Suprise medal for men’s gymnastics, then outdoor table tennis

I started the morning at men’s team gymnastics finals. I was just there to babysit. After losing all the Hamm’s, we had no right winning a medal with a team full of alternates. So, I thought, after they bomb, i’d leave and go shoot something else.

So much for that plan.

USA’s Jonathan Horton (above) clapped his hands after a heck of a high bar routine (not like I’d know.) The team did well on their first 4 events, and at one point, they had the lead. So I had to stay.

It was worth it, there were a few great pictures to make.

Anyway, I am glad I have this blog. None of these photos made it into the paper.

I’ll move on.

This is a happy blog.

After lunch, Politi and I went to find a park that had 20 outdoor table tennis tables. Or is it courts? Who knows, it’s not like I’ve seen anything like it before. There were 8 tables going while we were there. It was pretty cool, and for the first time since we’ve been here, there was sunlight. I actually saw a shadow today!

We showed up with no translator, just hope that someone could help. We were there for 20 minutes, then we saw a reporter and photographer from the NY Times show up.

With a translator.

We can’t win.

On the plus side, it was kinda fun watching Politi ask everyone who walked by if they spoke English. Let’s just say, he had a tough time.

But in the end, he found a kid who happened to work for the US Embassy who spoke Mandarin and English.

He saved our bacon.

Here’s the video we did.