Or psychological issue ? Michael Johnson also looked nervous before started. Seems like he has emotional connection with Jeremy, so when Jeremy lost, he looked panic and was asking what’s ...

Jeremy Wariner vs. LaShawn Merritt They also showed qualified for men’s 400m track & field on August 19. Oh… I really wanted Jeremy to win. But just after I woke up this morning, I saw some articles that says Lashawn won gold and Jeremy placed 2nd … Now I feel very disappointed .. Since this year, his rival Lashawn appeared and Jeremy was beaten by him twice this year, so many people are not expecting to Jeremy to win. But Jeremy beat him in Paris race a month ago. Jeremy was unbeatable until this year 2008, but seems like he had a muscle problem and his time was getting slower than before. Jeremy’s personal best time record is 43.45 and still holds the World Record as third best in the world. Top is still Michael Johnson’s 43.18 ( 1999 ), second is Harry Butch 43.29 (1988). LaShawn got 43.75 in this Beijing Olympics, sadly Jeremy’s time was 44.74. I’m wondering what happened to Jeremy ? And when I checked the lane for both of them, Lashawn was in 4 lane and Jeremy ...

During Olympics and figure skating season, it’s hard to focus only one thing since I found my favorite athletes , and can not stop watching all the competitions for my favorite subjects. Last night was for women’s gymnastics balance beam competition, and men’s gymnastics horizontal bar, also warming -up of track & field 400m. Women’s gymnastics balance beam 1. Shawn Johnson (USA) 2. Nastia Liukin (USA) 3. Cheng Fei ( CHN ) 4. Anna Pavlova (RUS) 5. Gabriela Dragoi (ROU) 6. Li Shanshan (CHN) 7. Ksenia Afanasyeva (RUS) 8. Koko Tsurumi (JPN) Yay, Shawn and Nastia rock ! I was rooting for Nastia but both of them were amazing ! I really like Shawn Johnson’s pure mind cheerful smile and friendly personality. Very adorable. Shawn was very steady, was doing many difficult movements and received 7.0 for A-score. Just only one part slightly lost balance and at landing, she stepped out but it was not so big deal. Even though I prefer Nastia’s artistic style, it was very nice to s...

1. He Kexin ( CHN )  A-score: 7.7, B-score : 9.025, total- 16725 2. Nastia Liukin ( USA )  A - score: 7.7, B- score: 9.025, total - 16725 3. Yang Yilin ( CHN )  A-score: 7.7, B-score: 8.950, total - 16650 4. Beth Tweddele (GBR) 5. Anastasiia Koval ( UKR) 6. Ksenia Semenova ( RUS ) 7. Steliana Nistor ( ROU ) 8. Dariya Zgoba (UKR) I was shocked to see the result showed He Kexin and Nastia’s was a tiebreaker but gold medal went to He Kexin. Immediately I started thinking about Johnny’s situation at last US Nationals’s tie breaker. And wonder how Johnny is feeing seeing this result. Nastia looked frustrated and disappointed after knowing this result. It’s a tie , why they don’t make a rule to give two gold medals to both of them for tie ? However, seeing all the gymnasts performances, what I thought was they should not give Nastia and He Kexin same scores, because I thought He Kexin’s was doing more difficult movements, twisted her body backwards after doing ...

Vault Result -  1. Hong Un Jong (PRK) 2. Oksana Chusovitina (GER) 3. Cheng Fei (CHN) 4. Alicia Sacramone (USA) 5. Ariella Kaslin ( SUI ) 6. Carlotta Giovannini (ITA) 7. Jade Barbosa ( BRA) 8. Anna Pavlova (RUS) Hmm.. I felt sympathy for Alicia could not make medal for this because I thought she did better than Cheng Fei. Cheng Fei did good job in her first vault but in the second vault, she fell. And Alicia didn’t make a big mistake for both of them. It was hurt to see Alicia tears and disappointed. I would give Alicia over Cheng Fei for this. Also I felt bad for Anna Pavlova (RUS). The broadcast didn’t show her performances , and just showed only the scores and the scene Anna was talking with her coach with disappointed face. Seems like she started before the green light which showed ready sign was up and got a big deduction for it. And as a result she had disqualified for the second vault due to a false start. But it was great to see the 33 years old lady who i...

This competition was pretty enjoyable to watch because I have some favorites and we were very excited during the time. I was rooting for Nastie Liukin for gold medal so it was very nice to see her win ! Seems like everyone thought Shawn Johnson will win for this competition before started and she was the favorite in the U.S.A. ?  That’s why only her fluff piece was shown ? My favorites are 1. Nastie Liukin (U.S.A.) 2. Ksennia Semenova ( RUS ) 3. Yang Yling and Yuang ( China ) Those three are my favorites ! I love those girls styles and also they are my type of looking, so it can also be my top three favorite beauty contest. I really love Russian girl Ksenia especially her floor exercise, she was the most musical in it so I was really hoping she will get silver, and Chinese girl Yang Yling for bronze. Nastie was amazing, she definitely deserved the gold medal ! She looked very nervous before started, but she was very strong and did excellent job for each subject, only i...

It’s a shame that NBC broadcast showed only American and Chinese teams and didn’t show much for Russian and Romanian teams because I guess they were competing at the same time as Chinese and American teams. So I saw only one Romanian gymnast doing uneven bar. And right before the Romanian girl start , they showed Nadia Comaneci in the arena audience. Looked like she was with her son. (maybe ?) It was so nice to see Nadia supporting her own country’s team there. She is still keeping her beautiful looking. Even though they showed only a few seconds, I thought she has impact and has charisma, very attractive and cool. I wanted them to show her more. They also showed two Russian gymnasts, Sennya and Anna. I thought , Sennya ’s face looks like a twin version of Tatiana Navka ( Russian ice dancer ) . Very pretty ! She did good job, however was nothing special for her style and movements. My favorite so far is Nastia Liukin from the U.S.A. She is great ! When I saw two of her p...

Olympics Beijing is now showing up !  The opening ceremony was just amazing ! Ray and I enjoyed every moment in it. In some parts when huge fire works were up, it reminds me of Alfee’s summer live events. I’ve heard that it was a Chinese top movie director who produced those settings. I especially loved, a Chinese girl dancing on a cloth , below many guys were lifting her. And also a Chinese lady who was doing Tai chi , her movements were like a water, and so elegant. I usually didn’t watch Olympics opening ceremonies or I don’t remember much about that and only watching my favorite subjects without checking schedule. But I believe this may be the most wonderful opening ceremony. Kudos to Chinese people ! I’ve read that at a cost of over $US 370 million in front of 80 world leaders and a worldwide audience of four billion !!! China was determined to prove that it could stage the greatest show on earth. And seems like around 10,000 performers were taking par...

According to Johnny, he has been receiving alarming amount of hateful threatening letters through his myspace. He had opened it as a way to be closer to his fans and friends about a year and a half ago. It’s also hard to continue in his limited time to personally log on to MySpace so he decided to close his myspace. It’s so sad and a shame to hear about it. I joined my myspace because Johnny started it. I’m trying not to get angry for people who has been bothering him, sending such a threatening letters. In internet, people can be mean when they have no responsibility for their ID. So many idiots get behind a computer screen and get brave and think it's funny to threaten and insult people. I don’t know what kind of threaten messages he has been receiving. But it’s a crime. I wonder if he told Police about it with all those proof of threats he received ? But he also need to focus on his goal, and he may not want to think about it anymore. Even though he closed his myspace, t...

Ray and I were hanging around a shopping mall yesterday. Since my work is desk work and it's easy to spend a time whole day at a computer, I needed some exercise for my health. On the way to the shopping mall, we stopped at Wendy's for our lunch. Even though I know fast foods are not good for health, I sometimes love to eat those foods. Unlike Japan, we can see all the ages people at this fast foods store. In Japan, only young people are loving to eat junk foods and senior people are not liking oily foods and meats. I remember that when first Mac Donald chain store was opened in Tokyo, I was about 12 years old.  It was very interesting to see those foods in CM on TV. Especially , French fry ! My parents said it's kind of like a snack , and not real meals. My parents had never eaten those foods. They loved only traditional Japanese foods. I'm already getting used to seeing American foods , but I still remember that American Hamburgers are bigger than...