There have been some amazing performances so far, but the most inspiring moment for me was seeing Lin Hao walking alongside Yao Ming in the opening ceremony. Lin Hao is 9 years old. He was at school in YingXui, one of the hardest hit areas of the recent earthquake in China. Only ten of his thirty classmates survived when their school building collapsed, trapping him and two friends in a corridor during the quake. According to the BBC he said, "The corridor collapsed as I was walking. Two of my classmates were trapped beside me. I tried as hard as I could to climb out, and after I had climbed out I pulled a classmate out." After getting that unconscious classmate to safety, he went back and carried the second friend, also unconscious, to safety. When asked about his heroism, Lin Hao replied that he was the 'hall monitor' and it was his responsibility. According to some reports, he encouraged his fellow surviving students to sing songs in order to keep up their spirits while they awaited rescue and aid. Then, having lost both his parents, he left the area with his two sisters, hiking seven hours to Dujiangyan. Wow. In the aftermath of the horrific devastation for the people of Sichuan province, it is heartening to hear at least one story of hope.There are a couple old broads competing, against the odds. The US women's swim team includes 41-year-old Dara Torres, and the German women's gymnastics team has 33-year-old Oksana Chusovitina. This is Chusovitina's fifth Olympics, and she qualified for the individual competition in the vault. Imagine still being competitive in a sport where the average athlete is washed up by the time they are twenty. Amazing. The US women got a silver in the 4x100m Freestyle Relay. Not too shabby.
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