Olympics: My Favorite Yao at Laptop Television Mom

Olympics: Day Four

The Olympic Games bring out the proud American in me. I proudly support my country when American athletes compete. But today, I must pay homage to a man who hails from

China

I heard the story of the pairs figure skating coach from

China

. In all honesty, the story played on the television while I was getting the kid ready for bed, so I will do my best to recap with accuracy (corrections and more information are welcome):

Many years ago, a young man named
Yao
was tapped to be the first figure skating pairs team to represent
China
.
Yao
was 20 years old; his partner was 12 years old.
The duo had to learn pairs figure skating from photos in magazines.
They attended their first world competition after only one month of training.
They had to travel by themselves; there was no budget for coaches to travel with them.
Yao
and his skating partner had never been out of China.
Their performance was not great. They received last place. The crowd laughed at them.
Years later,
Yao
was chartered with building a reputable pairs figure skating program for
China
, and he now serves as the head coach for his country.

Today:

China
won the silver and the bronze medals in the Olympics.
One of the bronze medalists recently recovered from a torn Achilles’ to win the medal.
The silver medalist team overcame a major fall to win the medal.