THE Olympic Games are well under way and Olympic fever is sweeping the world.
South Korean employees use hand-held TVs or mobile phones to follow the Games live during work or off-duty hours.
The nation of 49 million people was sixth in the medal tally last night, with seven gold medals. It also has nine silver and four bronze.
Park Tae-hwan, dubbed “Marine Boy,” became a national hero after winning the country’s first-ever gold in swimming in the 400-meter freestyle Aug. 10.
JoongAng Ilbo newspaper recounted the case of Nam, a typical young office worker, who left her desk and locked herself in a washroom cubicle with her mobile phone last Monday to watch Park compete in the heats. She shouted with joy when he qualified — and realized she was not alone when similar shouts erupted from other cubicles.
Thousands of company employees also secretly watch the Games online, with fingers poised to click back to a work-related window when bosses appear.
Despite taking place halfway across the globe, the Games are having an impact in the United States.
As the king of swim Michael Phelps rewrote history books, many young U.S. swimmers are determined to be like their hero. His success has more people hitting the pool.
On Saturday, Jamaicans were seemingly caught up with Usain Bolt’s world record run at the Olympics and were not preparing for the effects of a tropical storm.
Leading supermarket chains reported limited sales of disaster-preparedness essentials, commenting that “people were in the Olympic mood and have not realized that we are on a tropical storm watch.”
(SD-Agencies)