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Martine Wright, a survivor of the London bombings, Rim Ju Song, the first North Korean participant who, a few months ago, could not swim; and Hassiem Achmat, who survived a shark attack. Just some of the remarkable Paralympic athletes.
"In a year filled with suicide bombings, school poisonings and kidnappings, the bronze for Afghanistan was more than gold." The country celebrates its one and only Olympic winner - Bronze medalist and Taekwondo fighter Rohullah Nikpai.
South African double amputee and the first athlete to compete in the Olympics and Paralympics Games in the same year, Oscar Pistorius, attracted attention after being beaten to second place in the T44 200 metres men’s final. African bloggers analyse the issue.
After hosting a most memorable Olympics, the British capital city of London welcomed the world's Paralympians for what is claimed to be the biggest Paralympics Games ever.
This post is part of our special coverage of the London 2012 Olympics. The three South Caucasus countries have been participating independently in the Olympics since 1996, and they each...
Puerto Rico celebrates Jaime Espinal's Olympic silver medal, the first to be won for the country in the freestyle wrestling. This is the second medal won for Puerto Rico in the London 2012 Olympics and only the second silver medal to be won in the country's history.
The 2012 Summer Olympics offered mixed successes for Central Asian states. While the Games proved nothing short of triumph for team Kazakhstan, the success of athletes from Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan was more moderate. And for Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan, the Olympics were largely a disappointment.
Carlos Oquendo and Mariana Pajón added two medals to Colombia's collection. The country ended the Olympics achieving a historic eight medals. Mariana Pajón's medal is the second gold medal in Colombia's history in the Olympic Games.
Ecuador took to social networks to offer support for the Ecuadorian sprinter Álex Quiñónez as he represented the country for the first time in the London 2012 Olympics. Quiñónez reached the 200m finals, finishing in seventh place.
East Timorese young marathoner Augusto Soares, 25, captured the hearts of the Olympic marathon audience with his perseverance and good humour. With only two months training, his goal was to finish the race, which he did. His smiling run was one of the closing moments of London 2012 Olympics.
Liu Xiang', the former world-record holder of the 110-meter hurdles and 2004 Olympic champion in the same event, dropped out of the London Olympic Games without clearing a single hurdle in the race. Some Chinese are sympathetic, others are more frustrated by the failure.
For the first time in the country's Olympic history, Mexico won a gold medal in Men's Football. On August 11, 2012, the country celebrated as the Olympic team beat Brazil 2-1.
It ought to become something understood in the language that disabled people do things not in spite of or because of, but with their disabilities.
During the Paralympics in London there have been more and more reports on “against-it-all people” or “supercripples” in the media. leidmedien.de explains how to get the tone right.
While saluting the decision of Saudi Arabia to send two female athletes to the London Olympics, the Saudi Women Driving deplores the fact that Saudi women cannot drive. “The whole world has been watching Saudi women and their triumphant appearance at the Olympics, and most news stories about them mention that they can't drive back home,” it says. The Blog of Amnesty International – USA also notes”Evidently, Saudi Arabia has a long way to reach the finish line of ‘gender equality.’ Nevertheless, Sarah Attar’s 800 meter run at the 2012 Olympics certainly shortens the distance.”
Mildred Largaespada from the blog 1001 trópicos [es] shares her “Olympic dream.” In 1984, Mildred was part of Nicaragua's National Junior Basketball Team and participated in the Central American Games of that year in Guatemala. Her dream was to make it to the Olympics, but after losing in Guatemala she traded her basketball shoes for a career in journalism.
Beatrice from Ministry of Tofu puts together a set of infographic and reports on products related with London Olympic Games which are made in China.
Colombians on Twitter anxiously awaited the performance of BMX cyclist Mariana Pajón. Hashtags like ORO (“gold”), #ÁnimoMariana (“Go Mariana”), or Mariana Pajón became local Trending Topics before and after Pajón won the gold medal. With this achievement, Colombia ratifies the country's historic performance at the this year's Olympics and now ranks number 33 in the current medal count.
Twitter user @zhenya_jane wrote on the U.S. native Becky Hammon‘s contribution to #London2012: “She's 35 years old, 168 cm tall. Becky Hammon is in the starting lineup of the Russian national basketball team. Thought they wouldn't take her.” In 2008, Hammon faced ridicule from Americans when she gained Russian citizenship in the hope of playing on the international stage. Today she led her team in scoring (19 points, 5 assists) as Russia defeated Turkey (66-63) in a quarterfinal match. Team USA and Russia could meet in the final if Russia defeats France and if Team USA defeats Australia in the semis. Hammon's Facebook fan page is here.
For a lighter take: “How To Avoid NSA Surveillance”
death to all muslims starting with obama.....الموت لجميع المسلمين بدءا من أوباما!
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Protests in February swelled to over 100,000 demonstrators by February 17. So if the new...