Shanghaiist Weekly Favorites

312 HIV-positive travellers found through random blood checks at border crossings

This article in the China Daily caught our attention:

Three hundred and twelve travelers were found to be HIV positive in the first seven months of this year, up 19 percent year-on-year, a report released Tuesday showed.

They were among 756,000 travelers who received random blood checks at border crossings, according to the report compiled by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ).

The increase in positive cases was mainly due to the growth in the number of people who underwent the checks, Xia Wenjun, a press officer with the administration, said.

Such random checks were conducted on only 65,900 travelers in the same period last year.

Xia said such checks were usually conducted among high-risk groups, or those who appeared to have the symptoms. She would not elaborate.

The report failed to say how many of the HIV positive travelers were foreigners.

Under current laws and regulations of China, foreigners with HIV/AIDS are generally banned from entering the country, while the Chinese are referred to local disease control and prevention agencies.

The HIV/AIDS ban is expected to be lifted next year on foreigners entering China, the Ministry of Health said earlier.

756,000 random blood checks on travellers sounds like an awfully large number. Has anyone been stopped for such a check before?

Superstitious numerologists draw connection between China's medal count and the Sichuan earthquake

The Chinese internets are abuzz with the idea that China's final medal count of 51 golds, 22 silvers and 28 bronzes coincides with the date and time of May's devastating Sichuan earthquake — 5.12, 2:28pm.

We must admit we ourselves were kind of freaked out by the connection when we first heard this. Were the heavens trying to tell us something?

Alas, if only it were really true. China won 21 silvers at last count, not 22 — and with the closing ceremony now behind us, there is no more chance for China to win that missing silver to make this supernatural conspiracy come true.

Still that hasn't stopped the rumour from spreading like wildfire. But fear not, as inhouse censors with the key Chinese portals are now deleting the superstitious posts as soon as they appear, as this comparison of the same search term on Baidu shows.

Video: Fireworks at the closing ceremony of Beijing Games

The closing ceremony of the Beijing Games was star-studded and glitzy as promised, but those that came expecting to be wowed off their socks as they were by the opening went away disappointed (read the reactions from China-based twitteratti). After all, Zhang Yimou and company did so spectacularly well in the opening they couldn't have possibly done better. Or could they? Quite frankly, we thought the ceremony was going to end after David Beckham's grand appearance and the Olympic flame was extinguished, but it went on for another good hour or so with Chinese singers belting out one song after another — from traditional Chinese folk tunes to pop to what have you. The grand finale featured performers representing 56 ethnic groups singing, “Please Stay, Guests From Afar,” and as John Branch of the New York Times notes, many of the athletes and fans decided to head for the exits when they realised the happy minorities were taking forever to wave goodbye. The fireworks though were definitely a highlight of the evening and were masterminded by Chinese artist and gunpowder expert Cai Guoqiang, whose personal exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York was the best attended exhibition ever of a solo artist there.

Around Shanghai: Football wars, foreign exchange and fireworks

The World Expo Tunnel, which stretches beneath the Huangpu River, connecting Pudong and Puxi reached its full length on August the 20th: it's 2.67 kilometers long, and located 1.117 kilometers below the river.
The soccer World Cup qualifier match between North and South Korea has been moved from Pyongyang to Shanghai, because the North had refused to play the anthem or fly the flag of its opponent (technically the two Koreas are still at war). The match is scheduled for September 10, sounds like an interesting game, eh?
Migrant workers in Shanghai will be able to claim unemployment benefits and have the right to get health benefits while they are employed. This was stated by the department of safety in labor this week. Welcome news for a group who are definitely in need of a few more rights.
The State Administration of Foreign Exchange will allow non-financial institutions in Shanghai and Beijing to offer currency exchange services to individuals. One such company, Aixiyi (艾西益) is currently running two exchange points at Pudong airport and Zhangjiang subway station. No word though on whether you can get foreign currency for your hard-earned yuan.
The Shanghai Daily tells us that "Puxi fans of musical fireworks will no longer have to cross the river to enjoy a night sky filled with song and pyrotechnics" because a fireworks show will be held on the west side of the river in October during the Shanghai Tourism Festival.

Photo by 2493

The Beijing Olympic closing ceremony set to "dazzle" tonight with David Beckham, Leona Lewis, Jimmy Page and a cast of 7,000

Tonight's star-studded Olympic closing ceremony will feature David Beckham, Leona Lewis and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame

While we aren't able to provide you with any spoilers like we did for the opening ceremony, executive vice president of NBC Olympics David Neal made his way to a college campus 90 minutes west of Beijing where secret rehearsals were being conducted and exclaimed, "It's just unlike any other closing ceremony I've ever seen." While Olympic closing ceremonies in the past are usually "a simple vehicle for extinguishing the Olympic flame and setting the stage for the next games", China under the charge of creative director Zhang Yimou has pulled out all the stops to "dazzle" the world with glittery shows and a "great deal of entertainment".

While most of the closing ceremony remains a secret, Andrew Cawthorne of Reuters says English footballer David Beckham will be "kicking a ball into the crowd from a red double-decker bus to symbolise the handover to London." The eight minute segment from London, host of the 2012 Games, will also feature Michael Phelps, Leona Lewis and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame. Page's rock classic "Whole Lotta Love" has apparently been deemed too racy by Olympic organisers and had to be amended for the closing ceremony.

Xinhua also reports that viewers can expect a "kungfu display, featuring 350 practitioners from a local martial art school, would be part of the show, in addition to 60 erhu, or Chinese violin, players from eastern province of Jiangsu," although the cast of 7,000 will not include any of those 15,000 that were involved in the opening ceremony.

For those of you that want to watch the ceremony on Youtube's dedicated Olympic channel but aren't able to do so, one geek offers some practical advice how you can get around it by simply removing Youtube's geolocation cookie.

The ceremony starts at 8pm Beijing time, so remember to tune in!

WFC sightseeing hall to open this Saturday

For those of you that still haven't gotten around to your own illegal hike up the World Financial Center, you'll be glad to know you can soon get a bird's eye view of the city from the top of that building without risking arrest. Yes, the building that's been through many trials and tribulations will finally be open this Saturday. Apparently, the gallery located on the 100th floor of the skyscraper at a height of 474 metres (1,555 feet) above the ground is the world's highest sightseeing hall. From AFP:

Sightseers who want a bird's eye view of the city will have to pay 150 yuan (22 dollars) each for the experience, it said.

The building, finished earlier this year but not yet open to the public, has 101 floors for a total height of 492 metres, making it the tallest in China.

As well as the observation deck, the building will also have a luxury hotel, shops and 70 floors of office space, the centre's website says.

Until now, the highest similar venue has been the Sky Pod of the CN Tower in Toronto, at 447 metres high

Previous Shanghaiist stories on the World Financial Center
The view from the top of Shanghai's (yet to be finished) tallest skyscraper
Fire at the World Financial Center
Skyscraper Envy: Shanghai to whip out another big one
As far as shapes go, the circle is the evilest
Blogging about the World Financial Center
Welcome to Shanghai Hills!

Photo from Marc oh!

Chinese Soundbites Podcast: Liu Xiang

Welcome to the inaugural episode of Chinese Soundbites, a podcast series brought to you by ChinesePod and Shanghaiist. Every week we'll be bringing you topics and words pulled straight from the headlines, in Mandarin Chinese.

In this first episode Jenny and Amber talk about Liu Xiang (刘翔, Liú Xiáng), the Chinese hurdler who carried the hopes and dreams of the Chinese nation on his back but was brought down by an Achilles' tendon injury before his first heat in Beijing.

Vocabulary:

刘翔 [Liú Xiáng] Liu Xiang, the Chinese hurdler
受伤 [shòushāng] to be injured/wounded
退出 [tuìchū] to withdraw, to quit
好样的 [hǎo yàng de] good job; an admirable person

[Download Link]

For more Chinese learning content, visit ChinesePod.com.

Heroes and villains of the Beijing Olympics

THE HEROES:

Natalie Du Toit: This 24 year old South African swimmer became the first female amputee swimmer ever to qualify for the Olympics, and placed a very commendable 16th in a field of 24 in the 10,000m swim. Du Toit first started competing internationally at the age of 14, but in 2001, her left leg was amputated at the knee after a car accident. The traumatic experience not only did not stop her from competitive swimming, but made her all the more resolved to be part of the Olympics — a dream she fulfilled this year, without the aid of her prosthetic limb! Read all about her inspiring story here.

Oksana Chusovitina: A mother's love knows no bounds and this is fully exemplified in the life story of Oksana Chusovitina, only one of a handful of women to stay in competitive gymnastics after motherhood. She formerly represented the Soviet Union and her native Uzbekistan and has competed for Germany since 2006. When her son Alisher was diagnosed in 2002 with leukemia and doctors in Moscow could not guarantee quality care, Chusovitina accepted an offer of help from the head coaches of the Toyota Cologne club and moved to Germany. With her competition prize money and funds raised by members of the international gymnastics community, she was able to secure treatment for her son at the University of Cologne's hospital while training with the German team. Chusovitina is the only female gymnast ever to compete in five Olympic Games, and won a silver in the vault final at the Beijing Games.

Dara Torres: This 41 year old Olympian has defied logic and stereotype to become the first woman in history to swim in the Olympics past the age of 40. At the Beijing Olympics, Torres took part in the 50 meter freestyle, 4×100 medley relay, and 4×100 freestyle relay and won the silver medal in all three events — beating competitors less than half her age. Last year, she twice broke her own American record in the 50m freestyle, 26 years after she first wrote the US record at 15 years of age.

Sheila Taormina: First person to compete in 4 Olympics in 3 different sports. ESPN suggests she could very well be the best athlete in the world. Taormina won a gold medal in swimming as a member of the 4x200 relay team at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, transitioned to triathlon in 2000 and was a part of the pentathlon team in Beijing at the age of 39 years.

Eric Shanteau: Just a week before the US Olympic trials, this 24 year old swimmer learnt from his doctor that he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Instead of abandoning his Olympic dream, Shanteau chose to delay surgery, swam in the trials, and won himself a spot in the US team with an upset second-place finish. More here.

Matthias Steiner: This hulk of a weightlifter stole the hearts of Germans all week for crying like a baby holding a picture of his late wife as he was presented with his gold medal. Their bitter sweet love story goes somewhat like this — one day, Susann was channel-flicking on TV and happened to chance upon Steiner in a weightlifting contest. Instantly smitten, she e-mailed him and after establishing contact took the train to Austria to meet him. The two fell madly in love and it was not long before Steiner applied for German citizenship. They were looking forward to come to Beijing together for the Olympics but a car crash before Susann's 23rd birthday ended her life. At her deathbed, Steiner pledged he would make their Olympic dream come true.

Matthew Mitcham: This 20 year old Aussie diver had the balls to step out as the only openly gay male athlete at the Beijing Olympics. After mixed success in the first few rounds of the 10m platform final, Mitcham entered the final round of dives 34 points behind the Chinese favourite Zhou Luxin. Opportunity came when Zhou performed his worst dive of the final and scored 74.80, but even then, Mitcham still needed to score 107.30, a very high score on the platform, to secure the gold. However, his near-perfect final dive drew four perfect 10 scores from the panel and gave him a score of 112.10 — the highest single-dive score in Olympic history. Mitcham's win prevented China from claiming a clean sweep of all diving medals and made him the first Australian male to win an Olympic diving gold since 1924.

Usain Bolt: Olympic chief Jacques Rogge does not think Usain Bolt is a hero and has even reprimanded him for his signature lightning bolt guesture, and not showing "more respect for his fellow athletes" nor shaking their hands. But we definitely think Bolt deserves a place in this list. After all, the Jamaican sprinter is the first man in history to set records for the 100m, 200m and 4x100m sprint at a single Olympics. And he has certainly charmed the world with his antics.

Michael Phelps: With eight golds won at the Beijing Games, US swimmer Michael Phelps brings his total number of Olympic golds to 14, making him the greatest Olympian ever. As a child, Phelps was diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and started swimming at age seven as an outlet for his energy. He excelled in it and was soon breaking one national age-group record after another. Today he holds holds seven world records and still manages to charm journalists and fans with his perceived humility, sincerity and killer smile.

Hugh McCutcheon: This coach of the US men's volleyball overcame news of the shocking on attack on the parents of his wife, former Olympian Elisabeth Bachman, which left his father-in-law dead and his mother-in-law seriously injured to lead his team to the gold medal.

THE VILLAINS:

Angel Valodia Matos: This Cuban taekwondo competitor was banned for life together with his coach after kicking the Swedish judge in the men’s +80kg bronze medal match. Enough said.

Ara Abrahamian: This Armenian-born Swedish Greco-Roman wrestler threw his bronze medal down on the wrestling mat after the medal ceremony and stormed from the podium, saying: "I don't care about this medal. I wanted gold." His behaviour won him loud boos from Swedish fans who were present at the ceremony and the IOC subsequently slapped him with an Olympic ban for "violating the spirit of fair play".

CAUGHT FOR DOPING: North Korean shooter Kim Jong Su was stripped of his silver and bronze medals taken away for doping. Also expelled for doping violations were Spanish cyclist Maria Isabel Moreno and Vietnamese gymnast Thi Ngan Thuong Do.

POOR THING:

Matt Emmons: At the final rifle shooting event in the Athens Games four years ago, this New Jersey shooter threw away his gold medal that he was favoured to win by cross-firing. At an event afterwards, Czech shooter Kate?ina K?rková came to console him afterwards for his blunder, telling him he was the real winner. They ended up falling in love and coming back to this year's Olympics as man and wife. While Kate Emmons won the first gold medal awarded at the Beijing Olympics, Matt threw away another gold by scoring 4.4 in his 10-shot final round, the lowest by anybody in the competition. A 6.7 was all he needed to win gold, and nobody in the finals scored worse than 7.7 for any shot.

Finally, a quick way to get famous in Shanghai

From Reuters:

Shanghai police will post photos and videos of jaywalkers in newspapers and on TV in a bid to shame them out of breaking traffic rules, local media reported on Thursday.

Offending pedestrians, moped riders and cyclists would be snapped at selected intersections and their images put in regular columns and on special television programmes set up by police, the Shanghai Daily said.

The scheme had come under fire from lawyers who said public humiliation was too steep a punishment for jaywalking and warned of defamation lawsuits against police.

"It's a principle of law that a penalty should match the seriousness of the crime," Liu Chunquan, a local lawyer, told the paper.

What? Are they really going to post pictures of offenders in the papers and on TV and forget about the Internet? Really, they might as well go all the way...

Addendum: The idea of shaming jaywalkers is not all that new in Shanghai. Read this, this and this.

Al-Jazeera on Islam in China

We've previously noted how Al-Jazeera's treatment of the Tibet issue tends to be somewhat lopsided, but this latest report on Islam in China which features interviewees from both ends of the political spectrum does exhibit cognisance of the various sensitivities and the interplay of a variety of complex factors. The heterogeneity of Muslims in China makes them a highly fascinating group to study, if we can even consider them as a "group" to begin with. The longstanding suspicions among Uyghurs of the Hui's are underscored by activist Rebiya Kadeer's assertion that many of the spies employed by Chinese intelligence in Xinjiang are Hui Muslims — an ethnic group that accounts for about half of China's 22 million Muslims. The main distinction that sets the Hui's apart from the Han's is derived from their practice of Islam and in many cases, there is no genetic distinction between the Hui's and the Han's due to a decision by the Communist Party in the 1930s to define Hui's as an umbrella group for all Sinophone Muslims.

It is interesting to note that Rebiya Kadeer was once co-opted as a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Her rags-to-riches story and successes as a businesswoman earned her a high standing among the Uyghur community. Unfortunately, her barring from re-election in 1998 and subsequent imprisonment in 1999 (a missed opportunity by the Chinese government to address real concerns perhaps?) may have had the effect of radicalising her views. Since her exile to the United States, she has gained influential friends and meetings with heads of states and has also been named President of the World Uyghur Congress, but for all her actions is likely to exert only limited pressure on the Chinese government.

Even as the Chinese government continues to guarantee more space for the expression of religion, the rise of political Islam will be a real concern. This is because Islam is a set of beliefs which not only govern how man is to behave before God, but also how states should be run. As more and more imams (religious leaders) are trained not just in local seminaries but also in such revered institutions of fundamentalist thought such as the Al-Azhar University in Egypt, the face of Islam in China will change (note the totally veiled women in the video). As record numbers of Chinese Muslims go on Haj year-on-year, their spiritual aspirations and views of their relation to the state will also evolve. Not all of this will be bad though. As we have previously noted, there is much that Muslim communities elsewhere can glean from the Chinese Muslim experience, in particular the establishment of nu si (“女寺") or female mosques (seen in this video) and the ordination of large numbers of female imams that are unheard of elsewhere. While female imams and mosques are more peculiar to Hui rather than Uyghur communities, it has been studied with great interest by anthropologists.

Related links
Shanghaiist: The most unlikely birthplace of progressive Islam?
Shanghaiist: Record number of Chinese Muslims on Haj
Wikipedia: Rebiya Kadeer
Youtube: Cause and Causes [video]
In These Times: Rebiya Kadeer: The Uighur Dalai Lama
Journal3.net: Islam in China: China Nu’s Ahong
Asia Times: Islam with Chinese characteristics

The Beijing Olympic Village recreated with cards

OMG was our first reaction when we saw this recreation of the Olympic Village in Beijing — yes, the Bird's Nest, Water Cube, the media tower and all — which took world record cardstacker Bryan Berg several days to build (in a Hong Kong shopping mall), 140,000 cards and NO super glue! We've seen the real Olympic Village, but this is awesome shit. Apparently some of Berg's works can even support up to 108 kg in weight: check out this other awesome vid of two ladies standing on four sheets of particleboard on his cards.

Bryan Berg first broke the Guinness World Record for the World's Tallest House of Cards in 1992 at the age of seventeen, with a tower fourteen feet, six inches tall, and has gone on since to build ever grander and more complex structures. Someone hand this chap a gold medal!

Check out his site here.

Sexy Beijing on matchmaking parents

The latest edition of Sexy Beijing explores the phenomenon of parents seeking partners for their children at 'Parental Matchmaking Sessions' in parks — a trend that has caught the attention of Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong who recently floated the idea to the city-state of 4 million in his National Day Rally speech as a way to increase the republic's fertility rate of 1.29, which is far below the replacement level of 2.1.

And the Olympic Medals Per Capita winner is ...

The Bahamas. Again. One medal for every 153,725 Bahamians. They were followed by Jamaica, Iceland, Slovenia, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Cuba, Armenia and Belarus. Of the 87 nations that won medals, China ranked No. 68. The United States was No. 46. India brought up the rear. This is all good info to have the next time you tire of your friends arguing over who really "won" the Olympics. [Source]

NBA signs Tsingtao, Lakers sign Sun Yue

In what we're sure is a total coincidence, NBA entities had two big China-related announcements right around the time Team USA finished its gold medal romp in Wukesong Arena in Beijing.

NBA China signed a sponsorship deal with Tsingtao, China's most popular beer and its only beverage brand with an international presence. According to this Bloomberg report, the deal includes plans for a dance contest and All-Star balloting in China. Tsingtao was on Olympic sponsor, available at the friendly price of 5 yuan at all venues during the games.

The other China product with a hot NBA contract is 23-year-old Sun Yue (孙悦), a guard who finally signed with the Los Angeles Lakers. Sun was drafted by the Lakers in 2007, but stayed with the Chinese national team to pick up some seasoning before starting contract talks this summer.

While Tsing Tsao and the NBA looks like a match made in heaven, we're a little more skeptical about Sun and the Lakers. He'll join a backcourt that doesn't need much help — Derek Fisher, Jordan Farmar and Kobe Bryant seem to have things pretty well in hand, and the team has a couple of other good prospects in training camp. Sun used to play point guard, but with the national team this season, he's been at shooting guard with Liu Wei running the point very capably. During the Olympics, he averaged a pedestrian 6.8 points and 2.5 assists per game.

Sun's been called the "Chinese Magic Johnson" in some Chinese media; don't expect that nickname to stick in a city that knows exactly how Magic played. But even if he never develops into a starter, this second round draft pick should be able to sell a few jerseys on Wangfujing, and cement more Laker loyalty among the Kobe-loving Chinese market.

For a look at Sun's pre-draft workout and video of him blocking Carmelo Anthony's shot, check out his profile page on China Sports Today.

Photos: Olympic education banners around Beijing

We heard that Beijing has made an effort to rid the city of Chinglish in all public places. Finally the public education banners are also in English so the foreigners can get some proper education too!

Thanks to QuirkyBeijing for photos and translations.

Press "one" for nuclear attack

According to China Radio International the Academy of Military Medical Sciences in Beijing has opened a 24 hour hotline "providing advice and technical support in the event of attacks by nuclear, biological or chemical weapons". The hotline number is 010-66880120, we suggest you write it down or add it to you cell phone contacts — you never know when you'll need to report a nuclear attack.

Photo by givepeaceachance

Video: Elderly protesters in Beijing

In this video Al Jazeera reports on two elderly Beijing residents who tried to organize protests against evictions in the capital. For these women, who are both in their 70s, this has had far reaching consequences.

This weekend in live music; Cold Fairyland, the Gar and more

With the Olympics winding down, the underground gigs seem to be finally picking up. We still aren't sure what is going on at Yuyintang, their webpage isn't loading and the message they were sending out on Facebook was vague on when they were planning to re-open. Yesterday we text-messaged them regarding The Gar, who were scheduled to play tonight and YYT confirmed the gig was still on. Shanghaiist plans on showing up tonight, but with all the uncertainty we might be the only ones. Also, tonight at Live Bar they are going back to the blues with Plastic Shell and more.

Saturday, ten Shanghai bands are celebrating the end of the Olympics at the Dream Factory. Besides Shanghai favorites, Cold Fairyland and Yuguo there is a sold lineup of up-n-coming bands worth checking out.

Friday - August 22nd

The Gar (possibly) - Yuyintang - 8pm (30rmb)
Blues Night - Live Bar - 8pm (30rmb)

Saturday - August 23rd

ColdFairyland, Yuguo and more - Dream Factory - 3pm(50rmb)

Yuyintang - 延安西路1731号(凯旋路)天山公园小白楼
Live Bar- 杨浦区昆明路721号，近通北路
Dream Factory - 余姚路68号，同乐坊内，近西康路

Video of Cold Fairyland

DIY at the Water Cube thanks to NY Times

There's a pretty sweet interactive feature on the NY Times website right now that let's the reader have a virtual experience atop the 10M diving platform at the National Aquatic Center (aka "Water Cube"). It includes a minute long audio description from American Olympic diver Thomas Finchum, but the real highlight is playing around with the panorama. We wish we could be there ourselves except we're afraid of heights. And water. And mobs of people. And oh yeah, we're not Olympics athletes, so this will be a nice alternative.

Week Around the Ists

Image courtesy of the British Library.

Londonist explored the hidden basement levels of the British Library.
Phillyist wondered whether AT&T was treating them just like everyone else.
Bostonist got all worked up about grammar. A local man, member of the Typo Eradication Advancement League and apparent troublemaker, was busted (or is it got busted?) fixing/besmirching an historic sign at the Grand Canyon.
Seattlest talked with icanhascheeseburger.com head honcho Ben Huh about the existence of dirty LOLcats and ultimate world domination.
LAist loves street food but happened upon the LAPD busting bacon-wrapped hot dog sellers in Hollywood. Along with the food, they even threw the hot dog carts and coolers in the dump truck.
Torontoist counted down its six favorite noise complaints from lakefront residents eager to get rid of a noisy airport just across the water.
Shanghaiist has just launched the Chinese Soundbites Podcast for those of you interested in learning Mandarin.
Chicagoist reported on the Indiana State Fair's outrage over a vulgar photo of a married couple posed in the, gasp!, sitting-down position.
Gothamist learned that 7 World Trade Center was felled by a fire, not other causes, on 9/11 according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology. But others aren't so sure.
DCist got their faces melted off by the young ladies of Girls Rock! DC, a summer camp that teaches girls how to rock.
SFist came across the rudest obituary ever, and then proved it wasn't a fake.

Video: ESPN's "Reflections On The Beijing Olympics"

Summed up in 3 minutes and 37 seconds.

Aussie denies China diving sweep

Going into the final dives of the men's 10-meter platform competition, it looked like China was about to sweep all eight diving gold medals, with Zhou Luxin and Huo Liang in first and second place. But Australia's Matthew Mitcham, trailing the leader Zhou by more than 30 points, went for broke with a 3.8 degree of difficulty dive, a back two and a half somersault with two and a half twists. He got four perfect 10s and scored 112.10, the highest score in the history of Olympic diving, to snatch the gold from his Chinese competitors. Mitcham is the only openly gay man competing at these Olympics.

For more China sports news, check out China Sports Today.

Matthew Mitcham image: BOCOG