in focus...

the flame has finally arrived to athens and the 2004 olympics is now officially started. so sad that local channels here won't probably air some games i want to watch. i'll just catch them in the morning news and of course, the internet.

here are some events and moments one (or i) should not miss.

1. the rp team's quest for the gold.
can we finally bring home a gold this time? with only few of our athletes (16 if i am not mistaken) managed to qualify, chance is small yet not impossible though. high hopes to our boxers and taekwondo jins. so sad that billiards is still missing in action. pocketing a gold would then be much easier with a bunch of cue masters we have.

2. us men's basketball team.
the 1992 dream team with jordan, bird, johnson among other superstars started the gold harvest of the us squad. that strength continued until the sydney olympics. will this be another walk in the park?

3. japan's baseball team.
with no godzilla and ichiro in the lineup, the team has to fill up that two big holes to stand abreast with baseball powerhouse cuba. hideki matsui and ichiro are playing in the mlb and were not allowed by their ballclubs due to the ongoing mlb season. united states did not qualify to the olympics. well, probably because mlb players were not in the team.

4. ian thorpe and kosuke kitajima.
can they shatter olympic records? watch them swim ala donita.

5. japan women's volleyball team.
with takeshita orchestrating the offense of the group with full of young talents and experienced ones, can they crash the wall of china, overpower brazil and outspeed the quickness of cuba? not counting out russia and italy though.

6. tennis.
will there be another federer vs. roddick in tennis men's singles finals?

catch them all here.

so, let the games begin!