The Olympics

I’m an avid fan of the Olympics and leave my TV on almost 24/7 during this sporting event. My favourites are always badminton, synchronised diving, swimming, and gymnastics. So naturally I was really impressed when Tao Li became the first Singaporean woman to qualify for a swimming final on the world’s grandest sporting stage. She had the 4th best timing in the semi-finals and there were so many journalists fawning over her, going “maybe she can do it”..”maybe she will win this”..”she can do this blahblahblah.” But deep down, I had this nagging feeling that tells me that Tao Li will not win anything, and that she might do even worse than usual. Unfortunately, I’m right. Tao Li finished fifth in the finals. The media must not put so much pressure onto a single athlete, especially not a lady, especially not an 18-year-old girl who has zilch experience in the Olympics. And I’m not even going to begin on how female athletes tend to worry a lot more simply because females think a lot more (unnecessarily at times..but can you blame them? It’s in the genetics.) In a cruder sense, female athletes tend to mindfuck themselves into losing. And now the media goes, “Tao Li dashes the country’s hope…” Oh, just shut up. It’s not like she meant to lead us on or anything. I’m sure she feels shittier than anyone else in the country…and she’s the only one who has the right to feel shitty about it. I’m not too optimistic about Li Jiawei’s chances at getting a table tennis medal either. And Michael Phelps is ONLY 23???????????? All these young, rich, successful people just make me feel so tremendously inadequate.